And I Am Not Throwing Away My Shot!!

Rewind (rewind, rewind) to around half past 12 on an otherwise-fairly-miserable-day in January 2017, and I was running around my house more hyper than a little kid on WAY too much sugar. As after having been in the queue for AGES, I had managed to secure tickets to the most hotly-anticipated musical EVER (well, for a long time anyway). Fast forward back to the present, over a year later, and I think part of me is still in denial that I have now seen it....

"No you haven't" part of me says
"Yes you have!!!" says the other
"No"
"Yes" etc etc etc

I saw Hamilton over the weekend. Yeah; HAMILTON!!!!!!

Over the past couple of years, I have never seen a musical that has had such a following that Hamilton has garnered. And on paper, surely we all must have thought it was mad: a hip-hop musical based on American politics....?! But Lin Manuel-Miranda's genius, and the fact that there is NOTHING else like it meant that it has taken off like a rocket and become a cultural phenomenon. It has also won 11 Tonys, a Grammy and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2016; plus it has just become the most Olivier-nominated musical in history, with 13 nominations - they were only announced this week!

And now here I am, trying to write and figure out what I can add to what has already been said about Miranda's masterpiece, based on the life of America's first Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton, that is currently playing at London's Victoria Palace Theatre. But here we go, I'll try and do my best, despite some severe writer's block.

The best thing to do I think is to talk about this incredible cast; we had quite a few covers on, but I will get to them later, so I will start with the regular leads we had on, and in particular, the 3 actors (!) who have all been nominated together for the Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical category. They are: Cleve September (In The Heights), who played John Laurens/Philip Hamilton: Jason Pennycooke, who played the Marqius de Lafayette/Thomas Jefferson: and finally Michael Jibson as King George III, and who I would personally put my money on. He stole the show in EVERY scene he was in, which was a tall order considering he's only on stage for 10 minutes. Despite Pennycooke's Jefferson watching Hamilton's demise with hyper, and sometimes rather camp, glee, Jibson had the audience laughing and cheering with every single sarcastic whip and raised eyebrow.

On to the other regular leads, Tarin Callender rounded off the "Revolutionary Set" with his brash Hercules Mulligan and smooth James Madison; Rachelle Ann Go (Les Mis, Miss Saigon) played Hamilton's wife Eliza and was vocally stunning in numbers like Helpless and Burn, though I believe her highlight came in That Would Be Enough; and finally I HAVE to mention Obioma Ugoala. Funnily enough, I met up with a friend of mine before the show (as you do) and she said that he was the one to keep an eye on - and boy was she right! When this guy entered the room and right from his first booming words in Right Hand Man, you knew who was in charge. If you go and see the show, he is definitely one to watch!

And now on the covers: firstly, we had Ash Hunter, who is the alternate for the titular character, and who was absolutely brilliant! I really liked how he was a little bit shy in the beginning and then started to gain confidence from My Shot onwards, after meeting Laurens, Lafayette and Mulligan. Secondly, we had Sifiso Mazibuko as Aaron Burr, who seemed a little bit more down-to-earth than you would expect Burr to be, which I liked, although he did need a bit more charisma for me, plus some more tension when the rivalry with A.Ham was off and running. But fingers crossed he'll grow into the role more as time goes on.

Next is Angelica Schuyler, my favourite character in the show; and while I was initially gutted that I wasn't seeing Rachel John (who I have heard a LOT of good things about), Miriam Teak Lee soon made that go right out of the window. She was exactly how you would want Angelica to be - powerful and sassy, but also kind and vulnerable. Plus, vocally, she was awesome, and yes, I adored her Satisfied. When Hamilton goes on tour (and it will), she would be a great choice for Angelica.
And finally, last but certainly not least, we had Marsha Songcombe standing in to play the dual roles of Peggy Schuyler (#andpeggy) and Maria Reynolds. It's a small role, but she still held her own, especially as the sultry Maria Reynolds.

I must also mention the ensemble, who are quite literally non-stop (haha). They are just incredible, and are constantly moving (and I am not just talking about the choreography, which is unlike anything else out there; the stage is set on a revolve just like Les Mis), and it was also good seeing leads take ensemble tracks to provide backing vocals for many many numbers (I saw the show from the top tier so could see everything).
Speaking of, many many numbers and moments gave me goosebumps: Wait For It, Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down) and One Last Time to give just a few examples.

I really don't know what else to say other than GO SEE IT!! Well try to, I will surely try and get another ticket when the next batch are released. Oh and start taking bets on how many Oliviers it will win (bearing it mind it can win 10 max out of its 13 nominations due to multiple nominations in a couple of categories).

So much has been said about this phenomenon, but I will try and end on this.
When I see most shows which I really enjoyed, I came out buzzing and hyper - I didn't with this time, as Hamilton ends on a more quiet, emotional and rather poignant note, it felt odd coming out like that.
It was more a quiet realisation that I had witnessed something truly special and truly marvellous.