Cameron Scheijde reviews the West-End phenomenon, Hamilton.
"Oh, so what's it like then? We've got tickets for June. We can't wait!"
Chances are, you've heard of Hamilton. A musical so colossal that just walking around Waterloo with a programme will draw excitable questioning. A musical whose cult following is unrivalled by any theatre event, and even by films or television shows. A musical so epic that tickets are almost impossible to obtain. What accounts for this remarkable feat? How can near-as-makes-no-difference 3 hours of singing and dancing possibly be as good as everyone's saying?
I'd count myself a super-fan of the show, which is in part what makes Hamilton so great. When I finally saw it for the first time this January, I'd been a fan for 2 years. The music is entrancing. It pulls you in with flowing verse, slick rhymes and catchy beats. One number leads onto another flawlessly as the through-sung piece makes you laugh, then cry, and then laugh again. You could just listen to the original Broadway cast, one of the most talented collection of performers every to grace the New York theatre scene, all the way through and still understand the plot. Despite some machine-gun rapping and a complicated story line, creator Lin-Manuel Miranda's score is very easy to follow. While Miranda's genius is extremely well documented, how has Hamilton travelled? Does the self-styled "American musical" work well across the pond?
We are overjoyed that #HamiltonLDN has been nominated for a record-breaking 13 #OlivierAwards. 🇬🇧 pic.twitter.com/e0VlhbyXPE
— Hamilton West End (@HamiltonWestEnd) March 6, 2018
In short, yes. The cast, made up of almost entirely non-white performers, dazzles through the show. The first few months of performances will be almost exclusively to people who already call themselves fans, which presents its own problems. However, each actor has created their version of their historical character. There is no attempting to replicate the Broadway version. Instead, they have created something almost entirely fresh. The most powerful example of this is Giles Terera's scintillating Aaron Burr. A stark contrast from Leslie Odom Jnr's cold and calculating Burr that is found on the recording, his raspy, powerful voice seduced the audience. He was funny, charming, witty and as the driving force of the show he dominated the narrative. His numbers "Wait for It", "The Room Where it Happens" and "Your Obedient Servant" were explosive, dominant and impassioned. When watching it performed, Burr's anger makes sense and by the end cuts a stark figure: "the world was wide enough, for both Hamilton and me".
Burr isn't the only character to shine, however. Freshly graduated Jamael Westman's Hamilton is a triumph. He can sing, rap, act and dance with upmost precision and energy. While Burr commands the narrative, Hamilton winds his way through the story, cutting cheeky winks and asides at the audience throughout. As Hamilton's story develops, we see the character's progression from an ambitious young man to hubristic lawyer to humbled husband. Again, Westman escapes the gargantuan shoes left by Miranda, and instead choses to play the role in his own way. Both Terera and Westman will dominate the Oliviers, one feels.
While the male roles controlled the narrative, the most complex characters came from the female ones. Rachel John's Angelica was sassy, supreme, and superb. Her fast raps in "Satisfied" and "The Schuyler Sisters" were perfect. The only slightly weak performance came from Rachelle Ann Go's Eliza. Towards the end, her character blossomed and her rendition of "Burn" was simply stunning. However, during her first-act "Helpless", she was somewhat upstaged by Chistine Allando's Peggy. I'm at risk of running out of superlatives, but Allando's voice was another synonym of awesome. Her Mariah Reynolds, played well as weak, pathetic and a mess, had a voice of gold. Other performers also deserve superlatives, Jason Pennycooke's Thomas Jefferson was hilarious, as was Michael Jibson's King George III.
#HamiltonLDN's @GilesTerera, @1RachelJohn, @CleveRSeptember, @mikejibson and @ThePennycooke. Five of our @OlivierAwards nominees. Photo by David Levene for Guardian & Observer. 🇬🇧 pic.twitter.com/b4RjmAXyFZ
— Hamilton West End (@HamiltonWestEnd) March 23, 2018
Good performances make a good show. But to make a truly great show, you need a good ensemble. The one thing you cannot see on the recording, they made the show. Their dancing was simply exquisite, unrivalled by any show I've seen (apart, perhaps, from Miranda's other musical creation, In the Heights). Their moves were extraordinary and dominated the show. Non-Naturalistic movement for three hours is very difficult to pull off but the symbolism and power they commanded was sensational.
When pulled over in Pret and asked, therefore, you can simply reply:
"Yes, it really is that good".
★★★★★
