Reviewed by James Karas
Hamilton, the musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda, represents entertainment on a grand scale. It is back on tour in Toronto at The Princess of Wales Theatre and it is scheduled to stay there until August unless, of course, its stay is extended again.
I say on a grand scale not because it has the largest cast, though it is big enough, or the most spectacular dancing and singing. They are indeed spectacular but the adjective grand refers to the excitement the opening night performance at The Princess of Wales generated and the thrill and anticipation it has created world-wide. Hamilton has become a legendary musical before it has run its current performance history.
Why? Well, it has a grand if unlikely story to tell about the American revolution in general and Alexander Hamilton in particular. Alexander who? Miranda does not mince words about our hero. The opening line of the musical describes him as a bastard, orphan, son of a whore and that’s just the beginning of the description of his lowly beginnings.
Jumping ahead, Alexander Hamilton became one of The Fathers of the United States, the first Secretary of the Treasury and the man who structured the American financial system. It would be boring to list all his accomplishments but that did not hinder Miranda from doing a musical about him and one of the most successful ones at that.
The music is written through with considerable variations in musical style and genres but at the core it is a hip-hop affair.
I confess my lack of enthusiasm for the hip-hop genre but Miranda did not consult me on that point. Nevertheless, the music and songs tell a story and generate and provide thrilling singing. The thirty-four numbers cover a large musical and emotional canvas. There are heroic, argumentative and frequently stentorian pieces as well as comic ones and scenes of pathos and tenderness.
The almost historically based lyrics cover a swath of early American history with luminaries like Hamilton (DeAundre’ Woods), George Washington (Darnell Abraham), Thomas Jefferson (Paris Nix), Aaron Burr (Donald Webber, Jr.), Eliza Hamilton (Morgan Anita Wood) Angelica Schuyler (Maria Harmon), King George (Manuel Stark Santos) and other recognizable figures. Santos as King George is quite hilarious when he presents the doltish King dreaming of getting the United States back.
The relentlessly charged music and lyrics, with appropriate variations, carry the plot forward without ever letting the audience’s enthusiasm linger. That is what I call entertainment on a grand scale.
No musical can survive without dancing and Andy Blankenbuehler’s chorography is a model of energy, erotic attraction and simple joy. Kudos to the dancers.
The problem I had was that the thickly laid lyrics were not always understandable and some of the humour escaped me and I assume it was because I simply did not hear it in the avalanche of words coming from the stage from single actors or several singing together as well as the ensemble that made up a chorus.
After we get some background about the life of Hamilton, we see him rising through the ranks in New York in revolutionary America. Woods is a wiry and and almost ethereal actor and we never wonder at the success of “the son of a whore”. The ambitious and brilliant Hamilton meets the. equally ambitious but patrician Aaron Burr, the constitutional expert James Madison (Brandon Louis Armstrong), Thomas Jefferson and the strategist George Washington as well as the aristocratic Schuyler girls and marries the beautiful Eliza.
Hamilton is greatly attracted to Eliza’s sister Angelica (Maria Harmon) and has a ruinous affair with Maria Reynolds (Malika Cheree).
Thomas Kail directs what is a complex and obviously difficult production and judging by what we see on stage he does not miss a beat.
Alexander Hamilton, the highly accomplished writer and political commentator from a lowly beginning who made an immense contribution to early America is probably more famous for the way he died in 1804 at the age of 47 or perhaps 49 (date of birth uncertain). He fought a duel with Aaron Burr, the Vice President of the USA and was killed.
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Hamilton by Lin-Manual Miranda,
book music and lyrics, inspired by the book Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow
continues until August 10 , 2023 (at least) at the Princess of Wales Theatre, 300 King
St. West, Toronto, Ontario. www.mirvish.com
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