Note: We sent two reviewers to see Hamilton! To read our other critic John Kissane's review, head here.
Michelle Obama called it the best piece of art in any form that she’d ever seen in her life. Its popularity is unprecedented, a cultural phenomenon that reinvigorated public interest in both musical theatre and American history.
Lin-Manuel Miranda’s revolutionary musical Hamilton is now 10 years old. In addition to its popularity and praise, the show, which tells the story of founding father Alexander Hamilton through a hip-hop lens, with a cast largely made up of people of color, has been criticized for oversimplifying history and largely overlooking the fact that many of the central characters portrayed were slave owners.
However, it also won 11 Tonys (including Best Musical), the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and became even more widely known, accessibly, and beloved after a filmed version of the Broadway production was released on Disney+ in 2020.
Now in its fifth stellar national tour, currently in production at DeVos as part of Broadway Grand Rapids, Hamilton still holds up. Ten years of tumultuous history including a pandemic that shut down Broadway, the Black Lives Matter movement, and a move from Obama’s second term to Trump’s second term later, this biographical story made new still powerfully resonates. Believe the hype—if you weren’t already a believer.
Based on Ron Chernow’s award-winning 2004 biography, the sung-and-rapped-through musical begins with Alexander Hamilton’s immigration to New York City from his home in St. Croix and ends with his death by duel, spanning his involvement in the Revolutionary War as an aide-de-camp to General George Washington, his interactions with Aaron Burr (narrator of the musical), his prolific career as a writer, lawyer, and as the first Secretary of the Treasury, his fall from grace, and his family life. It speaks eloquently to themes of ambition, legacy, passion, and forgiveness. However, it’s not so much the story but the way it’s told that is so powerful.
With an ensemble cast of 20 actors who look more like America today, telling a story of America’s origins using contemporary language and expression mixed with original texts sung and rapped to an astoundingly good score (conducted by Emmanuel Schvartzman) driven by hip-hop, soul, and R&B, among more traditional musical theatre ballads, there’s a high-energy, palpable heartbeat that makes what could otherwise be a dusty, untold 250-year-old story come alive. It’s utterly poetic, with lyrics that often rhyme written in verse, and yet still, it’s wonderfully vibrant—and sounds marvelous.
It’s also visually stunning and elegantly movement-driven. With an exposed brick upstage wall, the center stage wood floor with a turntable is framed by a wooden balcony and stairs (set designed by David Korins). The turntable and various spaces create constant movement, the kinetic energy of revolution (literally and figuratively) and lights by Howell Binkley heighten and shape mood, emotion, energy, as well as period and location—from street scenes to interior spaces from the bar to the Congressional floor.
The eight corps dancers dressed in white use their bodies to enhance and shape the story as much as the words and music do with Andy Blankenbuehler’s inspired choreography that blends ballet, hip-hop, contemporary, and modern movement in evocative shapes and patterns across the stage.
The individual and collective performances of this particular company are magnificent—on a par with the original Broadway cast. Jimmie “JJ” Jeter’s timing and inflections as Aaron Burr are wonderful; Tyler Fauntleroy is a complex and sympathetic Hamilton, and he creates beautiful harmonies with Maria Harmon as Angelica, though they lack the chemistry that makes that part of the story so compelling; Lauren Mariasoosay is a spectacular Eliza, her voice sweet and bold, her emotionality intense; and A. D. Weaver’s largesse as George Washington is perfection, his vocal gravitas sublime. Every performance, including those from the ensemble, is a standout.
Audience members anticipate characters and numbers with applause before they’ve even sung a note, and yet some pop culture references, such as a presidential nominee “you could grab a beer with” didn’t land 10 years later. However, the statement “Immigrants: we get the job done” was met with cheers.
Because, it’s clear: the fiery passions and conflicts and issues that drove and possessed this country’s founders are very much still in play today. “History has its eyes on you,” they sing in an apex moment of the story they’re telling, which is, for better and for worse, our collective story—of yesterday, today, and tomorrow—magnificently told in this musical theatre form that appears to be timeless.
Hamilton
DeVos Performance Hall
July 22-Aug. 3
https://grandrapids.broadway.com/shows/hamilton-2/
