Fifteen months after seeing Lin-Manuel Miranda's extraordinary musical "Hamilton" in Chicago, Marilyn and I saw it once again last night as the "Angelica Tour" spends a month long engagement in Pittsburgh.
In the less than twenty-four hours since the show ended last night, we have already been asked "How does it compare to what you saw in Chicago?" I am not going to do a full-scale review of last night's performance. Much of what I said about the Chicago performance, which you can see here....
....can also be said about the touring company we saw last night. I can also say that it was every bit as good, and maybe even better, the second time around. We saw things in this performance that we didn't remember seeing the first time. The show is so visually beautiful and the choreography so compelling, yet you might miss much of by concentrating on the main characters in a given scene. Two such numbers illustrate this point.
One is for the song "Satisfied", where Angelica Schuyler essentially creates a flashback of the previous number, "Helpless", that describes the courtship and wedding of Alexander and Eliza from her, Angelica's, point of view. The second is "The Room Where It Happens" where Hamilton, Jefferson, and Madison can be seen in the background as Aaron Burr sings of his desire to be a part of what is taking place amid the chorus dancing to the music. We saw things we didn't see the first time, and I am sure that we will see others that we missed last night when we see it for a third time at some point in the future.
I want to recognize the amazing cast that we saw last night:
Alexander Ferguson......Alexander Hamilton
Charnette Batey.............Eliza Schuyler Hamilton
Josh Tower.....................Aaron Burr
Stephanie Umoh............Angelica Schuyler
Paul Oakley Stovall.......George Washington
Bryson Bruce.................Marquis de Lafayette/Thomas Jefferson
Chaundre Hall-Broomfield.......Hercules Mulligan/James Madison
Jon Viktor Corpuz..........John Laurens/Phillip Hamilton
Isa Briones.....................Peggy Schuyler/Maria Reynolds
Peter Matthew Smith......King George III
Of course, none of these are familiar names, but all of them were remarkable and wonderful performers. In fact, both Ferguson and Batey were understudies who were, for whatever reason, thrust into playing the lead roles of Alexander and Eliza. The lady sitting next to us was grumbling to her husband about having to "watch understudies", but you know what, they were just terrific in these roles, and we had no problem at all watching them. In fact, Alexander Ferguson, who on a regular night, plays in the ensemble and also a couple of minor roles in the show, also serves as understudy, not only for the Hamilton role, but also for the roles of Aaron Burr, John Laurens/Phillip Hamilton, and King George III. The fact that one guy might be called upon to play any of these four major roles on a given night in the show makes him all the more amazing to me. Miss Batey, too, is normally in the ensemble, but she also understudies the roles of both Angelica and Peggy/Maria.
We love the show, and we loved seeing it once again here in our home town. This show will tour and be performed forever, and we will never miss the opportunity to see it again someday. It will always "blow us all away."
I am really excited to see this show.
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