You’ll be back, soon, you’ll see.
You’ll remember you belong to me.
It’s a challenging task to highlight positives in a musical you hated. And I guess this is going to be an unpopular opinion as everybody else that I know has enjoyed Hamilton. To me, though, this show suffers from The Emperor’s New Clothes Effect with people believing that they’re supposed to rave about it.
With a book, music and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton covers the life of American Founding Father, Alexander Hamilton, and his involvement in the political history of the early United States. Sounds riveting? No, I didn’t think so, either, but still gave it a chance which elapsed 10 minutes in after My Shot when I turned to my fiancée and mouthed, “I’m bored.” Unfortunately, it did not get much better. Far too much rap, which let’s face it, is a genre of music devoid of singing, talent and … music. Best number of the night was You’ll Be Back from Daniel Boys as King George III, but even he struggled to hit the top notes and Jesus, the number was milked to death with two reprises. Point to note, sometimes less is best.
Admitted, not all the numbers were © rap, and although Wait for it, The Room Where It Happens, It’s Quiet Uptown and Your Obedient Servant were delivered well, these were also underwhelming. And that was what I found throughout. Perhaps it’s been a long haul of a tour and that could explain why to me, the cast were going through the motions. But it does not excuse the mediocrity of the choreography and lack of energy from start to finish. And that’s before you even consider the incoherent at times, rambling nonsense of the rapped-through dialogue. Poor diction from many, particularly one cast member who spluttered over everybody else throughout the show.
In the rest of the principal cast we had Richard Logun (Alexander Hamilton), Sam Oladeinde (Aaron Burr), Mia Mullarkey (Eliza Hamilton), Aisha Jawando (Angelica Schuyler), Charles Simmons (George Washington), Jonathan Hermosa-Lopez (Lafayette/Thomas Jefferson), KM Drew Boateng (Mulligan/James Maddison), Gabriella Benedetti (Peggy Schuyler/Maria Reynolds) and DeAngelo Jones who as well as portraying John Laurens, also had the embarrassing task of pretending to be Hamilton’s nine-year-old son (complete with goatee), a production decision which was cringeworthy. Admitted, there were plus points in the performances, but these were not retained in the memory due to the sub-standard material the cast had to work with. However, I did like the way the chorus lurked in the alcoves, adding mystery to proceedings at times.
At £90 a ticket, Hamilton is overpriced, overlong and overrated. Honestly, out of hundreds of theatre trips experienced, I have never enjoyed a musical less, and I’ve sat through Godspell. It was like being locked in a room with a box set of Vera playing on loop. I mean, even Escape Rooms set you free after an hour. No such luck in Hamilton as because of the others with me I was unable to leave during the interval. I did, however, vacate my seat during that interval to stretch my legs, which like my brain, were numb. There I passed audience members desperately looking up Hamilton on Wikipedia to find out what the hell was going on. Before I knew it, my wanderings had taken me close to Front of House where that exit door was oh, so close.
Directed by Thomas Kail with choreography from Andy Blankenbuehler and musical direction at the hands of Alex Lacamoire, Hamilton is a show where I join a tiny minority who do not shout its praises. But at least I had the honour of saying, “Look at the King, look at the King, the King, the King, the King. I will not be back.
Cheers
Antony N Britt
*Photos taken from social media and may not be representative of the performance reviewed.
Antony N Britt - Author 