Late to the thread...but...
I was there. Had house seats through an old friend who knew a member of the company. A personal miracle considering how hard I have tried to see it in the past. The opening booing is only part of the story.
Because they were House seats they were GREAT seats… Front row center front mezzanine… Basically the 10th row (?) or so orchestra only you're up 15 feet or whatever it is so you can really see the choreography… So about one minute to curtain… All of a sudden there is this INCREDIBLY loud booing coming from downstairs....frankly I immediately thought it was Trump… But it was Pence...And I saw him ...and then other people in the theater were applauding and by time it ended it was a mix of boo's and cheers… to my ears it was 50/50.. And frankly the only thing that stopped it was that they started the show....first few lines were missed due to this.
And the show being about the founding fathers and politics there were many moments in the show that commented inadvertently on the present situation… There is the scene where Hamilton is talking to Lafayette and they look at each other and they say "Immigrants… We get the job done…"... well there was prolonged applause and cheering at that… But then later in the show was to me the real moment of the night (before the curtain speech, of course) where King George is alone on stage singing a song in essence to George Washington after Britain has lost the war and he says "when your people say they hate you, don't come crying back to me"… Well at that point the theater exploded… The show stopped… The orchestra stopped, the actor stopped and had to… It seemed like a long time but it was probably about 10 seconds and Rory O'Malley put up his hand in essence saying "Ok guys, it is time to simmer down" and he continued on....the message to Pence from the audience, NOT THE CAST, was clear and palpable.
Then came the curtain call speech….There is not really a complete version online or in text I have found, because after the prepared remarks Mr. DIxon said "we are all in this together and we are all one country" and that kind of thing and that doesn't seem to be anywhere…he was respectful and when at the beginning where it was clear he was talking to Pence and some people started to boo again, he and Mr. Munoz, the actor playing Hamilton, immediately tapped that down. They were absolutely respectful.
And then… Because we had House seats and got them through the person my friend knew… We were on the list to go backstage… And we did… Met Mr. Dixon who was very nice and I certainly congratulated him for pulling that off under such short notice. And unlike Twitter and other media at the time he told me that Pence stayed and heard him… The New York Times had that wrong for a couple of hours…by time I stood up to clap which was virtually immediately like everyone else in the theater… Pence was not in his seat… Secret Service was clearly getting them out of there….he was also gone before the first act ended....and only returned to his seat after the second act started.
And frankly as for the present controversy… truthfully if Mitt Romney were elected or John Kasich were elected… People would not boo… This is just so vastly different…so here's for the first amendment…but if Trump wants to get mad at the audience he can get mad at the audience… But the cast was absolutely respectful towards Pence so asking an apology by Trump from the cast is bogus. The man who tells his supporters and allows them to rough up protesters… Allows reporters to be spat upon and called epithets… All of a sudden he is concerned about decorum and "safe places." Interesting…
And the truth is based on other big wigs at the show where reactions have happened… Netanyahu in particular… The cast/producers had to be ready for it and they were. The actors told me that they were told at 4 o'clock that Pence was coming…And fair is fair… When Pence was interviewed about it on Sunday he said that when he heard the booing he said to his niece "that's what freedom sounds like."… Oh my God… An adult in the room! An absolute right wing nut job in my opinion, but at least in this case acting like an adult.
That is my story and I am sticking to it. You want to see my ticket stub send me a message and I'll send it. I WAS THERE.
PS… At intermission saw Dennis Quaid… he has about 6 ft 1 and still looks damn good… And he has a stunning wife who is also about 6 foot…
