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Photo Cred: Broadway.com
To be honest, most folks generally don’t want to brave the Midtown crowds, pay a small dowry’s sum of money, and squish ourselves into impossibly tiny Broadway seats, unless a show promises to be good – very good. Hamilton is beyond good, it’s superb.
Lin-Manuel Miranda’s brilliant and brave musical tells the life story of Alexander Hamilton through the rather nontraditional style of Hip-Hop and R&B music. When you step that far out of the proverbial box and rap the story of our country’s Founding Fathers, you’re taking an obvious risk. This kind of risk results in either an epic fail or a home run. Given the show’s rise from a small, off-Broadway stage in the East Village to now soaring on Broadway with rave reviews, we’d say Miranda more accurately hit a grand slam.
Adapted from Ron Chernow’s book, Miranda served the writer, composer and lyricist of Hamilton. You could call him an underachiever after those credentials, but he also stars as the main character, Hamilton himself.
The historical content of the show is enlightens and the delivery exhilarates. Those bullet point facts taught in high school about our country’s early days are brought to life in a touching, original and captivating way. Alexander Hamilton was more than just our nation’s first Secretary of the Treasury and Washington’s right-hand man. His fate was defined by more than simply the smokey residue on Aaron Burr’s dueling pistol. He was a man driven by passion, conviction, love, family – and something to prove. His character and faults make him as historically significant as he is humanly relatable.
The entwined relationships of Hamilton, Burr, Washington, Jefferson, Madison and ‘everyone’s favorite frenchman’, Lafayette, play out on stage in a mesmerizing fashion. Yet, it’s Hamilton’s encounters with his wife, and other females in his life, that leave a resounding impression on both the audience and history alike. The show unfolds with engaging songs, relatable characters and stomach-hurting humor. From his perch across the Atlantic, the King of England’s dry, pompous perspective on the budding nation of America is sheer hilarity. Like his fellow cast-mates, this actor’s talent and delivery is world-class. Call it luck or call it bravery, but everything comes together in this outstanding, one-of-a-kind Broadway show.
Side note – The featured image for this write-up comes from the July 2015 front page of the New York Post. The cover was a fitting tribute to the founder the Post, Alexander Hamilton.
