Hamilton- Birmingham Hippodrome
****
Highly unusually I attended Tuesday’s performance in the first week of a ten week run drawn by the hype and publicity only. I did not know the story. I knew none of the songs.
The set, ( David Korins),appearing to represent a wharf side, is open and exposed before the players arrive onstage. It is massive a jumble of brickwork, woodwork, galleries, balconies and walkways on two levels. It is of Les Miserables scale and ambition. When the large cast do bound on stage, over twenty strong, the auditorium is filled with colour Paul Tazewell costumes), noise (Sound Alex Lacamoire), and light ( Warren Letton). The wow factor is there.
The much commented upon music is a mix or mainly rap, hip hop, soul and RnB. The rap and hip hop works well as a narrative device and reprises, in modern form, Gilbert and Sullivan. Such is the speed of delivery of the rap that it can be difficult to follow, yet that is true in Opera and conventional musicals sometimes. the idea of a “Rap off” to make important political decisions was sublime. I want to see Dawn Abbott v Suella Braverman, Nigel Farage v Kemi Badenoch
I was unfamiliar with the detail of Hamilton’s story whilst being familiar with the American Revolution. Liz Truss would hate, Lafayette, the French provocateur, adeptly played by Billy Nevers. King George is written as a camp comic figure, a role Daniel Boys has great fun with. As a comedy interlude it is fine, but the crass caricature I found historically grating for the entertainment of Americans only.
Shaq Taylor is hugely impressive as Hamilton and imposes himself upon the entire production in a confident performance assisted by a fine singing voice. Mayo Britto sparkles as his wife Eliza. The choreography and movement is fresh, exciting and performed energetically and powerfully by an ensemble that doesn’t let up for the play’s 2 hours and 45 minutes.
The sold out performance comprised an unusually strong presence both from ethnic communities, and a younger audience, both of which augur well for the future of musical theatre. The innovative and experimental format, multi racial and multi musical genre, works very well. It is not difficult to se why it has been so successful . It opened in New York in 2015, initially off-Broadway before a Broadway transfer that saw it receive a record-breaking sixteen Tony Award nominations, winning eleven. The West End transfer was no different – opening in December 2017 it received seven Olivier Awards from its ten nominations.
I could not help but be overpowered by the scale of the production. and impressed by its daring format. However, I felt that the songs were not strong, or memorable enough, even though they seamlessly matched and defined the narrative
Hamilton runs until 31st August and continues on nationwide tour
Garyswordz 