Hamilton - An American Musical

[SecondCor521]

I will take your word for it as I cannot abide musicals. Its just that the people of my acquaintance that foam at the mouth over this thing seem to all be of a particular extreme political persuasion.

FWIW, my daughter and I are at quite opposite ends politically and we both really liked it.

 

[spncity]

If you'd like to know more of the story nuances and context, watch this History Channel documentary about Alexander Hamilton first:

 

[acronymous]

We watched it last night. It was fantastic! Such great performances and narrative. I loved the rap battles in the cabinet as they were crafting policy. Schoolhouse Rock for a new generation.

 

[Midpack]

We watched it on Disney+ last night, loved it again. And we have tickets to see it live again in Jan assuming SAR2 doesn't shut them down.

 

[Midpack]

I will take your word for it as I cannot abide musicals. Its just that the people of my acquaintance that foam at the mouth over this thing seem to all be of a particular extreme political persuasion.

You're certainly free to do so, but if you can't abide musicals why would you post on this thread? And your assumption on Hamilton fans political persuasion is misplaced.

 

[Dash man]

We saw it live in Ft Lauderdale two years ago and it was an amazing show. We were fortunate to snag great seats for a reasonable price. I couldn’t see any particular political slant in it. It was historically accurate and the talent and music was amazing, and I’m no fan of rap.

 

[Clone]

My DW turned on the closed captioning. There are some very funny side comments that were difficult to understand in the music. I liked the mechanical design of the rotating stage. In particular, the scene where the woman was walking down the street (if I remember that scene correctly).

 

[truenorth418]

Alexander Hamilton was a critical figure in American history. The reality is relevant enough without resorting to hip hop music and other gimmickry. I’ll pass.

 

[gerntz]

Read Chernow's book before the play was ever dreamed of. All Hamilton did was invent the US's capitalism economy.

 

[Amethyst]

No doubt. And I'll bet Elizabethans didn't speak in iambic pentameter, the way Shakespeare made it sound. The hip-hop poetry of "Hamilton" bears no resemblance to the ugly, woman-abusing words on some "rap" albums.

"Hamilton" is a Greek tragedy, in that Hamilton, despite his great natural gifts and heroic actions, was destroyed in the end by his own tragic flaw (yes, we know it was technically a bullet that did him in, but...) So you can say that the play is trying to teach a moral lesson, not just a historical one. But it's not at all preachy. Although I am a theater buff, I don't care for heavy-handed, preachy plays.

I will suggest that someone who famously does not care for the workings of government, may enjoy the scene about "The Room Where It Happened." Lin-Manuel Miranda doesn't have much use for sausage-making, either.

I am pretty sure that Alexander Hamilton did not traffic in rap.

 

[brewer12345]

You're certainly free to do so, but if you can't abide musicals why would you post on this thread? And your assumption on Hamilton fans political persuasion is misplaced.

I asked a question. That ok with you? The answers disabused me of an incorrect supposition on my part. I do not care for musicals, but de gustibus non disputandam. Glad you enjoy the show.

 

[Teacher Terry]

Thanks for the information about seeing it on Disney. I have the CD in my car and play it all the time.

 

[RAE]

DW and I saw the show live in Chicago a couple years ago, and it was fantastic. I had reservations about the music, but once I saw the performance, I was mesmerized by the way Miranda used it to tell the story. It's about American history, and part of that were the political battles going on at the time, of course.

I watched the live-cast performance on Disney last evening, and it was very good, but it doesn't capture the energy of the live theater performance. Great show, well worth the $$ we paid for tickets.

 

[harllee]

I plan to sign up on Disney for a month so I can watch Hamilton a couple of times.

 

[travelover]

I plan to sign up on Disney for a month so I can watch Hamilton a couple of times.

That is what we did. Watched it for the first time tonight, with captions. Really enjoyed it.

 

[Golden sunsets]

I plan to sign up on Disney for a month so I can watch Hamilton a couple of times.

Ditto; Its about the same as a streaming rental and you can peruse the Disney inventory for a month. Brilliant on Disney's part to drive traffic to their streaming platform to check it out. I would never have otherwise tried out the service.

 

[tulak]

I don’t normally care for musicals and enjoyed Hamilton quite a bit.

I watched it last night with closed captioning on, which is helpful since the dialogue moves quickly.

Well worth watching IMO. I’ll probably watch it again with DS/DD.

 

[Lawrencewendall]

Started watching it last night. Could only stomach 5 minutes of the music before I jumped on the computer and I normally like musicals.

 

[CardsFan]

I will probably get flamed for this. Trying to keep it as generic as possible:

No interest since the cast in NYC decided it was their right to add political commentary at the end of one particular show.

Musicals are for entertainment, not to learn history, or to be "educated" by the actors.

 

[Midpack]

Ditto; Its about the same as a streaming rental and you can peruse the Disney inventory for a month. Brilliant on Disney's part to drive traffic to their streaming platform to check it out. I would never have otherwise tried out the service.

... the streaming app was downloaded 752,451 times globally, including 458,796 times in the U.S., from Friday to Sunday. That's 74% more downloads than the four previous weekends in June.

https://people.com/movies/hamilton-movie-boosts-disney-downloads-up-74-over-the-holiday-weekend/

 

[Ready]

I signed up for one month of Disney+ so I could watch the musical, but I figured I would check out the rest of their library while I have the month’s subscription. I browsed through the entire catalogue and literally could not find one other show I wanted to watch.

If you have kids I’m sure it’s great to have all the Disney classics for them. But for adults unless you like the Star Wars or Marvel stuff it seems like it’s not the right audience for us.

Is there anything in the Disney collection that would appeal to adults that I overlooked?

 

[Lewis Clark]

I saw Hamilton live on stage last year and loved it.

Beforehand, I was worried about the pace of the rap music. We borrowed a CD of the music and found the lyrics online. Listening to the music while reading the lyrics in advance really helped me follow the songs when we saw the show.

 

[harllee]

I signed up for one month of Disney+ so I could watch the musical, but I figured I would check out the rest of their library while I have the month’s subscription. I browsed through the entire catalogue and literally could not find one other show I wanted to watch.

If you have kids I’m sure it’s great to have all the Disney classics for them. But for adults unless you like the Star Wars or Marvel stuff it seems like it’s not the right audience for us.

Is there anything in the Disney collection that would appeal to adults that I overlooked?

Star Wars?

 

[easysurfer]

Have not seen Hamilton. I know people who have and they rave about it.

My only exposure to Hamilton is the $20 bill .

 

[Cricky]

“The 10-dollar founding father” is on...the $20 bill? Unexpected inflation?