Well, we finally saw Hamilton for the first time this past Monday and I must say that it was as excellent as I expected if to be. I managed to not listen to any of the OCR prior to seeing this, and had only seen the performances on the Grammys and Tonys. I was completely blown away, my partner less so (he has a major issue with modern music being used in period pieces, such as Spring Awakening, so I doubt that there was any chance that he would have loved this as much as I did; even so, he did appreciate the diversity of the cast, the staging, and various specific numbers in the show). Miguel was Hamilton, Austin was Burr, and Alysha Deslorieux was Eliza. Since I've never seen this before, I have no other performances to compare them to, but I thought that they were all uniformly excellent. I understand that Miguel is being used a lot to get him ready for the lead in Chicago, but to me he appeared to have been performing this role for months. I thought that Austin Smith was wonderful, and one of my favorite parts in the show. I agree with others who felt that he was slightly subdued in this role, but I felt that it served the part well, and I was always aware of his presence. I regret never getting to see LOJ in this role, but Austin more than made up for this, in my opinion. Alysha was just fine, but compared to Renee, it would be next to impossible for her to shine, since Renee was just incredible. I loved the audience. Everyone was absolutely quiet when they needed to be. It was obvious who the fans were, as the big numbers always got riotous applause (and deservedly so). This was an absolutely enjoyable night at the theater.
I have not read this entire thread, but I do know that there's been a discussion of whether this musical is truly "groundbreaking." I have to say, after 45 years of theater-going, that it is groundbreaking, in the way that it uses so many different genres of music in such a seamless fashion, in the movement/dance, in the staging, and finally (and in my opinion, the most important point) in the diversity of the cast. Most of all, as others have said, we can only hope that this piece leads other creators of stage productions to push themselves harder, and not settle for mediocrity. The popularity of Hamilton sends a clear message to producers that the theater-going public demand excellence.
Finally, I want to add that this was one of the best "sounding" shows that I've ever heard live. Going in, I was concerned that I might have difficulty hearing all the lyrics, since I was aware that much of the rapping was very fast. I had no problems hearing every single word. Kudos to the sound engineers!
Updated On: 7/20/16 at 11:08 AM
