Hamilton at Last

The show Hamilton apparently made its debut in 2015 and then went quickly to Broadway. Just as quickly, it became a sensation. The original cast performed only until the end of 2016. The first national tour was in 2017.

Hamilton first came to Portland, Oregon in 2018 and was offered first to season ticketholders of the Portland’5 group of venues. It sold out immediately, and tickets were never released to the general public that year.

The Interwebs say it next came to Portland in 2021. I think I had not yet returned to theatres at that time…maybe it was still offered to season ticket holders first? For whatever reason I did not go. But finally, this year, it came again, and I was so excited, I purchased tickets. Assuming Pedro would not be interested (he is not as eager to go to the theatre as I am), I bought two tickets for Kellen and me.

On my birthday, while we were in New Zealand, Pedro told me about my birthday gift: tickets to Hamilton! So funny. What a good gift. So yes, I was able to go twice in a single season. That’s the first time I’ve ever gone twice in a season to the same Broadway show.

We tried a West African restaurant called Akadi. It was our first time there and I can highly recommend. The atmosphere, service, and food were all top notch. We had spicy chicken wings for an appetizer and we devoured them before I thought to take a photo. The flavours were excellent.

Just across the river is the Keller auditorium, and we were quickly parked and in the theatre. The show is three hours long with a 15 minute intermission. No photos are allowed during the performance, so I grabbed a few before.

The set is meant to convey the construction of a new country. At the very beginning, the walls are only half built. As the story progresses, the walls grow higher. It’s very subtle, and I think it’s a great idea. The timbers and ropes you see are meant to reflect upon the role played by ships and the shipping industry in the birth of the United States.

If you do not know what it’s about, the main character is Alexander Hamilton, one of America’s so-called “founding fathers.” It follows the beginnings of the United States in terms of how Hamilton contributed. The story begins when he is not yet 20, and has recently arrived in New York from the Virgin Islands. He is an orphan of sorts after his mother died and his father abandoned him. He impresses nearly everyone with his command of oratory, boundless enthusiasm and great deal of idealism.

In the show, Hamilton meets Aaron Burr before anyone else, and he is already a fan of the man. Burr is portrayed as a reticent but steafast and determined politician. Being cautious and pleasant and never taking a stand and never letting his personal convictions be known has served him well so far, and Burr takes that approach for the remainder of the story. It drives Hamiliton crazy that he can’t elicit more passion from Burr, and it drives Burr crazy that he can’t convince Hamilton to reign himself in. Despite this, the two have great respect for each other, and remain more or less friends.

Kellen and Cameron drove north from Albany one week later. Cam stayed at the house with Pedro and worked on cross-stitch. Kellen and I left our boys at home and drove into Portland. We talked a mile-a-minute every chance we got, as usual.

I mostly wanted to see Hamilton because of Kellen, who has been a theatre fan and Broadway fan since they were a teenager. Kellen had nearly every word of the show memorized by age 18, and has not forgotten. As a mom, I had been subjected to the Pandora Broadway channel enough to have developed an interest.

When Pedro and I watched, we both went in cold. Didn’t know the story, didn’t know the songs (except little bits like, “in the room where it happened”). It’s a musical, and only a dozen words are spoken and not sung. We were both interested and invested and managed to follow, despite that. When Kellen and I attended, I was much better prepared, and had listened to the entire soundtrack on YouTube during the week.

In New York, Hamilton’s star rises blindingly fast, and blows right past Burr. At first, Burr smiles wisely and bides his time, convinced that his strategy will work. But Hamilton’s works better, and he becomes President Washington’s right hand man, a commander in the Army, the first Secretary of the Treasury. He excels at everything, except maybe his family life. Burr keeps getting passed over for his highest goals, sometimes losing out directly to Hamilton. This includes the Schuyler sisters, who Burr has an interest in, but Hamilton ends up marrying one of them, Eliza.

We get an education of how specific characters contributed in those years: Lafayette, Jefferson, Washington, Adams, King George III. I was impressed with the battle scenes, how singing and dancing could convey the danger, drama, noise to make it clear there was fighting and death. I loved some of the strategies used, like when a background actor seemed to pinch the bullet at the tip of a rifle, then carried the bullet slowly across the stage to help put the shot into “slow motion” as other things happened around it. I loved the use of the spinning circles in the center of the stage.

So much more was going on: love stories, betrayal, children, humor, political lobbying, backroom deals, and friendship. I can’t tell it all. I loved the use of King George III for comic relief. When he hears the Americans are planning a revolution, his song is, “You’ll be back.” ha ha. The actor was wonderful. All the actors and the singing just blew our minds.

The penultimate scene is when Burr shoots Hamilton in a duel. They are older, with a lot of baggage by then, and have totally lost patience with each other. Burr’s song in the aftermath is that he realizes the world is big enough for both of them – huge differences and all. So sad. The final scene is when Eliza Hamilton finds herself in his absence, and takes on the role of activist leader, and defender of her husband’s work. She champions abolition of slavery and founds an orphanage in New York.

Oh, I didn’t even mention one of the things that caught everyone’s attention at first. Most of the cast is performed by Black actors, or minority actors. There were two (?) white men; everyone else was non-white. The musical style is mostly hip hop, R&B, and soul music, with a couple of traditional show tunes. They sing FAST!! Fast, fast. Pedro and I struggled to hear all the words because they blew by. I heard a statistic that if this show was sung at the typical speed of any other Broadway show, it would be 4-5 hours long. These are some of my current favourite musical styles, so I was bouncing and toe tapping through the whole thing. And crying. Lots of tears. Building a country is hard.

Gosh you guys. I wished so hard for our whole population to see this show. To see how hard the first people (many immigrants!!!) fought to make it this good. It’s not perfect, but it’s good. It’s worth protecting. It’s worth celebrating the good parts and making sure we keep them.

At home, Pedro had dinner ready for us. Fish milanesa with brown rice and green salad. We talked some more, gave the kids gifts from New Zealand, and a dozen fresh eggs from our hens since eggs are worth their weight in gold right now. Kisses and hugs and then goodbyes.