The Hamilton film is happiest of reminders: The musical we saw back in 2015 or 2016 really is extraordinary, a wonderfully-written work with smart direction, wonderful orchestrations and standout performances that marks a revolutionary, artistic achievement.
I've seen the show five times (first in April 2016 on Broadway from the rear mezzanine and four times on tour in orchestra seats) so I'm not unbiased about the musical. I think the harsher assessments of the show, including the critique of it glossing over the sins of the Founding Fathers (save Jefferson) to fit Lin-Manuel Miranda's goals in writing it, are interesting - and may gain resonance in coming years. Hamilton is a serious work of art, and should be treated seriously, as its critics have done and will do now that more people are seeing the film. But I've always thought the musical was more about Black and brown performers - and its creator - reclaiming American history for themselves - even if the audiences were white and traditionalists can like the show too. One can accuse Lin-Manuel Miranda of having his cake and eating it too, but there's a canny polemicist and deft politician at work here. Some lines hit in a different way in 2020 than they did in the tail end of the Obama era. "Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story" indeed. That's the mark of an impressive artistic achievement.
None of these interesting debates would matter if the show wasn't such a terrific work of musical theater. Seeing Hamilton on a television screen doesn't match the visceral thrill of seeing it at the Richard Rodgers, but there are the compensations of a much better seat and the ability to see some wonderful performances up close. Renee Elise Goldsberry and Daveed Diggs were standouts I haven't seen matched even in good performances on tour, and it was a genuine thrill seeing them recorded for posterity and catching subtle facial expressions I couldn't see from a distance. Diggs walks the fine line between cartoonish and brilliant better than any other Jefferson I've seen, and his technical skills (and charisma) make him the best Lafayette too. While I would have preferred a more straightforward approach to the rewind portion of "Satisfied" to highlight the choreography, Goldsberry's performance - and the chance to see her brilliance and anguish up close - is a gift.
Unsurprisingly, the film places more of the focus on individual or small group performances and less on the ensemble (and, for that matter, the turntables). This works especially well for Phillipa Soo, who I always thought was a little underrated in the stage musical. She's wonderful, from her lovestruck performance in "Helpless" to her bitterness in "Burn." I didn't think Leslie Odom Jr.'s overall performance was as good as I remember it (and I have seen other excellent Burrs, including Joshua Henry), but he absolutely nails "Wait for It" in the film and does well in the showpiece performances. (His performance of "The Room Where it Happens," and especially its climax, is my favorite moment in a Broadway theater. Odom Jr. comes close here, but it wasn't quite as thrilling - although that's probably more a function of my bias and the limitations of a small screen than anything else.)
Christopher Jackson is as marvelous as I expected in "One Last Time" and as commanding as anyone could want as Washington. Jasmine Cephas Jones makes the most of her small roles, especially her wonderful R&B voice as Maria Reynolds. Jonathan Groff, who I caught in his final week before he left the cast, was just as hilarious as I remember. Anthony Ramos gives a looser performance than I recall (not a bad thing) but broke my heart twice. Miranda was sick when I saw the musical, so I was naturally curious about his performance. I liked it, overall. He's most effective, of course, when rapping and acting - but his singing was good enough, and he didn't really bother to try straight-up singing in "It's Quiet Uptown," as he was too busy conveying Hamilton's emotional anguish. It's a little much, but I didn't mind.
It sometimes goes without saying that Miranda's book and score are fantastic. But seeing it in a different format just reminded me of how good and cleverly constructed the songs are. Miranda may never scale these heights again, but the range of terrific songs in completely different styles - all in service of a coherent and fast-moving plot - is extraordinary. Last night, my wife asked what my favorite songs of the musical were. And honestly, I was stumped. The run of songs from "My Shot" to "Wait for It" is fantastic, as is a second wave from "What'd I Miss" through "One Last Time" - but that leaves out a whole bunch of songs! Miranda's knowledge of 1980s and 1990s rap, and his equally impressive knowledge and respect for traditional musical theater, made him the perfect composer for this show. But he still had to actually write all the songs and work it all out with Alex Lacamoire. There's a reason Hamilton didn't inspire a lot of revolutionary, commercially successful theater in its wake; that sort of genius is really difficult to pull off.
As a film, I won't say it was flawless, but it was as close as I had any right to expect. And to get a chance to see it now, with all theaters closed in the midst of a pandemic on the Fourth of July weekend in a pivotal election year, it feels like Hamilton - again - hit at the perfect moment.
Updated On: 7/4/20 at 06:14 PM
.jpg?format=auto&width=365)
