Wow, seriously, no Hamilton convos here?

JH6056

Just got back from seeing Hamilton for the 2nd time, we had an even better cast than previously, that show really is a work of genius.  And I'm neither a big history buff nor a musicals buff, but I sure do know a lot more about the American Revolution and the early days of our government now!  And am more passionate about this show than any musical than I've ever seen.

And we got cheap seats so it was standing room, danced our damn butts off for the entire 1st half.  Great show!

madtowndave

I just saw it for the first time in Minneapolis last week. Great show! I've had the soundtrack for a long time and used to have it in heavy rotation.

JH6056

Yay, at least one other fan here! 

How hard was it for you to get your ticket?

madtowndave

I had to go to the secondary market as it was a last minute purchase. Paid about $50 over face, but when you take into account that we didn't have to pay for a babysitter since the kids were at Grandma's house, it washed.

JH6056

$50 over face would've been considered a bargain in DC. We bought tix in top balcony when they went onsale, $149/each. Checked our show date & section on StubHub, the CHEAPEST ticket available was $1,100!! I was stunned! But even though our bills could use the extra cash, we kept the tickets. 

On my way to Fenway now with my Hamilton sweatshirt around my waist - represent!

Tim Simmons

I've seen it 4 times since June 2016, I haven't gone in over a year, I need to go again. I love it. 

1 x NY the first time (w/ the original cast)
3 x in Chicago (twice with its original cast)

Tim Simmons

This thread also made me informally plan to go again this winter. 

thispureamericanriot

George Hamilton is awesome!

JH6056

Tim Simmons said:

I've seen it 4 times since June 2016, I haven't gone in over a year, I need to go again. I love it. 

1 x NY the first time (w/ the original cast)
3 x in Chicago (twice with its original cast)

You've seen it THREE TIMES with the ORIGINAL CAST???  

My envy is consuming me!    No, but seriously that is incredible!

Envy aside, the big question is this: the 3rd time you saw it in Chicago with a replacement cast, which characters were just as good, better, or noticeably not as strong as the original cast?  We saw what's called "The Angelica Tour" which is the tour going to the bigger cities, and some characters were just as good (and I swear 2 were almost better than original!).

JH6056

thispureamericanriot said:

George Hamilton is awesome!

"Geo-or-or-orge Hamilton..."

Naaaw, just does not have the same flow to it.  And honestly, he wasn't the best vampire either.  But keep trying! LOL!

NWOntario

I've seen it three times - 1 and 3 in New York, 2 in Chicago. (My wife and I were in DC and Chicago this summer. After seeing it again in New York in early July I was ready for a break before it comes to Toronto in 2020, but we did play the lottery; we did not win.) I think the less said about it, the better, since a lot of people still haven't seen it and the element of surprise is a wonderful factor. I will say, however, that I actually think Hamilton's underrated. Yes, I know what I just said.

madtowndave

The people behind us for the Minneapolis tour saw it in NY with the original cast, and they also thought that several of the touring performers were better than the originals.

Tim Simmons

JH6056 said:

Tim Simmons said:

I've seen it 4 times since June 2016, I haven't gone in over a year, I need to go again. I love it. 

1 x NY the first time (w/ the original cast)
3 x in Chicago (twice with its original cast)

You've seen it THREE TIMES with the ORIGINAL CAST???  

My envy is consuming me!    No, but seriously that is incredible!

Envy aside, the big question is this: the 3rd time you saw it in Chicago with a replacement cast, which characters were just as good, better, or noticeably not as strong as the original cast?  We saw what's called "The Angelica Tour" which is the tour going to the bigger cities, and some characters were just as good (and I swear 2 were almost better than original!).

Once with the original broadway cast. 3 times in Chi. The third time they had a new burr, but the rest of the cast was the same as the first 2 times. I had the luck of seeing Joshua Henry (fucking killed it) and his replacement Daniel Breaker (very very good). In between them in Chicago Wayne Brady played Burr for a few weeks. My wife saw him and said he was really good as well. Other than burr,  In Chicago, the main actors were all the same all 3 times I saw it. 

Joshua Henry was an amazing burr. Maybe better than Leslie Odem. Odem wins out because of the way he kills Wait for It though. Olivo (Chi) was as good as Renee Elise in NY. I may be biased because of Olivos performance of Vanessa in In The Heights. 

JH6056

When you think about how amazing the original cast is, it's pretty exhilarating that new cast members can be as good or better!  What an amazing launchpad for so much talent that we might not otherwise know of... for several reasons...

I like the comment that it's underrated.  I might have to agree with that, which is stunning of course.  Hype is through the roof, yet still... 

Tim Simmons

Yeah, a lot of these people are gonna be Broadway stars in the coming years (if they weren't already).

Agg

I've been a huge fan of the soundtrack for years, and finally got to see it on Broadway last week. My expectations were already so high, but it somehow exceeded them. I'm going to try hard to get tickets when it comes to Philly next year. Even my sister (who never seemed too into it) was blown away and can't wait to go again. 

The cast I saw was awesome (our Hamilton was an understudy- you never would have been able to tell because he was great), but I'm extremely jealous of those who got to see the original Broadway cast! The closest I'll get to that is when they release the recording of the OBC in a few years. 

tempo_n_groove

Tim Simmons said:

JH6056 said:

Tim Simmons said:

I've seen it 4 times since June 2016, I haven't gone in over a year, I need to go again. I love it. 

1 x NY the first time (w/ the original cast)
3 x in Chicago (twice with its original cast)

You've seen it THREE TIMES with the ORIGINAL CAST???  

My envy is consuming me!    No, but seriously that is incredible!

Envy aside, the big question is this: the 3rd time you saw it in Chicago with a replacement cast, which characters were just as good, better, or noticeably not as strong as the original cast?  We saw what's called "The Angelica Tour" which is the tour going to the bigger cities, and some characters were just as good (and I swear 2 were almost better than original!).

Once with the original broadway cast. 3 times in Chi. The third time they had a new burr, but the rest of the cast was the same as the first 2 times. I had the luck of seeing Joshua Henry (fucking killed it) and his replacement Daniel Breaker (very very good). In between them in Chicago Wayne Brady played Burr for a few weeks. My wife saw him and said he was really good as well. Other than burr,  In Chicago, the main actors were all the same all 3 times I saw it. 

Joshua Henry was an amazing burr. Maybe better than Leslie Odem. Odem wins out because of the way he kills Wait for It though. Olivo (Chi) was as good as Renee Elise in NY. I may be biased because of Olivos performance of Vanessa in In The Heights. 

Isn't the original cast considered the one with Miranda?

Anywho since he left I haven't been that determined to see it.

I do listen to the Hamilton Mix Tape where musicians sing the Hamilton songs.  The Sia/Queen Latifah version of Satisfied is absolutely amazing.

JH6056

Yes, the original cast is definitely the Miranda/Odom/Diggs cast.  And obviously... that would be incredible to see.  But no joke, and apparently it's not just true of the cast I saw... some of the people who took over the roles in various touring companies are AS GOOD if not - gasp - BETTER in terms of performance!

Clearly there would be nothing like seeing the whole original cast, I know I wish I had.  But having watched a zillion videos of live performances (the ones that are allowed to stay up on youtube) and having listened to the soundtrack enough times to be able to sing every word of "Guns & Ships", I can definitely say some of the people in the #AngelicaTour (coming soon to Boston) exceeded expectations in both their singing and their perfomances.  Not EVERYONE (would kill to see Leslie Odom Jr as Burr), but seriously amazing performances.

thispureamericanriot

Hamiltonian path?

PJ_Soul

I would love to see this at some point, but given the price of the tickets, I'm pretty sure I never will.

sp1984

Have tickets to see it in Boston when it comes in October. Friends of ours won a lottery and were able to purchase up to 8 tickets -- they bought 8 knowing they'd be able to get rid of them to friends and family. We are the back up option as the MIL of the original purchaser decided that because the OBC cast was "rude" to Mike Pence she wasn't interested in going. 

I'm stoked and can't wait for 10/6 to get here! 

JH6056

So excited for you, it's a great show! I saw a tweet from the guy who'll play Alexander Hamilton in Boston and replied telling him I'd told all my Boston friends to get ready, they're in for a treat.  He appreciated it.  The cast is SO YOUNG, it's amazing their talent at such young ages.  Like Hamilton is in his mid-20s I think, and Peggy/Mary Reynolds is 19!

Enjoy, and thank goodness your MIL decided against it LOL!  They were actually very polite (but had a clear message for him) to Pence.  It could have been much much...sharper but I thought they were very diplomatic.

sp1984

JH6056 said:

So excited for you, it's a great show! I saw a tweet from the guy who'll play Alexander Hamilton in Boston and replied telling him I'd told all my Boston friends to get ready, they're in for a treat.  He appreciated it.  The cast is SO YOUNG, it's amazing their talent at such young ages.  Like Hamilton is in his mid-20s I think, and Peggy/Mary Reynolds is 19!

Enjoy, and thank goodness your MIL decided against it LOL!  They were actually very polite (but had a clear message for him) to Pence.  It could have been much much...sharper but I thought they were very diplomatic.

Sweet!! I've been listening to the OBC recordings since we found out in March/April (?). It hadn't really been on my radar as something we would be able to do, but this has been the year of lucking into awesome tickets and here we are...going to Hamilton. 
We just saw Book of Mormon a month ago in Boston and the one thing that stood out to me was how young the cast was! (I'm starting to feel that maybe I'm not as young as I once was - or as young as I think I am).

JH6056

PJ_Soul said:

I would love to see this at some point, but given the price of the tickets, I'm pretty sure I never will.

If it comes to you, there are 2 more affordable ways to see it; one is ALWAYS a way to try, and the other depends on the theater and local production.

1. Hamilton lottery: every night, for every show, in every city it plays in, there is a lottery where you could win either 1 or 2 tickets for $10.00 each!!! I think they give away 20 tickets for each show this way, or maybe it's 10?  They are often perfectly good seats; once in awhile they're "obstructed" but that usually just means you can't see one very very far edge of the stage or the very very back or something. But this is a lottery and there are often thousands of people entering every day, so the odds are slim usually.  But people DO win, I know a few who've won.

2. Now, please don't advertise this! But depending on the theater and production, sometimes you can stand in line for the better part of the day and get "standing room" tickets for $49.00 each.  We did this the 2nd time we went, I stood in line for about 6 hrs (literally brought my work laptop and a park folding chair, theater had wifi and A/C, and had so much fun with the people I was waiting on line with I didn't get much work done), but I got 2 tickets and to be honest, if you know the soundtrack really well, for me it was SO MUCH FUN because you're behind the last row of seated floor orchestra and WE DANCED OUR ASSES OFF because no one could see us but the ushers!  For "Right Hand Man" and "Guns & Ships" and "Battle of Yorktowne" I was so blissed out because we could watch but also jump and wave and dance and mouth out the words, it was awesome!

Probably not for everyone, and if you can't stand for long periods of time it's definitely not a good option (although another woman waiting was bringing her 90yr old mom and they just made sure she got a seat in the handicapped seating so that might be an option if you have a health issue that keeps you from standing, but check that out before you wait all day!)

Ok, don't tell anyone, these are our secrets!  And hopefully you'll get to see Hamilton!