Hamilton

One day...

I just got around to ordering the Hamiltome today, which is, frankly, as close as I'm likely to ever come to getting to see the show, so that's something.

It kills me that I can't take my family to see it. The Orpheum (where it is playing) is less than 1000 feet away from me, too. Oh well. Perhaps in the future. We're entering the lottery every day.

On a related note:
Last week at the dinner table, my four year old daughter looks up at me and says "Hang on!"
I replied "Yes?"
She asks "How many men died because Lee was inexperienced and ruinous?"
I blinked.
My son shouts out "OK! So we're doing this!"

I was dumbfounded. I know we've listened to it a lot, but to have my kids do that at the dinner table? Hee! They choose Hamilton over the Moana soundtrack every time, lately. (It's a very LMM-centric household right now)

Ha! That's amazing!

Good luck with the lottery -- those kids deserve to see it.

Katy wrote:

the local group that hosts productions will be hosting Hamilton in the 2018-2019 season.

Not to be outdone, another local theater company is putting on In The Heights, with a special read-through of Hamilton by that cast. (But not the Hamilton you're thinking of. The other one.)

OK, that was pretty awesome. Wayne Brady did a solid to excellent job as Burr, which is key given he is the real focus of so much of Hamilton performance-wise. The same goes for the rest of the Chicago performers. The venue acoustics were fantastic. Near the back left of the Mezzanine section and I have no complaints at all.

I have listened to the original soundtrack so many times that there was an adjustment period growing accustomed to the different voices. The visuals and physical performances added so many layers and now provide a mental image for me on future listens and I appreciate the creation even more. Didn't think that was possible. It was fun at times looking over at my 14-year-old son's face in full grin at many scenes. My dad had a general notion of the show and we had the soundtrack on in the background a couple months ago, but for all practical purposes, he experienced it for the first time and loved it. Was unaware how much humor was in it.

My last day at my former company was yesterday. I sent out the customary farewell email. In the middle of one of the paragraphs, I dropped in a slightly modified section of the farewell address from "One Last Time". Nobody picked up that it was either a Hamilton or a Washington quote, but I did get a few people sounding impressed with my eloquence.

I also sent it to a former co-worker, who is a Hamilton nut, and he was greatly amused.

That is great, Chaz. My wife has now caught the Hamilton ear worm since we saw it. She is playing it all the time, humming it, etc. I told her to just wait for the stage when she will hear someone say something in real life or on TV that her brain associates with a line from Hamilton and she has the urge to reply to. She said she had no idea what I was talking about. I said Wait for it wait for it wait for it.

Chaz wrote:

My last day at my former company was yesterday. I sent out the customary farewell email. In the middle of one of the paragraphs, I dropped in a slightly modified section of the farewell address from "One Last Time". Nobody picked up that it was either a Hamilton or a Washington quote, but I did get a few people sounding impressed with my elegance and eloquence.

I also sent it to a former co-worker, who is a Hamilton nut, and he was greatly amused.

FTFY

I am the current president of a student organization, and many people are anticipating my friend and the current secretary will take my place. So they aren't nominating themselves for president. But she doesn't want to, she might not actually stay on council at all given that she's moving into her final year of a PhD.

I told her she should be telling people "I'm stepping down, I'm not running for president."

Arise! I got tickets! They're releasing tickets for the block of shows from next March through August tomorrow, and did a presell today for some insider club that I happened to see mentioned on Facebook. That started an hour ago, and after 45 minutes of watching Ticketmaster spin, I found a pair of tickets that happened to be on our anniversary in May. Hooray!

If anyone else wants to take your shot, general sale starts tomorrow morning at 10am eastern.

Here comes the General! Congrats. Hope you love it as much as I did.

Ok, I’m glad there is a thread for this because I need to talk to someone about Hamilton! Just went to go see the production in Chicago this past weekend. I went in pretty blind, listened to a little of the soundtrack and knew it was a retelling of Hamilton’s life with a multiethnic cast using rap and hip-hop but expectations were not sky high. I knew it was popular but assumed as many things it was probably a bit overrated.

I really enjoy theater and musicals but I have never seen anything like this. The only way to describe it is that I feel emotionally devastated (in a good way) and am so thankful that I got to experience it. I immediately bought the biography from Chernow that it was based on and am planning our next trip to Chicago to see it again. It will be coming to Minneapolis next year but I don’t think I can wait that long.

If you have an opportunity to see it, I can’t recommend it highly enough. The production in Chicago was fantastic and the acoustics and sight lines in the theater are really great. We paid $260 per ticket in the left mezzanine and we were very happy with them. I’m guessing the Broadway tickets are considerably more.

For those who are weary of the current narrative in our country, this show was like a refreshing drink for the soul. Lin-Manuel Miranda is an absolute genius. Can’t wait to see it again!

Welcome to the club! You now have months worth of listening to the Original Cast soundtrack (a phenomenal recording) and preaching the gospel of Hamilton far and wide until everyone you know and interact with get hooked as well.

The soundtrack is being played constantly and my 11-year-old daughter has most of it memorized. Can’t wait to take her to see it!

But I can’t listen to “It’s Quiet Uptown” without crying. My God I got misty just typing the title!

I just want everyone to be able to experience it. I’m sure I’m going to get pretty annoying but I am completely obsessed!

A year on and there are still tears in the car when that song plays.

The book is outstanding as well, and provides even more context to the show. I was continually surprised how many lines and turn of phrase were pulled straight from the source material.

Docjoe wrote:

. I’m guessing the Broadway tickets are considerably more.

Surprisingly, no. I got tickets to the Broadway production for next May, and paid about that for about the same spot. I'm super excited. I'm hoping that the Boston production does the usual ticket lottery. Since I work across the street from the theater, I can easily enter daily and go if I happen to get lucky.

I'm kind of jealous that you got to go in blind. I've basically got the score memorized by now.

Chaz wrote:
Docjoe wrote:

. I’m guessing the Broadway tickets are considerably more.

Surprisingly, no. I got tickets to the Broadway production for next May, and paid about that for about the same spot. I'm super excited. I'm hoping that the Boston production does the usual ticket lottery. Since I work across the street from the theater, I can easily enter daily and go if I happen to get lucky.

I'm kind of jealous that you got to go in blind. I've basically got the score memorized by now.

I really need to see the play for the music to have as much meaning for me. My other musical obsession was Wicked and that soundtrack also didn’t really stick until I saw the production.

And although I still love Wicked (have seen it 6 times in 4 cities), Hamilton definitely “blows them all away”.

Very excited for you that you get to see it, I may need to make a trip out to NYC to see how it compares to the Chicago show.

I love reading about new people experiencing this national treasure for the first time. I've been obsessed for years and am finally seeing it when the touring company comes to town next year!

I think the difference between Hamilton and most musicals, Wicked included, is that 95% of Hamilton's plot is contained in the songs. With Wicked, I had to follow along with a synopsis while listening to figure out what was going on, which dulls the emotional impact. With Hamilton, the songs contain the entire dramatic arc, so even just listening is a full experience. Of course, I haven't seen it, so I could be wrong.

Now, if you really want to blow your mind, start reading through the notes on Genius.com for all the callbacks and references to hip hop and musical theater contained in the songs that aren't obvious.

Chaz wrote:

I think the difference between Hamilton and most musicals, Wicked included, is that 95% of Hamilton's plot is contained in the songs. With Wicked, I had to follow along with a synopsis while listening to figure out what was going on, which dulls the emotional impact. With Hamilton, the songs contain the entire dramatic arc, so even just listening is a full experience. Of course, I haven't seen it, so I could be wrong.

Now, if you really want to blow your mind, start reading through the notes on Genius.com for all the callbacks and references to hip hop and musical theater contained in the songs that aren't obvious.

And Patrick Rothfuss! You are totally right as to the story in the song. Having seen it in Chicago after listening to it for months beforehand, seeing it made me appreciate it even more. Didn't think that was possible. Adding the choriography and improve of the actors just added so many more layers to the brilliance of the whole production.

Docjoe wrote:

Ok, I’m glad there is a thread for this because I need to talk to someone about Hamilton!

If you want to go deep, check out a mini-series "How Hamilton Works" on Youtube and be amazed.

This piece from Wall Street Journal (of all places!) will graphically show you the influences of various hip-hop artists on Hamilton lyrics.

For over a year I was high on Hamilton. Then I took the hiatus to learn piano because of Hamilton. Now I'm learning to play the songs. It's an obsession. Embrace it.

Also, check out the PBS Documentary that started filming very early in the development. It is fantastic.

I think this video is put together from the PBS show, but it's 10 minutes of awesome that should not be missed! I just spent the last hour re-watching it!

T-minus 5.5 months for me!

Just got tickets for the touring show coming here in April! Trying to get another show so I can go twice, but I'm in for one! So excited!

I just got tickets for May 5th

This reminds me I need to figure out our travel plans for the trip to NYC to see this on Memorial Day weekend.

April 21 for my wife and I and a solo ticket for May 1!