Last week, I had the opportunity to see Hamilton at the Richard Rogers Theatre in New York City and MY GOD was it an experience. I'd had these tickets since January and by the time the show came around they had gone up from the original price of $230 each to over one thousand dollars each. You are able to listen to the original Broadway cast which has mostly since left the Hamilton stage, but unless you're supporting bootlegs, here's the best off-soundtrack things that happen.
1. The celebratory fist pumps.
I can only specifically remember Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton doing this but nonetheless it was glorious. In "Helpless" after Hamilton receives the blessing to wed Eliza Schuyler Hamilton, he does a fist pump before singing to her. In "Election of 1800", you can see Burr pacing close to the ensemble to hear their opinions of him as a candidate. With the line "He looks approachable/Like you could grab a beer with him", he backs away, pumping his fist. Both times were unexpected and so funny and added so much more to their individual characters than just listening to the music could have provided.
2. Every moment with King George III.
Upon listening to all of King George's songs, you can tell it's supposed to be funny. But it isn't until he is onstage, bouncing around and setting up audience to watch the failure that is the "Adam's Administration" that you can appreciate the inclusion of the king. This gif is from "The Renoylds Pamphlet" – why is he even in that number?! It has nothing to do with him! He's literally only here to gloat. At the start of the show he was the one requesting people turn off cell phones – then told us to enjoy his show. Yeah, right.
3. Watching the scene between "Dear Theodosia" and "Non-stop".
The crushing heartbreaking scene in which Hamilton finds out John Laurens has been killed in a duel was incredibly staged. With Eliza and Hamilton reading the letter center stage and Anthony Ramos (Laurens) upstage singing part of their anthem from "The Story of Tonight," it was too much to handle without at least a small package of tissues for comfort. This scene was not included on the soundtrack so seeing it for the first time was breathtakingly sad.
4. King George is sad.
In "What Comes Next", King George has a line, "I'm so blue" then pauses a little before continuing. In the performance, the king sang that line, then stomped his foot, which was the cue to change the lights to blue. Seeing Hamilton was emotional turmoil but it was also really funny because the producers of the show took every opportunity to have fun with the script and design.
5. The lighting design is amazing.
I only just learned this past year the beauty that is working lights, so seeing a Broadway production afterwards would of course excite me, but the lighting for Hamilton is almost indescribable. There were so many shapes that kept appearing when spotting the characters I hadn't imagined (they kept using squares and diamonds for Burr). After only having the soundtrack to get hyped enough for the trip, oozing over the lights was a nice touch.
6. The entirety of "Farmer Refuted".
Somehow seeing Hamilton square off against a Loyalist was so much more rewarding. I knew the lines to this song but watching Javier Muñoz (Hamilton) and Samuel Seabury fight for the audience's attention was great. They stood in front of one another, created their own platform and took over each other's spot.
7. Everything about Thomas Jefferson.
You don't realize how damn funny the role calls for until you see the ridiculous shit Jefferson can get away with. He wipes his hand after shaking it with an ensemble member, every time he taunts Hamilton he's jumping around shaking his head at him (and Andrew Chappelle's hair is almost as glorious as Daveed Diggs), he literally does a mic drop in the first Cabinet meeting (caught by James Madison). Jefferson is an infuriating character but watching him perform was hilarious.
8. "Here's an itemized list of thirty years of disagreements".
This line is from "Your Obedient Servant", the song that sets up the duel between Burr and Hamilton. When Hamilton sings this, the ensemble begins to take papers off of his desk and hand each one to Burr as the song continues, sometimes psyching him out by moving them away before he can take them.
9. The duel.
As soon as Burr shoots his gun the entire play slows down. There is a single ensemble member who moves with the bullet. As Hamilton is singing, watching the person and the bullet come closer, the stage starts to rotate slowly. Other ensemble members come to lift the bullet into the air and create this illusion of it spinning as it comes for him. As Hamilton lists his love ones who have passed away they are spotted until he sings Eliza's name- and then she's there in front of him, her arm extended towards him, frozen. The ensemble member with the bullet is directly behind her. The sight is absolutely chilling and makes the scene so much more emotional.
10. A gasp.
Even with all the aforementioned things, I didn't cry until the very end of the show. I think I was too excited to cry, I didn't want to miss out on anything.
That was until the very very end of the musical.
No, I didn't cry because it ended. I had read a post about how at the end Eliza is supposed to gasp and realize that all the work she had done paid off, but I didn't know when she did. I thought she would do it before she was done singing but it wasn't until the very end of the song. Most of the finale song focuses on her singing about the efforts she took to make sure that the founding of the country was not buried in obscurity, which involved speaking out against slavery, raising funds for the Washington monument, interviewing every soldier that fought with Hamilton... And at the very end of the musical the fourth wall collapses and she can see how many people have come to see the musical. How many people do know about Hamilton and how many people do care. At that point it was too much for me and I had tears streaming down my face until the lights came back on. Hell, when explaining it to people I start to tear up (I'm crying right now).
It's just so rewarding to have been able to see Hamilton. Part of the unique-ness of the show was that the title was obscure- we don't know if it's referencing Alexander Hamilton or Eliza. After seeing that final scene, the answer is definite. And seeing a woman credited with our knowledge of the founders of our country means a lot.
