My wife and I said the same thing about LMM. Absolutely talented lyrically and composing, but as a singer he is between horrible and bad. Honestly lowered the overall value of the production, otherwise 10/10. By the 2nd half of the show LMM singing is literally unbearable.
OT: Hamilton
- Thread starter chickenpatty2
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My wife and I said the same thing about LMM. Absolutely talented lyrically and composing, but as a singer he is between horrible and bad. Honestly lowered the overall value of the production, otherwise 10/10. By the 2nd half of the show LMM singing is literally unbearable.
Just saw it last night on Disney Plus. We turned on the subtitles which are well done (not obtrusive) and helped a lot.
I thought it was somewhere between very good and excellent. The only sour note was the Thomas Jefferson character, who basically was Jar Jar Binks set to music. Making Aaron Burr a sympathetic character and Jefferson a buffoon seemed a stretch to me.
On the other hand, LMM, although agreed not a great singer, is an incredible actor. And the whole story, which was quite long, was still fast-paced and didn't have any lags. I would have cut Eliza's last number, which was basically, "And then I did a whole bunch of good stuff, too."
A- to and A. Best thing I've ever seen on Broadway? Probably top five. #1 is still A Moon for the Misbegotten" starring Collen Dewhurst, Ed Flanders, and Jason Robards. Lucked into that one as when we walked up to the ticket window an hour before the show, the people in front of us turned in four, row five tix.
I thought it was somewhere between very good and excellent. The only sour note was the Thomas Jefferson character, who basically was Jar Jar Binks set to music. Making Aaron Burr a sympathetic character and Jefferson a buffoon seemed a stretch to me.
On the other hand, LMM, although agreed not a great singer, is an incredible actor. And the whole story, which was quite long, was still fast-paced and didn't have any lags. I would have cut Eliza's last number, which was basically, "And then I did a whole bunch of good stuff, too."
A- to and A. Best thing I've ever seen on Broadway? Probably top five. #1 is still A Moon for the Misbegotten" starring Collen Dewhurst, Ed Flanders, and Jason Robards. Lucked into that one as when we walked up to the ticket window an hour before the show, the people in front of us turned in four, row five tix.
And here I thought Diggs was the best thing on stage (aside from possibly King George's awesome lines).
I liked Diggs' performance, but I thought, "Wait, this is Thomas Jefferson?"
Hilarious - the #1 Broadway show of the century, the one that launched a dozen new careers in Hollywood, made over $600million - couldn't even be made today.
enjoy it on Disney+ if you can - it won't last the year....
y'all must be so proud.
enjoy it on Disney+ if you can - it won't last the year....
y'all must be so proud.
I have to admit, the cast I saw last year was better than the original cast. The TJ actor was much better and played the role less over the top.
You seem angry, or upset. Why is that?
Actually, it’s okay, I don’t really care.
He pulled in a few collaborators he had known for many years, in the music and choreography colleagues, and some other performers that he had been doing rap stuff with, which makes a nice part of the story. There’s a lot of small interplay with the cast and the audience, which is where some of Daveed Diggs silliness comes in. A lot of shows have that one or two numbers that doesn’t quite fit with the others, and is often comedic. “What did I miss?” does that for this show. One of the most powerful numbers is the one where Washington talks about stepping down from the presidency. It’s just really powerful. I know there has been a lot of new talk about the flaws in the show, and the missed opportunity to incorporate other aspects of things like slavery, which is all valid. LMM tweeted something today or yesterday about the challenge of distilling so much history into a 2.5 hour play, and that he tried his best. Lots to discuss, but no reason to hate on him or the show, IMO.
King George was the comedic relief. No need for TJ to have that role as well. Once again, when I saw the show last year, TJ's actor did not come across so over the top.
You have to wonder about the dalliance. Was it a setup all along, or did Maria Reynolds seize on an opportunity that came his way. I've read the Reynolds Pamphlet, but I wonder if there is any scholarship on this?
Also did not know his son was killed in a duel. Apparently named after Eliza's father.
Interesting stuff.
Also did not know his son was killed in a duel. Apparently named after Eliza's father.
Interesting stuff.
Welcome to the wonderful world of history, much more fun than the silly numbers you play with.
No need to give up one for the other. Never heard of cliometrics?Welcome to the wonderful world of history, much more fun than the silly numbers you play with.
I loved how "over the top" he played it. I thought of it, instead, as "energetic." For me, it made the whole show.
Just got done watching. For me it was very hard to follow along with the story. Luckily I'm a history buff so could infer kind of where they were at in the story. Otherwise trying to hear what they were saying while they were singing was impossible and most times I felt lost. My wife loves it, I watched for her, but glad I didn't go to Broadway to see it.
O and you have a depraved mind.
Great show. I had a hard time following at times. The rap cadence is not natural to my old white guy ears but that says more about me than the show.
Article talking about the fact that if you only knew the show from the album you miss one of the key parts of the production. The movie version solves that better than the stage show.
Slate
Looking Into the Light
Hamilton fans who never got to see the show may be surprised by the movie’s ending
Hadn't occurred to me as I saw it in a road show production
And to state the obvious; the Ron Chernow book is a must read for anyone interested in American History.
Just didn't work. Of all the characters to make over the top, TJ wasn't the one. He was a remarkably subdue person in real life. For a show that used Chernow as source material and with LMM trying to stay historically accurate, this was a misfire (one of the few).
Saw it on Disney+ on Sunday Night. Really liked the novel & rap based approach to telling the story. The sub-titles definitely helped in following along but were distracting to taking in the stagecraft/nuances to the show. In general I have not been a big fan of seeing broadway shows shown in theater format on TV - but this held my interest. I'll have to see it live.
I think he played it so over the top more to show how much Hamilton and Jefferson didn't get along. Hamilton thought Jefferson had an air of cockiness about him and looked down upon Hamilton so that is what the actor was trying to portray.
To unequivocally state that it didn't work kind of oversteps. Didn't work for you? Sure. I thought it was brilliant. I'm sure there are thousands on both sides of that argument.
My opinion is truth! J/K. Of course it is my opinion, just typing with shorthand from time to time and not the full Queen's English.
FYI - Hamilton has already grossed over $600 million (I haven't even seen it live) . Not sure why you are upset over a thread on Hamilton, but here are the Top Grossing Broadway Shows of all time including year of opening and total gross, I'm hard pressed to think of any that could not be made today.....
1 The Lion King 1997 $8,251,556,700
2 The Phantom of the Opera 1986 $6,060,000,000
3 Wicked 2003 $3,530,000,000
4 Cats 1981 $2,865,624,091
5 Les Misérables 1980 $2,708,535,588
6 Mamma Mia! 1999 $2,086,773,150
7 Miss Saigon 1989 $1,636,259,976
8 Jersey Boys 2004 $1,644,848,098
9 Beauty and the Beast 1993 $1,600,000,000
10 Starlight Express 1984 $1,200,000,000
Well, if you're in a field where folks just make stuff up, I'm sure that relying on data is scary.
I'm a chemical engineer. We make fun of people that don't correctly use data.
:ThumbsUp
But I think that is fundamentally a misread of TJ and the TJ/AH relationship. Which is part of why I found it an off note. Jefferson was reserved where Hamilton was in your face. Playing Jefferson as a preening, conniving fool was, for me, the least effective part of the show. But maybe it was the actor overplaying.
+1
Definitely agree with you on this. Still a great show.
I think the actor is overplaying a little but Chernow had that as the relationship in the book don't forget. He's just going by the source material.
Haven't read the Chernow book, but there is no question they didn't like each other. Jefferson was everything Hamilton aspired to be.
I think that is a misread of Hamilton and who he wanted to be.
Not true:
Hamilton was eligible to be president
A popular misconception is that because he was born in the British West Indies, Hamilton could not legally have become president. That’s not the case. The Constitution states that to become president, a person must be either a natural-born citizen or a citizen of the United States at the time of the Constitution’s adoption, which Hamilton certainly was. In fact, the first seven U.S. presidents were born British citizens. Martin Van Buren, born in 1782, was the first to be born an American citizen.
https://www.biography.com/news/why-alexander-hamilton-never-became-president
I think you are cutting this too finely. Jefferson represented culture, refinement, the natural rise to power, brilliance, and a predestination to greatness. Similar to Washington, although Washington was more driven to achieve (like Hamilton). Hamilton had to scrap for everything. "What'd I miss?" is a great song in that regard, but the actor missed an opportunity with his Jar Jar Binks imitation.
Jefferson knee how to fight dirty, except he normally did it thru a proxy. Election vs aAdams was really dirty on both sides. Fellow named Calendar wrote some really nasty stuff that got him sent to prison for violating sedition act. When he got out TJ was president. Calendar wanted federal job to compensate him, TJ refused and Calendar got revenge by writing about TJ and Sally Hemings.
I’ve seen it 3 times on Broadway with a different Hamilton each time and I agree that the subsequent Hamilton’s were actually better. That being said I still enjoy LMM and do think he’s a genius and all-around great guy.
Finally saw it on Disney+.. it was good. I knew about the history and found it pretty easy to follow... yes I had the captions on
SPOLIER ALERT: Couldn't believe I either forgot or never knew that his son dies in a duel.
SPOLIER ALERT: Couldn't believe I either forgot or never knew that his son dies in a duel.
For those who aren't into hip hop, or are interested in what makes Hamilton impressive to the hip hop heads' ears...
http://graphics.wsj.com/hamilton/?m...QC3AkoP1FDL1M7KFjOIiM_RuqQfA3U-hyOtVFC1nDnc1k
http://graphics.wsj.com/hamilton/?m...QC3AkoP1FDL1M7KFjOIiM_RuqQfA3U-hyOtVFC1nDnc1k