The Thread for HAMILTON Fans/Obsessives [SPOILERS AHEAD] — Page 53

@MyLife - I agree 100% about wanting to see Andrew Chappelle as Lafayette/Jefferson. The roles seem better suited to both his personality and his voice vs Mulligan/Madison. If there is not a Laf/Jeff full time replacement when I go again in November, I would really love to see Andrew do it.



Also, I think you were able to better express what I was trying to say about Thayne's performance, and in hindsight I was probably too hard on him. I did enjoy his Philip, he just didn't seem right for Laurens to me.

I'm going on Sunday

Just got home from theater...First thought, it was lovely to see a bunch of In the Heights Alums cheering Mandy on (Robin DeJesus was sitting right by me clapping like crazy.) I think Angelica is in good hands. Her Angelica was more vulnerable then I've seen, and while she seemed to be marking her movements a bit it was pretty amazing for a a first show.

I think (hope) you may enjoy this :) Hamilton In High Schools: https://youtu.be/aP5pVWGVJ30

I saw the matinee today and since I saw some different people in various roles, including Andrew Chappelle as Lafayette/Jefferson, I thought I'd report in. I did see the show with the original cast a year ago, so of course I was doing a lot of comparing in my head, but I should say right off that I still LOVED the show and I think it will hold up very well no matter how many cast changes there are.

The only cast member who was out was Chris Jackson, which was disappointing, as I was there with my Mom and my son and I was hoping they could see him - but oh well. Instead we had Nicholas Christopher as Washington and while his voice is fine, I didn't think he had the amazing mix of gravitas, warmth and humor that Jackson conveys. He played the role pretty much the same throughout, very serious with just a few flashes of humor in "One Last Time." Overall I didn't think his Washington made as much of an impact or lasting impression as Jackson's.

New people I hadn't seen before:

Javier Munoz: I thought LMM played the role more intensely throughout and I also thought LMM did better at conveying Hamilton's aging, but Munoz was still very very good; he sounded great and he had great chemistry with the other actors. Loved him in "Say No To This" and yes, Jasmine Cephas Jones was in and she is still phenomenal!

Lexi Lawson: I agree with the poster above who said that she seemed a bit one-note in her facial expressions, and overall at first I found her a bit bland, but I thought she blossomed in the quieter numbers - "Burn" was very well done. She does come across as younger than Soo's Eliza.

Mandy Gonzalez (Angelica): This was only her 2nd performance as Angelica and she is already wonderful. Her "Satisfied" was phenomenal. She is going to be great in this role.

Andrew Chappelle (Lafayette/Jefferson): I have to say I was not a huge fan of his interpretations. He was better as Lafayette, but when he got to being Jefferson in Act 2 I thought he played it too broadly and more "for laughs"- Diggs did a little of this but in a much more subtle way, and his Jefferson conveyed a lot more - how can I say it - menace? Also there was just something about Chappelle's diction that I did not like. But hey, some of you might love him.I just think Diggs is going to be really hard to match. (I did think Chappelle did quite well in "Washington On Your Side" - he was more serious and toned down.)

Rory O'Malley (King George): I did think he played it more broadly than Groff but it didn't really bother me. He was funny and sounded great. No complaints!

Brandon Victor Dixon (Burr): I just saw him in "Shuffle Along" and loved him in that so I was really curious to see how he'd be as Burr. I thought he was excellent overall. No, he doesn't have Odom's controlled intensity, and he played it with a bit more humor, but I really thought he did a great job. He moves beautifully and sounds great and as another poster mentioned, his work at the end, in the duel, was really powerful. I thought he knocked "Room Where It Happens" out of the park. The one song I was a little disappointed in was "Dear Theodosia," which to me didn't have quite the impact that it did with LMM and Odom Jr. They did sound great together but somehow the emotion of the song didn't come through as well for me this time.

OK, this is overly long, so I'll stop, but happy to answer any questions. Oh, for those interested, we were in Orchestra Row Q, seats 21-25, which were great seats with excellent sight lines. We might have missed a tiny bit of action in the far left side but nothing major.

Audience was great overall although the woman in front of us was filming parts of the show with her cell phone. My son (who is an usher in another theater) tapped her on the shoulder and told her to stop when he saw her She did.

Renee posted a video on Twitter with photos related to her last performance and some footage of her final bows:

https://twitter.com/reneeelisegolds?lang=en

I was also present for the matinee on Renee's last day. I had seen the show three previous times with the original cast. For what they're worth, here are my thoughts:



Javier as Hamilton was fantastic, but I know this is not news. He plays it a little more...aggressive, maybe? He doesn't have quite the same naivete as Lin's Hamilton. I found that I love them both about equally.



Renee was absolutely wonderful as Angelica. She is just a revelation in the role. I'm hoping to catch Mandy's Angelica at some point, but I can't imagine anyone hitting it better than Renee. She did tear up during the curtain call, as mentioned above. She's just total class and talent.



Thayne as Laurens/Philip was delightful at times and jarring at times. He has a lovely voice, and his mannerisms for Philip worked well for me. He definitely injected some humor into the role that was there with Anthony but to a lesser degree. I didn't hate his Laurens, but I felt like he overplayed some of it and missed the easy friendship that Anthony projects. On the other hand, the way Thayne played it gave some credence to the theory that Hamilton and Laurens were romantically involved--it sometimes seemed that Laurens had a crush on Hamilton.



Sean as Lafayette/Jefferson was lovely. I found myself definitely missing Daveed (and his hair, trivial as that is), but I enjoyed how he played both roles. Unlike others, I didn't really feel his Lafayette was weak. And his Jefferson has all the swagger you'd wish. A solid performance from him, but it's tough to be in Daveed's shadow.



Andrew Chappelle was on as Mulligan/Madison. He's the only one I'd seen before in the role. I saw him in May, and both my daughter and myself did not like him in the role at all. We were disappointed that we'd be seeing him again. I don't know what happened in May, but we really loved him in both roles this time! His energy and timing and delivery were spot on. I've never seen him as Lafayette/Jefferson to compare, but we thought he was great.



Chris Jackson was back from vocal rest, and I feel like his performance has just grown over time. I saw the show the first time Labor Day weekend last year, and I thought he was marvelous then. He's even better now. His voice is just beautiful, and he projects wisdom and compassion. I was so impressed. The man is definitely not phoning it in.



Lexi Lawson didn't do it for me or either of the girls I was with. Her singing was mostly lovely (though my daughter called her out for being pitchy once on an early song--I forget which one), but her acting was not strong in my opinion. I felt like she was singing in a pageant sometimes--she'd stand and smile over the audience's heads. I missed Philippa's grace and reserve. It may be a conscious choice to play her a little more girly and open, but if so I didn't like the execution. And I don't think it was a matter of us comparing her to Philippa totally, because the one girl with us had never seen the show before and also didn't like the portrayal of Eliza.



Dixon as Burr. Now THAT was a transition I loved. And I adored how Leslie played the role. He is a little warmer and more open in his portrayal of Burr. I found I liked it. His singing is just beautiful, and I just really loved his portrayal. I knew I liked him (had seen him in Shuffle Along) but thought that it would be hard to accept him as Burr since Leslie created the role so beautifully. But he's great. And I imagine will only get better as he settles into the role.



The show is in great shape and didn't feel tired at all. It may be in transition, but it's transitioning well.

MyLife said: "^You echo ALL (but one) of the thoughts I had of the same performance. I also saw Chappelle as Madison/Mulligan in April and did not like his portrayal at all and felt that he was much improved this time around. I still found myself missing Oak though. How could you not?



I hope I get on the Brandon bandwagon (brandwagon?). His voice is incredible and I loved his numbers but I couldn't pinpoint what choices he was making. I have tickets in November and am looking forward to seeing him again with more performances under his belt."



Now that you mention it, it was April and not May that I saw Chappelle, too. It would be funny if it was the same performance. :) Please report back in November. I would love to hear if you feel Brandon has settled into the role by then. And I'm excited to hear what people think of Mandy Gonzalez.

MyLife said: "^April 11

Austin Smith was on for Burr as well that night."



Same week but not same night. :)

What the f?!?



Interesting...

Hi, Does anyone know what days Javier is off? I want to make sure I see him when I purchase my tickets.

Updated On: 9/12/16 at 10:08 AM

Why would they start doing two-show Sundays...?

Are they still doing Monday shows? On the schedule they show no shows for Monday.