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Ask anyone in radio: why did you decide to talk for a living? What inspired you to base your entire existence on entertaining and informing the masses? I’m sure you’ll probably get a smattering of answers. But one of the most common answers you’ll get probably revolves around a high school or college theater department.
No surprises here. Plus, growing up in the Northeast generally meant that a Broadway show was almost guaranteed the closer you lived to New York City.
I spent part of my childhood growing up in Connecticut. For a while, we had season passes to the Bushnell Theater in Hartford. A lot of national tours made stops in Hartford- mostly so that the entire state didn’t attempt to migrate towards Manhattan for a show’s opening night. I always admired the commitment of the performers who chose to spend their entire careers singing and dancing around the country for massive audiences every night.
It’s not hard to get lost in the colors of the costumes and the dramatic lighting cues, and the tight harmonies of the ensembles gave me goosebumps. When we moved back to Upstate New York, we didn’t have to stick with one theater, either. New York City has dozens of theaters specifically for Broadway shows. From plays to musicals to celebrity guest appearances, we were able to experience the magic of it with only a Metro Card and a 2.5 hour train/bus ride into the city. Maybe a street pretzel apiece if we got out early enough.
So it’s no surprise that when I was offered the chance to go see Hamilton in Seattle Sunday night, the decision was a no-brainer. I was obsessed with the soundtrack when it was released. Within a year, I knew all the words to “My Shot,” “Satisfied,” and at least one of the “Cabinet Battles.” My love for this show was amplified even more so when I had the opportunity to see it on Broadway back in 2016, roughly a year or so after its debut.
I made sure to change my Facebook profile picture to something more appropriate after the show (yes, this is Photoshopped).
Now, as amazing as the show was, I had my notes. This was well before the Disney+ recorded version was released, so I had no idea what to expect onstage. There were scenes I didn’t expect, musical numbers that weren’t in the soundtrack, parts of songs that were slowed down for dramatic effect. It made the show feel real. I certainly had full confidence that the cast wasn’t lip-syncing to the actual soundtrack. However, that may have helped some of the cast members win me over with their renditions of their roles.
With that in mind going into Sunday’s show at the Paramount, I had two criteria for this show to outrank the original Broadway experience:
- Marquis de Lafayette needed to have a believable French accent.
- The Schuyler sisters- specifically Eliza- needed to convince me that they had onstage chemistry with Alexander Hamilton.
For a bonus point, I needed Hamilton-The-Character to have the same amount of relentless, inimitable energy that Lin-Manuel Miranda gave him both on Broadway and in the soundtrack. But I was more fixated on Points #1 and #2.
Because it’s been a while since I’ve seen a musical anywhere other than in NYC, I forgot that other cities don’t exactly have the room or the combined public interest to build 40 more theaters specifically for Broadway shows. So when a show like Hamilton comes to town… people go all out.
Several people wore cocktail dresses. One child dressed up as Angelica Schuyler. There were a few full-length gowns here and there, like there was a secret fancy afterparty that we clearly weren’t invited to. I felt severely underdressed. But ready for a night of incredible art.
It’s been about 6-7 years since the Hamilton phenomenon captivated the world. I was curious to see if, after all this time, people had the same amount of energy and excitement to hear those same songs performed live.
My question was answered pretty quickly as the lights dimmed for the start of Act I.
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We left the theater rocked to our cores, full of newfound adrenaline. Echoes of the cast’s choruses rang in our ears. Both Points #1 and #2 were satisfied. Mr. Lafayette had a proper snarky French accent. Eliza was phenomenal- the amount of raw emotion she gave every movement was mesmerizing. The men- specifically Lafayette/Jefferson, Mulligan/Madison, and Laurens/Philip- all gave their characters a slice of modern personality, and I was there for it. Our basses, Aaron Burr and George Washington, had some of the deepest natural voices I’ve ever heard in my life. And both of them could bring the roof down with some of the belt notes that they hit. My goodness. I got goosebumps every time.
That being said… when Burr and Washington were speaking (especially Burr), it was difficult to make out what they were saying. I couldn’t tell if he just spoke at a lower volume- something they never advise you to do in drama classes- or if the sound person had his mic volume set a bit too low. And then you had Mr. Alexander Hamilton himself, who had some issues in the beginning of the show trying to remember how to sing at times. In his defense, many of his lines are rapped, but you still need to have good tone in order to be an effective rapper. On the plus side, his acting and improvised choreography saved him from being a total bust.
Within the first ten minutes, I knew that this show was already astronomically better than the first time I saw it in New York. Sure, having some time, distance, and a more varied daily soundtrack probably played a role in solidifying this ranking. But the thrill of being back in a theater, getting blanketed by four-part harmonies for a few hours, and sharing a rollercoaster of emotional moments with hundreds of theater lovers is a feeling that never gets old.