Movie Review: Hamilton
Musical Review: Hamilton
Hamilton: While it isn’t usually my thing, I am reviewing Hamilton the Musical recently on Disney +. Everyone else seems to have watched it so why not?
(This is the actual statute in front of the US Treasury building. It was either this or a picture of a $10 bill.)
What is it: A musical written by Lin-Manuel Miranda based on reading a biography of the Founding Father Alexander Hamilton – who you vaguely would have remember is on the $10 bill as the first Secretary of the Treasury prior to 2015.
It is arguably the ‘Rent’ of it’s generation. Using Rap, R and B, Soul, Power Ballads, and color blind casting – it was the big thing in 2015. For example, the story would have been 100% white people, but the title character is played by its Puerto Rican author. James Madison, who was a 5’6 white guy, was portrayed by Okieriete Onadowa, a huge muscular African American male who towers over 6 feet tall. And those are just a few . . .
Review: The first thirty minutes of the musical are rather boring, honestly. My husband asked if we could turn if off, and I convinced him to continue. It picks up pace after that, though there are certainly songs that could have been cut and I wouldn’t have noticed. It has a lot of musical variety and ends with the foregone conclusion – spoiler for a basic lesson in 1804 US history – when Hamilton is killed in a duel by his long time frenemy, Aaron Burr.
Pros: Leslie Odom Jr. brings it as Aaron Burr who slowly feels usurped by Alexander’s success – his ‘Wait for It’ might be the best song in the show. I love Christopher Jackson plays George Washington with dignity and emotion. Daveed Diggs playing Lafayette and more so his second act role as Thomas Jefferson was my husband’s favorite character. He was like ‘I love rap battles over obscure US history points.’ My personal favorite was Jonathan Groff’s King George who was the funniest character in the entire play. I can listen to him sing his six minutes of songs for hours – and I have.
Cons: Lin-Manuel seems to be a very talented musician and composer, but as a singer, no so much. Hubby referred to him as ‘compared to everyone else, he’s the guy who lied on his resume that he could sing.’ I didn’t mention the three main women because while beautiful singers, their storylines made me ambivalent about their roles. His wife Eliza, seemed rather boring, and the show regularly implied he’d rather sleep with her sister Angelica. So it almost implies his affair with some random woman was a better third option.
Overall Impression: Fun watch for musical lovers if only to watch King George. Consider fast-forwarding any time Hamilton is singing alone.