Hamilton

[jayem]

My wife and I finally saw Hamilton earlier this week. The national touring company is in town for a 3 week run. It truly is a very good show. There are a lot of words, but little plain spoken dialogue. The story is told through singing or rapping with background music and rhythm. I'm not a fan of rap, but this was very skillfully done. The rhymes were clever and creative. Many of the raps are fast, and you have to listen closely or you'll miss much of the narrative. Some of the songs are very pretty. I thought the cast was excellent. They were all good actors with fine voices. You get so caught up in the drama, you don't notice that Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, and George Washington are all portrayed by Black actors. The orchestra was also very good, and the music director for the B'way original has the same job for the national tour. It's hard to believe that one man conceived the idea, wrote the story, all the music and lyrics, and played the lead role in the original production. Lin-Manuel Miranda is beyond doubt an extremely talented guy. But with great success comes great expectations. The problem with having such an enormous hit is what you do next. Can you possibly top it--or even equal it?