Hamilton on Disney+

[+ Billsboy4]

I saw it yesterday.....brilliant. I saw the live show and this production with the Original Broadway Cast from 2016 was amazing.

[+ WilliamM]

I read the most recent biography of Alexander Hamilton before seeing the Broadway musical in July 2016.

 

The CD had not dropped yet. I spent too much tim trying to match the biography with the show. I should have just relaxed and enjoyed the music and words which were excellent on their own.

 

However, I probably won't watch the recorded version. I live in Philadelphia and can visit were Hamilton lived and worked as Washington Cabinet Secretary of Treasury

[marylander1940]

I saw it yesterday.....brilliant. I saw the live show and this production with the Original Broadway Cast from 2016 was amazing.

 

One of my neighbors and his 7 y/o son just recommended it to me in my neighborhood's 4th of July alley barbeque! I'll check the 1 week trial membership of Disney +

[+ Just Sayin]

I saw it last night too; great to see after seeing it from a theatre balcony in Chicago last summer; one advantage is that you could see the facial expressions of the performers; in the scene where Eliza and Alexander are grieving over the loss of their son, Lin-Manuel Miranda's facial expressions are haunting--one truly feels the horrible sorrow of losing a child; seeing this is about the only thing that cheered me up this 4th of July!

[Islesguy]

Have zero desire to watch a musical based on a bad hagiography of Hamilton. Now if someone wants to write a musical about Thomas Paine, I will be first in line to see it.

[+ Gar1eth]

Have zero desire to watch a musical based on a bad hagiography of Hamilton. Now if someone wants to write a musical about Thomas Paine, I will be first in line to see it.

 

I felt that way about Rent when I first heard about it. I thought why do I want to see a play about junkies. I changed my mind after I saw it.

 

Gman

Edited July 5, 2020 by Gar1eth

[+ Gar1eth]

 

Gman

[Islesguy]

I felt that way about Rent when I first hear about it. I thought why do I want to see a play about junkies. I changed my mind after I saw it.

 

Gman

The difference between Rent and Hamilton is Rent is pure fiction while Hamilton is ssupposed to be fact based. If someone wants to write a musical about Hamilton that includes his aristocratic tendencies, his creation of trickle-down economics, his true thoughts on slavery, etc., etc. I might be more inclined to check it out.

 

One would think his upbringing would have made him more sympathetic and empathic to the plight of the lower classes but he was one of those I got mine so screw the rest of you. If the political left wants a lesser known Founder to look to as inspirational and aspirational, Thomas Paine should be your guy not Alexander Hamilton.

[+ Axiom2001]

One of my neighbors and his 7 y/o son just recommended it to me in my neighborhood's 4th of July alley barbeque! I'll check the 1 week trial membership of Disney +

 

A good friend and former colleague of mine recommended that I take out a Disney membership in order to view Hamilton; now that I know that I can get to view and hear per a week's free trial, I am definitely going to experience this phenomenal musical.

 

...had hoped to see the production (live) in San Francisco, but a sudden halt was made when theaters, etc. were closed due to COVID-19.

[+ purplekow]

The difference between Rent and Hamilton is Rent is pure fiction while Hamilton is ssupposed to be fact based. If someone wants to write a musical about Hamilton that includes his aristocratic tendencies, his creation of trickle-down economics, his true thoughts on slavery, etc., etc. I might be more inclined to check it out.

 

One would think his upbringing would have made him more sympathetic and empathic to the plight of the lower classes but he was one of those I got mine so screw the rest of you. If the political left wants a lesser known Founder to look to as inspirational and aspirational, Thomas Paine should be your guy not Alexander Hamilton.

People breaking into song at a moments notice is not likely to be a definitive source of reliable information about anyone. This play was based on Hamilton's life, but it is not a reenactment, merely one talented man's interpretation of how Hamilton's life could be turned into a musical. The expectation should be of a good night's entertainment, which this is, and not any more of documentary than West Side Story is a true tale of gangs in the 50's. I seriously doubt that Thomas Paine The Musical would be any more reliable regarding his actual life and times, but if you are not busy, perhaps it could be a quarantine undertaking.

[+ WilliamM]

The musical *Gypsy was based on a book about a mostly terrifying mother, written by Gypsy Rose Lee. Ethel Merman played the mother on Broadway from 1959 to 1961.

 

Many people who saw the musical thought Merman was playing herself. She probably wasn't.

[+ Gar1eth]

A good friend and former colleague of mine recommended that I take out a Disney membership in order to view Hamilton; now that I know that I can get to view and hear per a week's free trial, I am definitely going to experience this phenomenal musical.

 

...had hoped to see the production (live) in San Francisco, but a sudden halt was made when theaters, etc. were closed due to COVID-19.

 

I tried to sign up for the freebie and still was charged. Plus I read an article that said they had stopped the free trial. But maybe I did something wrong.

 

Gman

[+ Gar1eth]

People breaking into song at a moments notice is not likely to be a definitive source of reliable information about anyone.

 

I hope you are not going to try to tell me next that Phillip Schuyler did not have a multiracial family.

 

 

Gman

[+ E.T.Bass]

I have Hulu, Prime, Netflix, and DirecTv.

I am inclined to skip Disney+ though it sounds like I am missing out on a good thing with Hamilton.

[+ WilliamM]

People breaking into song at a moments notice is not likely to be a definitive source of reliable information about anyone. This play was based on Hamilton's life, but it is not a reenactment, merely one talented man's interpretation of how Hamilton's life could be turned into a musical. The expectation should be of a good night's entertainment, which this is, and not any more of documentary than West Side Story is a true tale of gangs in the 50's. I seriously doubt that Thomas Paine The Musical would be any more reliable regarding his actual life and times, but if you are not busy, perhaps it could be a quarantine undertaking.

 

Why. There's no reason why a Broadway show can't be somewhat accurate. The Sound of Music opened on Broadway in 1959, a very long time ago. Mary Martin who played Maria was almost 46 years old on opening night.

Edited July 5, 2020 by WilliamM

[Islesguy]

People breaking into song at a moments notice is not likely to be a definitive source of reliable information about anyone. This play was based on Hamilton's life, but it is not a reenactment, merely one talented man's interpretation of how Hamilton's life could be turned into a musical. The expectation should be of a good night's entertainment, which this is, and not any more of documentary than West Side Story is a true tale of gangs in the 50's. I seriously doubt that Thomas Paine The Musical would be any more reliable regarding his actual life and times, but if you are not busy, perhaps it could be a quarantine undertaking.

The problem is not the musical itself; it's the biography upon which it is based. The biography itself is the problem as it is a wholly incomplete look at Hamilton based on a particular ideology which the writer has and thus projects onto Hamilton. Miranda could have done more research into the author and would have realized the author, Ron Chernow, wrote the biography to make Hamilton's conservative ideology more palatable then he deserves. If Miranda chose to write the book for the musical himself instead of relying on Chernow's biography, he would have done a much better job, imo.

[Islesguy]

Why. There's no reason why a Broadway show can't be somewhat accurate. The Sound of Music opened on Broadway in 1959, a very long time ago.

Musicals certainly can be as accurate as they want to be. When your musical is based on an inaccurate biography, you are kind of restricted if you decide not to do any further research yourself.

[+ WilliamM]

Musicals certainly can be as accurate as they want to be. When your musical is based on an inaccurate biography, you are kind of restricted if you decide not to do any further research yourself.

 

I didn't have much to say because I am not a fan of the musical Hamilton.

[down_to_business]

Watched it last night, in a big part because of all the attention here. It was interesting, different, and not what I expected.

[+ Gar1eth]

Spoiler Alert::

 

I've seen Jonathan Goff and others sing "You'll Be Back" on YouTube before, and it's always been performed in a more comical vein. In the performance caught on film, you can tell there is a real undercurrent of anger. He even spits-or more accurately- drools at one point. I'm not clear it it was for the part showing fury, incipient madness, (or both at the same time) or just one of those things.

 

I also came across a YouTube video from when Hamilton first opened on the West End. The video was of an American show wanting to know the British public's reaction to the musical. The interviewer-also an American- said that in the UK production the King George character was made more acceptable by being portrayed comically. The hosts in the USA didn't agree that George wasn't a comic part in the Broadway production. But again, I see real anger in Jonathan Goff's portrayal during the song.

 

On the other hand maybe Jonathan's drooling was just a mischance or due to enunciation. Whenever I see an actor spit, I'm always reminded of this Friend's Episode with Gary Oldman.

 

 

 

 

Gman

[+ WilliamM]

Jonathan Geoff can't control spitting. when he talks/sings on stage. Jonathan was in "The Little Shop of Horrors" recently off Broadway in a small theater. It happened again. I saw that revival.

 

@Gar1eth

Edited July 8, 2020 by WilliamM

[AceHardware]

I hope you are not going to try to tell me next that Phillip Schuyler did not have a multiracial family.

 

 

Gman

As the black and white "brothers" say in "Lucifer," haven't you heard of adoption? ?

 

Anyway, I just watched it yesterday and really enjoyed it, especially the first half. While we miss out on the crowd experience of a theater, there is the advantage of all the facial close ups that we get. What an amazing cast of singers.