Broadway: "Hamilton"

11 of them. Didn’t quite get to the record of 12. But it won the ones it deserved.

This was our dorky family getting ready for the show tonight.

Hamilton Performance at Tony Awards 2016 (Yorktown)

So that’s what Hamilton looks & sounds like.

So, the original cast is going to be filmed prior to Miranda leaving. Thank god I will be able to buy a DVD, because I don’t have the required 20000 bucks to get tickets.

Yes, I was happy to hear that.

More details at Playbill. Or, at least more words. It’s still a bit vague as to when and how the complete performance film will be released.

Oh, good. I had heard a few weeks ago that they had decided against the filming.

We just found out the show will be coming to Denver, where I live, in 2017-18. Now I’ve got to start saving my money.

Yeah, they are filming complete performances though, it will exist, and be released. They may be playing coy now, but for a show like Hamilton, they want school kids to see this.

I just wanted to expound on this point a bit more, but one of the greatest compliments the show has been getting is how it is getting “the youths” to care about a long dead treasury secretary, and about the American revolution in general. Not only that, but the show is a showcase of some of the finest minority actors and real-life immigrant stories. Using spoken word, rap, beat poetry and singing to tell the story in a way wholly unique to the musical art form. The show and the cast are straight up groundbreaking, changing Broadway to the core. The cast they put together is one of a kind and integral to the overall sentiment behind the show. That anyone, no matter their station, color or creed can change history. And that you cannot determine how you will be remembered.

They have had a lot of programs to get NY public schools in for shows, and students in for super cheap (10 bucks) tickets. This show is probably going to be remembered as a cornerstone of American art, and the art form of musical theatre. I haven’t seen a show so powerful since Les Miserables (which carries a very similar narrative). Again, groundbreaking.

The problem with broadway, is the ticket prices, the exclusivity, and the straight up inability to reach a wider audience. And to get the full impact of the show and the cast, you need to be able to see them sing. That is the beauty of live theatre, you get a personal connection to the performers that just can’t be replicated. It is sacrosanct. While I am all for the sanctity of the living and breathing art form that is theatrical performance, a show like this needs to have the message and vision spread as wide as possible. And for that, I am sure they will release this widely, free to schools and kids, probably broadcast on PBS for free. I know that seeing the Broadway cast will in no way deter me from seeing it live in Chicago sometime this fall or early next year, but I have a feeling that the performances recorded will be held onto for at least a year. I would expect some sort of theatrical release or DVD next year, to allow the West End and Chicago performances to get a foothold prior to the wide release.

I am so excited that this cast, and their work will be saved forever, and I hope that it will be able to spread the powerful message of their performance on as wide of a scale as possible. And I am willing to wait for it.

I think they did at least two or three whole shows where the audience was entirely public school kids (and staff I assume) from the city. And beforehand they had school drama programs perform on the stage.

Daveed Diggs said that if he had seen black men portraying Jefferson or Washington or Madison when he was young growing up in Oakland it would have changed his life.

Yes. That is probably why we will see this show get as wide of a release as possible, I think it just will be a matter of time (appeasing investors, etc) until Hamilton is free.

Chicago ticket sales have just opened up 22 minutes ago, I picked out my seats, and I have been "waiting to verify for 10 minutes, with a timer saying it will be 45 minutes until I can buy them, with the number fluctuating from 15 to 45 minutes.

This is fucking torture. Ticketmaster can suck a fucking big dong.

And I waited till it ticked down to 1 minute remaining on “verifying secured seats” and the window disappeared, no tickets, no sale.

Fuck this nonsense, and fuck ticketmaster with a rusty fucking pole.

Gah! That sounds awful, Jon. Good luck! History (by which I mean those of us who will be going through the same thing as the tour progresses) has its eyes on you!

Gave up.

Glad I waited 45 minutes while it was “fetching my secured tickets” after which the window disappeared. I guess it timed out, costing me most of the hour that you could even purchase tickets. Stubhub tickets were being listed within 20 minutes of the sale starting, fucking bullshit. Scalpers are the scum of the earth.

It is a fucking racket, and Ticketmaster reaps the rewards through the “verified resales” that happen through Ticketmaster. Taking a cut from the tickets twice.

They really need to start making more “credit card verified” tickets available to these things. Where you have to use the credit card purchased to access the tickets when you check in.

Fucking bullshit. Well, looks like that theater is playing Book of Mormon until Hamilton opens up, and I haven’t seen that yet, so I guess that will be this summer, and Hamilton next summer, as tickets basically sold out through mid march in under a few hours.

Glad I checked on twitter, someone posted that it was easy to get tickets now. The select your own seat option has become available again, (after 5pm) and a lot of scattered seats are available now. Basically only “obstructed view” seats, but w/e. Still going! Got Matinee tickets for november 6th, will make a weekend trip about it!

That was a fucking hellish nightmare of a shopping experience.

I just listened to most of this today, and its really great. Granted, my knowledge of the people involved isn’t big, but its getting me interested in knowing more, which is always great - anyways, what a great musical story to even just listen to.

Daveed Diggs (Lafayette/Jefferson) is leaving the cast at the end of the week. I feel like out of anyone in that show, he may be the hardest to replace. A legitimately world-class rapper who can also sing. Even his physical characteristics as Jefferson totally owned the role. Hard for me to picture anyone else pulling if off as well.

I’ve been re-listening to it…(cough) non-stop.

My daughter finally saw it Monday night (tickets we bought last November) with a friend. She’s been a total hard-core fan from Day One, and her assessment was that nothing has been lost with the new cast. Renee as Angelica, and Chris Jackson as Washington are still there. They got the alternate for the 2nd Hamilton (Michael Luwoye), who she loved. And she even got the understudy for Burr, Austin Smith, who she said was perfect… apparently he’s filling in before the full-time replacement starts, but she wishes he just stays.

Seems like they’re hiring talented people and that the play will continue to be great regardless of who’s in it.