The Smash Hit Stage Production Hits Disney Plus
Hamilton (2020) tells the tale of America's foremost founding father and first Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton and his rise and fall of his life from moving from the Caribbean to New York.
Written By Lin-Manuel Miranda & Ron Chernow and Directed By Thomas Kail, I was remarkably impressed with how well made this production was, especially the technical aspects of this cinematic stage production as well as the overall, predominantly free flowing story arc too. Let's dive into why Hamilton made such a big impact on not just me, but the world.
The Production....
Before we progress onto this review, I won't be focusing on the story as much and be focusing more on the technical aspects and the cast of this stage production. For me personally historical events that are turned into entertainment purposes can be tricky to review. With the long awaited change in the world with the Black Lives Matter movement, there's some controversy surrounding the story so I want to try steer away from the story and focus on other aspects of the production instead. With that being said let's dive into this ground-braking stage production.
Hamilton (2020) was something I've heard a lot about, mainly from my younger brother who is massively into his theatre productions and he constantly listens to the Original Broadway Cast Recording of Hamilton on Spotify so I've heard some songs before. So when Disney announced the live action recording of the worldwide phenomenon would hit Disney Plus I was intrigued to see what all the hype was about. So I was pleasantly surprised with how much I actually enjoyed my time with Hamilton and how they tell the story with NO dialogue and opt for songs instead. Normally musicals are a mix of dialogue scenes that flow into a song but in the case of Hamilton they go straight for the songs back to back and remarkably it works amazingly well. The songs all flow impressively well and you don't even realise sometimes that you've gone from one song to the next, exampleS being near the start with Aaron Burr,Sir into My Shot and also A Winter's Ball into Helpless. It's so subtle you hardly realise you're onto the next song and for me that shows a smooth, flowing story. I don't know if I have an absolute favourite song but ones that I did enjoy in particular were Right Hand Man, My Shot, Guns And Ships and also The World Was Wide Enough.
I think the reason Hamilton works so well and why it's quickly become some peoples favourite stage production is not only from the catchy hip/hop songs but because of the choreography and the technical aspects of the musical. The stage set has been built to resemble a Colonial-era building under construction and to help move around the actors. It has a revolving circular "turntables" as well as a balcony area that the actors can go upto and tell the story from up high. In the opening moments of the show we are introduced to Alexander Hamilton as he arrives from the Caribbean to New York and his entrance is from is on the staircase facing down, giving the audience the idea we are meant to be at the harbour. One of the most impressive moments in the production was from the song of Satisfied, in which we see Alexander marrying one of the three sisters we meet 5 minutes prior to this song. We get the perspective from Angelica, one of three sisters, who has fallen in love with Alexander but can't pursue him as he is marrying her sister Eliza and we get this amazingly well put together "flashback" moment. The way in which they seamlessly show us Angelica at her sisters wedding raising a toast to the happy couple to how she first meets Alexander and instantly falls for his charm to then take us back to the wedding was absolutely incredible, it really did blown my mind.
The Cast....
Hamilton (2020) has an impressive and star-studded cast that have all go onto star in major Hollywood blockbusters as well as successful singing careers too. Playing Alexandar Hamilton is none other than Lin- Manuel Miranda (Mary Poppins Returns). Playing his wife is Phillipa Soo (Smash, Moana) and playing Arron Burr is Leslie Odom Jr. (Murder On The Orient Express, Red Tails). Other cast members include Anthony Ramos (A Star Is Born, Godzilla: King Of The Monsters), Daveed Diggs (Blindspotting, Wonder) and also Renee Elise Goldberry (The House With A Clock In Its Walls).
There is a lot of impressive performances from many of the cast members above but for me one of the stand out performances was from relatively unknown actress called Ariana DeBose who plays The Bullet. Now looking at that you'd think her role within Hamilton isn't at all impressive, rather just filling in as an extra but her role has a much deeper and special role. Not including Alexanders cousin or mother who kill themselves, her character is the first character we see get killed in the production for suspected espionage, from then on in her character becomes the omen of death. At the begging of the musical number Stay Alive, we see her carrying a bullet that has been fired from a British soldiers gun that is going to strike Hamilton but dodges him. Giving the audience a taste of whats to come. Later on in Blow Us All Away, she tells Phillip where to find George Eacker, flirtingly, showing the audience subliminally that Phillip is literally flirting with death. Theres so much more to her character which I won't talk about as we start getting into spoiler territory and if you enjoy Ariana DeBose's performance in Hamilton then you'll be pleased to know she is in the upcoming Steven Spielberg reboot of West Side Story (2020).
To Conclude....
Hamilton (2020) is a remarkable and groundbreaking stage production that mixes the old with the new in a fresh, exciting way and I’m totally here for it.
Regarding the rating for this, I’ll be rating it more on the technical and performance aspects rather than the story itself, like I said before there’s some issues surrounding it and I’d rather steer away from that for this review.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
Hamilton is now streaming on Disney Plus worldwide.