![\"\u2018Hamilton\u2019](\"https:\/\/sduptownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Ruben-J.-Carbajal-Michael-Luwoye-Jordan-Donica-Mathenee-Treco-Hamilton-Company-c-Joan-Marcus.jpg\")
In short, \u201cHamilton\u201d is for every American old enough to sit in a theater seat for a few hours without getting antsy and disturbing others. And seeing it just may rearrange a few of your music-appreciation molecules.<\/p>\n
\u201cHamilton\u201d is the story about how the sausage of the original U.S. government was made, told by those who were in \u201cthe room where it happened\u201d and contributed to it.<\/p>\n
Lin-Manuel Miranda\u2019s theatrical phenom landed on Broadway in 2015, took home 11 Tony Awards and a Pulitzer Prize, and changed the concept of the musical forever. Thanks to Broadway San Diego, it has finally arrived in San Diego, where it plays through March 28 at San Diego Civic Theatre.<\/p>\n Oskar Eustis, artistic director of New York\u2019s Public Theater (which hosted \u201cHamilton\u2019s\u201d pre-Broadway run) likens Miranda to a latter-day Shakespeare. \u201cHe does exactly what Shakespeare does,\u201d Eustis said. \u201cHe takes the language of the people and heightens it by making it verse.\u201d<\/p>\n Ah, but not just any old kind of verse: hip-hop. Yes, imagine late 18th-century Americans rapping about the great American experiment. It\u2019s downright revolutionary \u2014 and makes for utterly engrossing theater.<\/p>\n You\u2019ll meet Caribbean immigrant Alexander Hamilton (Austin Scott), orphaned at 12 and sent to New York, about whom contemporary Aaron Burr (Ryan Vasquez) wonders how this \u201cbastard, orphan, son of a whore and a Scotsman\u201d grew up to be \u201ca hero and a scholar.\u201d<\/p>\n It may be because Hamilton is ambitious and persistent \u2014 as he puts it, \u201cI\u2019m not throwin\u2019 away my shot.\u201d And perhaps also because George Washington (Isaiah Johnson, African American, regal and singing like an angel as the Revolutionary general, father of the new country and its first president) took Hamilton under his political wing.<\/p>\n Meanwhile Aaron Burr, the politician\u2019s politician, has this advice for Hamilton: \u201cTalk less. Smile more. Don\u2019t let them know what you\u2019re against or what you\u2019re for.\u201d (Sound familiar?) Hamilton and Burr sparred verbally until finally Burr became famous as \u201cthe damn fool who shot him\u201d (Hamilton) in a duel.<\/p>\n Another immigrant who figures here is the Marquis de Lafayette (Jordan Donica), who came from France to fight with the revolutionaries. He and Hamilton provoke great applause when they note that \u201cimmigrants get the job done.\u201d<\/p>\n Donica also plays Thomas Jefferson, the dandified American who spent several years in Paris as American ambassador to France, resplendent in a magenta frock coat. He is annoyed only by Hamilton.<\/p>\n Along for laughs is England\u2019s King George (Rory O\u2019Malley, reprising his Broadway role), who sings several verses of \u201cYou\u2018ll Be Back,\u201d a jaunty song about his annoyance with those break-away Americans. O\u2019Malley mugs with the best of them while maintaining his cool royal bearing.<\/p>\n Fear not, women are not slighted here, even if \u2014 as early feminist Angelica Schuyler (Sabrina Sloan) points out with some annoyance \u2014 they are left out of the Declaration of Independence.<\/p>\n Hamilton will marry Angelica\u2019s sister Eliza (Raven Thomas), and they will have eight children. Not so different from today, Hamilton will later both do himself in politically and break her heart with extra-curricular activities. This show is also spectacular visually, in its energetic, athletic, sometimes even gymnastic choreography (by Andy Blankenbuehler), colorful costumes by Paul Tazewell and especially effective lighting by Howell Binkley.<\/p>\n Conductor Julian Reeves\u2019 mighty band of nine keeps the place rocking with great sounds.<\/p>\n So much could be said about this show. Just know that this delightful show will take you somewhere you\u2019ve never been, and although you may have to scramble to keep up with these actors and their speedy hip-hop patter, it\u2019s a journey very much worth taking (though I\u2019d advise listening to the score a few times before you go).<\/p>\n![\"\u2018Hamilton\u2019](\"https:\/\/sduptownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Michael-Luwoye-Isaiah-Johnson-c-Joan-Marcus.jpg\")
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