I went to New York for business, and what I found was pleasure. Exhibitions, food, people, theater, Central Park, bagels, Saks, espresso—everything won me over. And that includes the antics happening on Times Square far below my hotel window on the 40th floor.
Three main events punctuated our evening schedule: Hamilton, dinner at The Modern, and The Band’s Visit. It had been a half dozen years since I took my mom to see The Lion King on Broadway, so I was more than ready for Hamilton.
No. I was not. I was not ready for Hamilton.
Oh I had been hearing the hype for a couple of years. I remained sceptical. No show could possibly live up to that hype. A show delivered by rap. Give me a break.
But there I was last week, in the graceful old Richard Rogers theater on 46th Street, in an enviable seat with a close and clear view of the entire stage. And then it began.
The United States was about to be dreamed up by a group of youngbloods in satin jackets, ruffled shirts and buckled shoes.
Daniel Breaker as Aaron Burr
We, the audience, were collectively spellbound as the latest generation of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s colonial masterminds strutted, pranced, spun, vogued, and devoured the stage. As gorgeous a group of wildly talented men as can be imagined took turns at seducing us, while they plotted ways and means of getting the country up and running.
The revolving stage got a brilliant work-out while each of the founding fathers took turns at making their pitch. The energy alone could have launched a rocket into orbit. And as masterful as is Miranda’s ingenious creation, it thrives on the pyrotechnic energy of its cast, a confident Michael Luwoye as Alexander Hamilton and a scene-stealing Daniel Breaker as Aaron Burr.
Michael Luwoye as Alexander Hamilton
The pumping fury, the life and death struggles of creating a country, struggles laced with personal agendas, suspicions, political lust, and personal indecisions all explode into edgy musical attitude and full hipster movement in Hamilton.
Which, of course you know if you’ve seen it.
And if you haven’t, I invite you to rob a bank, go without wine for a month, whatever it takes to see this show.
I had seen Cumberbatch as Hamlet in London, but I’d never seen anything like this. Surpassing the hype, as well as my expectations, this was what live musical theater was about. Artistic invention that opens broad pathways of discovery. Physical gestures that ignite the story. On Broadway, somehow, I felt closer to the roots, the epicenter of Miranda’s original inspiration. It was the very theater in which Hamilton was born three years ago.
May it always be sold out.
