So I finally got round to seeing Hamilton on Monday. I've listened to the OBC before and never really vibed with it, to be honest hip hop isn't really my thing which probably isn't a surprise to anyone. And so I kind of guessed that the show wouldn't really be my cup of tea either which is why it's taken me until now to get round to it (plus it's one of the most expensive shows on the West End!). But I still wanted to go and actually see it with my own two eyes at some point to give it a fair shot as listening to a cast recording is obviously no where near the same as getting the full context of a show. And yes I know there's the pro-shot on Disney+, but to be honest I don't really like watching recordings of theater. Watching something on that scale through my 15" laptop screen isn't really giving it a fair shot either, especially with my ADHD brain making me want to skip ahead. I need to be a captive audience member. If I can't see something in person, then I'd rather just not bother.
The Victoria Palace Theatre that currently houses Hamilton is right by Wicked, and it felt every shade of wrong having to walk straight past it.
I can't say I had a bad time and it was enjoyable enough, but as I guessed from the beginning it wasn't really my cup of tea and seeing it in action didn't really change that for me. I can appreciate that it's a good musical in that it's well paced, well characterized, it hit every emotional beat that it needed to, had some good melodies, and I personally adored the costumes, I think that was hands down my favorite part and I was marveling at the details every time they changed. I always felt the costumes didn't look particularly impressive in the photographs, but boy was I wrong! So I'm glad I got to see it. It also felt weird calling myself a musical theater fan without having this on my seen list, so I’m happy to have crossed it off if nothing else. But it also didn’t change my mind on thinking Lin-Manuel Miranda is over hyped ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I admit I’m far from the most knowledgeable about US history being European and all, but it has always struck me as a weird story to simplify into a Broadway show. I feel like I want to give it some grace as while I want to rag on the historical accuracy, it also drives me crazy when people do that with Anastasia because it's not supposed to be historically accurate and never once presents itself as that. I also do genuinely hate when people won't let anyone enjoy anything and use it as some kind of superiority complex, like no one is allowed to like flawed things and just accept that absolutely nothing is perfect. And I'm 100% sure I do not have any fresh takes here, but I just had the overall sense when watching it that I'm not sure colorblind casting the Founding Fathers is as woke as it thinks it's being, and it felt weird to me to see African American culture painted over these racist historical figures. I get Miranda wanted to modernize the story and make it relevant for audiences, but implying everyone in the US is an immigrant and shares the same struggle when at the beginning many were colonizers and those who weren't were either forced there through slavery, or Indigenous and being slaughtered, feels insensitive at best. There’s casual mentions here and there of the slavery that was going on behind the scenes, but it just felt a bit tone deaf and uncomfy and I guess I worry about how it's reframing history. Especially to foreign audiences who may not know any better as we don't really get taught American history over here.
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