Photograph courtesy Broadway Inbound
A few months back, I wrote a piece on Hamilton’s return to Cincinnati and I have to admit, while I did my research and knew the soundtrack by heart, I’d never seen the musical. Not on video, and certainly not on Broadway.
I enjoyed interviewing cast members and Broadway Across America’s VP Genevieve Holt, and I was invited to the media premiere of Hamilton on December 17. I’d originally planned to take only Harvey, but on the day of the show, I found out there were an extra pair of tickets available, so I brought Mary and Pearl as both love the soundtrack and Mary has yet to meet a musical she didn’t enjoy.
We all got dressed up for a special night at the Aronoff Center, which was decked to the nines for the holidays. This was special in and of itself; if you can make it downtown during the holiday season, I highly recommend it. There’s nothing quite as beguiling as Cincinnati decked out in twinkly lights for Christmas.
As for Hamilton: Wow. I had a running “note” on my iPhone of thoughts and quotes; my favorite was simply “Talk less,” advice given to Hamilton by his lifelong rival, Aaron Burr.
Photograph courtesy Broadway Inbound
Alexander Hamilton is a scrappy, up-by-his-bootstraps comeback kid, an unlikely hero. It’s no wonder Harvey, my baseball-loving kiddo who adores the game for the drama and always roots for the underdog, connected with this story several years ago.
I took Pearl to Boston in the fall and we went to the Boston Tea Party Museum, where she got to participate in a historical reenactment of the drama leading up to the iconic tea moment; this experience gave me a deeper understanding of our country’s roots and why we’re often seen as rebels. That’s how we started!
The story of America is so nuanced, though, and what Hamilton does so well is tell this story from a deeply personal perspective. King George, Aaron Burr, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson—these men came alive on stage and I loved all of the Marquis de Lafayette’s moments! Show stealer.
As for the titular character, I was on the fence about him. Male pride and ego getting in the way of clearheaded thinking? This is nothing new. And at first, the Mrs. Hamilton, Eliza, felt like a secondary character; she was not giving main character energy. This felt especially true with the love quadrangle of Hamilton and the three Schuyler sisters—Eliza wasn’t Hamilton’s first choice and it was frustrating seeing her pine for a man who wasn’t giving himself fully to her.
Photograph courtesy Broadway Inbound
But then, after intermission, something shifted in the couple’s dynamic. Eliza called Hamilton out on his philandering ways and they separated. It was a powerful moment for Eliza Hamilton, and later, when the couple came back together after the death of their son, it didn’t feel like she was settling—the two of them linking arms and walking off together after Philip’s death was especially affective (yes, I did shed a few tears).
The climax of the musical is, of course, the infamous duel wherein Aaron Burr fatally shoots Alexander Hamilton. It’s a moment of hubris that feels so totally Shakespearean, but at this point in the story, I think I finally understood Alexander Hamilton and his deep-rooted desire to make something of himself, to make history.
But Hamilton’s history? It’s told through Eliza. She preserved his legacy after his death, collecting and organizing his writings, establishing the first private orphanage in New York City, and advocating for historical recognition of the Founding Fathers. It’s Eliza who ends the play with “Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story”—Lauren Mariasoosay’s solo had me sobbing and also thinking that, perhaps, Hamilton: The Musical is as much Eliza’s story as it is Alexander’s.
All of this is to say, if you can get tickets for Hamilton during its three-week run, do it. You’re in for quite a show.
Hamilton runs through January 4 at the Aronoff Center for the Arts.
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