Click-boom. That's the phrase that comes to mind when I think about how a short 24 hours ago I was entering Richard Rodgers Theatre to see a little-known Broadway show: "Hamilton: An American Musical."
Before I go on and on about how amazing and captivating this show really is, I do want to let anyone reading this know how fortunate and lucky I feel that I got to even see this musical in person. This is probably the hottest show to see in the world right now (not to mention that tickets are more than a little bit expensive), and to be able to receive tickets as a Christmas gift is incredible. In other words, it's safe to say my parents did more than reasonably well this year.
I've been listening to Hamilton for a good two years now, so I would call myself a fan of the show but not a die-hard one. My little sister, on the other hand, practically knows every line from listening to it for the past couple of months and she got me even more into it from that. With her Christmas wishes and endless rapping every time she plugged in her earbuds- which happens way more than you would think- we were soon on our way to see Hamilton to kick off our 2019 in the best way."Hamilton" is a show that is literally consisted of the entire soundtrack that you can hear on Spotify, YouTube and practically anywhere you get your music from; but what makes seeing the whole thing live is how you feel with each note and instrument strum throughout your body and you get to see the movements and facial expressions of it all in real time. This is the case for all musicals and musicians when comparing recordings to their live performances (a.k.a. they are two totally different experiences), but "Hamilton" truly has an additional feeling that goes along with this regular one- well, at least it did for me.
Once the lights dimmed and the music immediately began to sound the title track, tears literally started to spring to my eyes. For the "Hamilton" listeners that know how the first song goes, it isn't the most emotional song in the show by any means, and I admit to feeling a bit silly for crying during this song in particular. But I think this has to do with the fact that I was seeing a song that I've been listening to for a while be performed right before my eyes, and add in the building-up-to-something-insanely-crazy tone of the whole rap, I found myself thinking I would cry through the whole show.
Turns out I didn't do that (well, I cried during two actually emotional songs: "Burn" and "It's Quiet Uptown"), but I felt myself completely enthralled with the show from start to finish. Usually daily tasks and life thoughts seem to widdle their way into my stream of consciousness during a live show that wants to pull me back to reality, but last night, I was living in the 16th century for a full three hours.
Seeing this show live made me appreciate history, and Lin-Manuel Miranda's craft, even more- if that was possible. It took Miranda eight years to finish just the songs that take up the entirety of the show, and that's without getting a cast together or a theatre to pitch the show to and have them host it.
Whenever I go to a show, I also analyze the technicalities as to how much actual work went into creating the show as well as making it a live production since I am a performer myself and have done theatre since high school. "Hamilton" has been one of the few shows I strongly believe has taken such an insurmountable amount of integrity, creativity and passion; this goes for any show, of course, but this one had to culminate the entire life of one of the Founding Fathers in an accurate and concise fashion. To this I say, "Lin-Manuel Miranda, you are a lyrical genius in every sense of the word. May I take a look inside your crazy, creative mind for just one second?"
And that's the other thing- "Hamilton" has made me realize for another time that creativity is truly limitless. No idea is crazy, and anything is possible, but you need to take the time to be patient with yourself and just look at what you have and see what you need. You may have to wait years for this plan to become a real thing, but if you stay on course, there is simply nothing that can stop the greatness from becoming real. This is the case with Miranda and Alexander Hamilton, and hopefully myself one day when my name is up in lights somewhere.
So "Hamilton" is a definite must-see for anyone in my book, and hopefully it will spark something inside of more people like myself. And to any Hamil-haters out there who say the show is "overrated" or "not even that great", you are of course entitled to your opinion; but as the witty King George III sang in the show, "You're on your own."
