Call me a convert

Ever since Hamilton came out in 2016 I've resisted it and really had no interest in seeing it.  The hype was too much.  The prices for tickets were (and ARE) outrageous.  As I recall, I was disappointed with Lin-Manuel's first show, In the Heights, though I now realize from reading an old blog post about it that I didn't hate In the Heights at all, and in fact I wrote that I really liked it a lot.  Oops!  I've been misremembering the experience all this time!  My bad.  It's just that I LOVED Jersey Boys so much more on that trip.  A n y w a y, the point is that I've been actively trying not to see Hamilton.

When tickets went on sale for it at the Kennedy Center in DC, it was all over the news.  People stood in line at 6am, people online waited for hours.  I wanted nothing to do with it.

Then I got an email from a good friend of mine that she and her husband got tickets.  Did I want one?  I really hemmed and hawed over this.  I didn't want to disappoint my friend or end up in a place where I had to pretend I liked it to not hurt her feelings.  I finally agreed to go, figuring I'd go with an open mind, and it would be fun to spend time with her and her husband.  She offered a second ticket to my sister, so it was going to be a fun foursome.

Then!  One day, my friend and her husband got same-day $10 tickets to see the show!  They have a daily lottery and they won!  So, now they had an additional two tickets to sell, and my parents accepted them.  My dad said the price was substantially cheaper than what he'd been seeing on the site.  (My folks were looking for tickets as a way to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary.)

A coworker recommended I listen to the soundtrack ahead of time, check out the lyrics, and maybe do a little reading on Alexander Hamilton for background.  I did that this week, and I have to admit--when I put on the soundtrack, I was hooked after the first two songs.

Last night, we saw the show.  It was more than I expected.  The cast was fantastic.  The staging is simple but there were a few scenes that really got to me...the way they used part of the stage that moved in a circle and the actors' slow motion actions were really affecting.  It was just beautiful.

I've definitely come around 180 degrees on this show and would like for everyone to see it.  Deb and I talked last night about ticket prices being so high and how prices are prohibitive for people who should see it, particularly immigrants and young kids of color who can see people that look like them playing such important roles, and get a history lesson to boot.  I hope eventually things will level out with the show and prices will drop.  It's a shame they're so high.

I had recorded a show on PBS, Hamilton's America, that I watched this morning.  It shows the evolution of the show from when Lin-Manuel picked up the biography by Ron Chernow and how he could see a hip hop scenario with the story, to when it went to Broadway, to when the cast performed at the White House.  When you see the process and get an understanding into how Lin-Manuel came up with the whole thing--it's really astounding.  What an immense talent he has.  Much respect.