I’ll never forget when I was in New York about a decade ago (July 2015). I was having dinner at the house of a friend from high school, whose husband was a notable Broadway producer. As one would expect, recommendations of shows to see flowed. The Book of Mormon and Matilda were among the hot tickets of the time – both of which I saw, and came with plenty of glowing recommendations.
But just a couple of weeks earlier, they told me, a little show called Hamilton had entered previews, following an off-Broadway run. “This show is really something special,” they proclaimed, before regaling me the concept. A Broadway musical about one of America’s founding fathers, cast without racial bias, with almost the entire play performed in… rap?
As an Australian, I honestly felt my stomach churn. Having done absolutely no research (and without the hype that would follow), I presumed it to be a patriotic, educational show destined to be a field trip destination, trying to be hip, for the youths. “I’ve seen Ragtime and West Side Story”, I told myself with a whiff of arrogance, “do I really need to see another musical about America?”.
Needless to say, I passed on the opportunity – even though tickets were still relatively easy to come by at the time.
I don’t need to tell you how much egg I had on my face when in a few short weeks it became one of the hottest tickets in Broadway history. And from there, tickets would elude me.
After years of entering ballots across productions in New York and around the world, I finally got tickets to see the show, which was set for April 2020 in Toronto, Canada. Of course, we all know what happened there. Thankfully, the show was released on Disney+ during the pandemic, with the now star-studded OG cast no less, and I broke my rule of watching a performance on screen before seeing it on the stage. And it only served to confirm my just regret of missing those initial previews.
And can we talk for a minute about that OG cast: Lin-Manuel Miranda, Jonathan Groff, Leslie Odom, Jr, Daveed Diggs, Renee Elise Goldsberry, Anthony Ramos – all became stars thanks to this show. Heck, Oscar-winning actress Ariana DeBose was in the ensemble. Has there been another show in the modern era that has unleashed that much talent on the world?
It wouldn’t be until this past weekend – almost decade after those initial conversations – that I would finally see the show on stage, where it surpassed my expectations. The quality of this production is outstanding, from the cast to the crew. And having already seen the Disney+ production took nothing away from the experience – in fact it enhanced it. There’s a lot of dialogue in those rhymes, and having seen it on screen ensured I knew what was going on – especially as someone who otherwise didn’t know too much about the history at play.
While the current cast aren’t the known names of the original (though who knows what the future holds), their talent is equaled, and the show remains as tight as ever. Trey Curtis and Morgan Anita Wood were phenomenal as Alexander and Eliza Hamilton, and Jared Dixon and Nicholas Christopher played Aaron Burr and George Washington with the appropriate level of gravitas. And Andrew Call ensures King George remains the stand out campy character of the show.
And though it’s great to be able to see it on screen, nothing beats seeing it in the room where it – ahem – happens. The level on precision from all involved is second-to-none. The way the stage moves to the beat along with the music, with little room for error – and still everyone comes out shining – is awe inspiring. There’s a mastery in the craft here that few shows equal – it’s no wonder that the show has been the success it has been. The egg on my face remains.
Tickets aren’t nearly as difficult to come by these days as they were a decade ago, but it remains a show which regularly sells out. I couldn’t see a single empty seat in my Saturday matinee. So make sure to book in advance. Tickets to Hamilton on Broadway are available via The Broadway Collection.
The moral of the story is – always listen to your friends who work on Broadway.
In case you’re wondering what another of my friends who works on Broadway recommended to me earlier in the year – Suffs and Stereophonic. The former won two Tonys and the latter won five – the biggest haul of the night (including Best Play, Actor and Sound Design) – after becoming the most nominated play in Broadway history. So that moral remains true. And I happened to catch Stereophonic the night before Hamilton this past weekend and I can confirm that it’s one the best plays I’ve seen on Broadway.
For tickets to Hamilton on Broadway, head to The Broadway Collection.
Photos provided from the 2024 Broadway production.
The author attended the production on 19th October 2024 as a guest of The Broadway Collection.
