I’d already seen a production of Hamilton, this past December on Broadway, but in planning a trip to DC to catch some Nats baseball, my wife and I worked in a performance last week at the Kennedy Center.
The DC tickets were ballpark for what we’d paid on Broadway, though for our roughly $400 each (including the fees), we did get to sit lower level at the Kennedy Center, after sitting near the top for a slightly higher final cost on Broadway.
Before that first show, we had made it a point not to listen to any of the songs ahead of time, wanting to experience everything associated with Hamilton for the first time live.
Since, we’ve listened to the cast album approximately a million times, many of those listens from start to finish while at work here in the home office at AFP.
Which is why I will say now that I entered our second Hamilton experience expecting an awful lot, because we’ve been listening to the original cast performing the songs in the purest form, on heavily-produced recordings.
Literally anything less than that level of perfection would have been noticeable to my ears, is what I’m getting at here.
That having been said, yeah, the Kennedy Center show was pretty good.
The standout performances, to my ears, were the female leads – Julia K. Harriman (Eliza Hamilton) and Sabrina Sloan (Angelica Schuyler). Their performances were almost spot on to the cast album (Phillipa Soo as Eliza, Renee Elise Goldsberg as Angelica, whose vocals bring me to near-tears at times).
Austin Scott, as Alexander Hamilton, seemed tentative at the outset of the June 22 performance that we attended, but seemed to gain confidence as the show went on and was solid throughout.
Nicholas Burr, as Aaron Burr, lived up to that challenging role, doing a great job on signature numbers “Wait for It” and “Dear Theodosia,” two of my favorite songs in the show.
(Though I must caution: at one point or another, all of the songs are favorites of mine.)
Peter Matthew Smith, as King George, was a little flat on “You’ll Be Back,” the first of the king’s three comedy numbers, and by far my favorite-est-est song from this show and maybe anything ever recorded or performed.
The issue to me wasn’t the vocals, but rather the lack of flair, which came later in “What Comes Next?” and “I Know Him,” the savage takedown of John Adams.
As I’d expected, I was moved to tears by “Stay Alive (Reprise)” and the closing number, “Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story,” which always gets me almost uncontrollably blubbering, to the point of gasping for air, it’s so emotional.
The staging was as close to what we’d seen on Broadway as my mind’s eye can remember it. This was particularly noticeable in the “Hurricane” scene, which I think is the most visually stunning scene I will ever see in a musical performance.
All told, very much worth it, if you’re wanting to see Hamilton for the first time, and can’t get to New York, or if you’ve already seen it in NYC, and are looking to see it again.
Review by Chris Graham
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