Review: Hamilton

Miranda As Lead Is Show's Only (Slight) Weakness

So we got a one-month trial subscription to Disney+ so we could watch Hamilton on a 13" laptop computer screen because our TV, streaming player, and iMac desktop are all so out of date that this (along with its tinny speakers) was our only option.

The show is amazing - a new standard for filmed theatrical performances that mixes the best of the breadth of what live theater offers with just the right amount of close-ups to focus one's attention where and when it needs to be. The production values are excellent, the set and costumes simple and classy, the choreography seamless and flowing, and the orchestra as crisp as and tight as its soundtrack needs it to be. Kudos to film director and producer Thomas Kail for his excellent work.

The show itself (written and composed by Lin-Manuel Miranda) merits its Shakespearean comparisons in terms of lyrical language (seriously), and the music's melodies and rap rhythms still sound as fresh five years since the show's opening and original soundtrack in 2015. The precision of the cast performances - both vocally and theatrically - are stellar with one exception: Miranda, the show's creator, who also plays the lead role of Alexander Hamilton.

Now before the fanboys and fangirls come after me, don't hear what I'm not saying. I'm not saying that Miranda as an artist lacks talent, cleverness, genius, drive, creativity, vision, passion, knowledge, skill, and more than a little (or, frankly, a lot of) luck. I'm not saying any of that.

I am saying that, as Alexander Hamilton, Miranda is best when he's rapping, is less of a singer, and even less of an actor than the role really requires. He nails the upfront, in-your-face persona, but the cracks show in the last quarter of the musical when the weight of the songs and (what should be more) emotion are just too much for him to theatrically and convincingly lift.

This doesn't mean Miranda is terrible as Alexander Hamilton (hardly); however (and perhaps unfairly), the absolute success of his accomplishment in creating and bringing the whole of this masterpiece to life (though he had help - Alex Lacamoire is the gifted co-arranger of the show's score) just overwhelms his attempt to play its lead. No one other than Miranda could have written Hamilton, but plenty of others could play and sing (maybe not rap - he has the advantage of being the wordsmith) the part better. Much of originality has to do with being the first.

But that's my only critique (and it is a minimal one). If you don't agree with me, that's perfectly fine, but instead of taking me to task (I'm fragile), just write me off as one who hates Disney and had to watch the show on a 13" laptop screen through tinny speakers and we'll call it a draw (a la Hamilton, I'll just count to ten and point to the sky in a duel).