$96,000. $96,000. If you won the lottery, would you invest in protest, and never lose focus, ’til the city takes notice? Or would you change the station, then teach ‘em about gentrification?
Nah. Be honest. That shit is for poor people! You’re rich now! Time to get yourself a ticket (just one, you didn’t win the Powerball) to Hamilton! You haven’t seen a Broadway musical since the tour of Rent back when you lived with your parents in San Antonio. But you’re a New Yorker now! This is your shot! You even get to post that Facebook picture (above) of your hand holding the playbill right before the curtain. “Finally seeing Hamilton, you guys! #greatestcityintheworld #blessed”
Don’t worry if you can’t get tickets, though. Unless your daily routine consists of skipping town from the teachers strike on your private jet to sweet-ass VIP house seats, you can wait for the tour. I got lucky, spent three hours sardined in the overheated Richard Rodgers on a Friday night and have some news: it’s truly not worth the hype (or price).
In case you haven’t already orphaned your children to teach them a lesson or watched viral videos from the White House, Hamilton, the most popular musical to cast its spell on Broadway since Queen Elsa belted about the Wizard to every mom from Green Bay, is the new hit by writer/actor/composer/Obama’s BFF Lin-Manuel Miranda (whose previous Tony winning production, In The Heights, started this “new genre” of white-accessible rap/hip-hop musical theater). It features a mostly non-white cast as they dramatize the life and times of American Founding Father Alexander Hamilton from his time out of college in 1776, to serving in the Revolutionary War under George Washington, writing the Federalist Papers (there are literally, like, seven songs about him writing at his desk), marrying his baby momma and his bitter rivalry with Aaron Burr, sir, the man whom he constantly trumped that finally bested him in a duel to the death. All set to clever rhymes and a funky beat. Sounds fun, right?
I truly quite enjoyed the cast album. There are some great songs! I really like the one that’s an homage to the British Invasion of the 60s, except instead of singing about peace and love, it’s King George letting America know that he loves them so much he will murder all of their friends and family until they love him back (Jonathan Groff as a foppish petulant King George is probably the best part of the show).
______
I’m a total theater buff, and I try to see everything that comes out (you can get cheap tickets if you know where to look; many shows also offer same-day rush seats). I missed Hamilton at The Public, before it became insufferably exclusive or ridiculously expensive, so I tried calling in a favor through some fancy friends. But even a multiple Tony nominee couldn’t get me a ticket (let alone one I could afford). So, I resigned to jamming along with my #Ham playlist on Spotify.
It’s actually so expensive that the ticketing service charge (around $150) is more than full price to any other show on Broadway (more than double anything at the TKTS booth). The service charge! That is on top of the actual ticket price (averaging more than $1000 on the secondary market; better seats are even more).
They also have a daily “lottery” where you can try to get a ticket for $10, also known as a #Ham4Ham (he’s the guy on the $10 bill, get it? Advertising!), which is basically New York’s version of Black Friday at Walmart (since there are no Walmarts in New York, how else would the bougie gawk at mobs of poor people fighting over something totally not worth the hassle?).
Luckily, I won my own kind of lottery, as a friend from L.A. was in town and happened to have an extra ticket. Friend lottery! And they were great seats! I got my shot! Here I am, on The Great White Way.
And boy, was it white! There were so many old-ass white people, I thought I was in Branson, MO. If they weren’t decked in furs doing their best “smell the fart,” they were like, totally stoked, and totally hyped, from their, like, totally ahmazzing pumpkin spiced lattes. You’d think such a “groundbreaking” show would be more accessible to the people it should be inspiring: kids from the inner city, people who have a hard time connecting to the arts due to lack of representation; people of all classes and races coming together. Nope. All I saw was a harem of basic bitches, their boyfriends who are “just the best,” a few rich old white queens, and one Billy Bob in a NASCAR T-shirt, for the love of God!
There were 10 times more people of color on the stage than the entire audience combined. |
I counted three black people in the entire sold-out Friday night audience. Three. There were 10 times more people of color on the stage than the entire audience combined in a theater filled to the brim. I started to feel uncomfortable. This isn’t Oklahoma. It’s New York, New York! The melting pot of the American dream! It immediately became the most hypocritical piece of art I’d ever seen.
Showtime. The audience goes nuts. “Alexander Hamilton. My name is Alexander Hamilton.” I start to forget all of the socio-political aspects of the audience, the exclusivity and how nearly fucking impossible it was to get myself into this tiny, uncomfortable seat. “Talk less, smile more.” Wait, is he talking to me? I should definitely do that! I start to relate. Like my country, I’m ALSO “young, scrappy and hungry!” I’m singing along at this point (to myself, I’m not an animal). I know the cast album almost by heart — the good songs, anyway — and it’s quite nice to gain some real context.
We get to the American Revolutionary War. “Here comes the General!” Christopher Jackson slays as George Washington. He was my favorite part of In The Heights as Benny (the guy that raps about traffic in NYC). He’s cool, collected, intense and sexy. The real deal. He could tell my story any day; hell, I’d be fine with him just reading George Washington’s Wikipedia page on stage.
The war is ending, and it’s been over an hour. We’ve gotta be rounding out the end of Act I. I really, really have to pee at this point. I shouldn’t have had that pre-show beer at 9th Avenue Saloon. Epic group number signifying America’s victory. “The world turned upside down!” America! Fuck, yeah! Here it comes, house lights … nope. It keeps going. I start checking the time. How long is this show? We aren’t even at intermission yet?!
At this point, the most basic-est of bitches next to me is driving me fucking nuts. I may know the songs, and I might have caught myself feeling the moment, but I’ve not seen the songs. If you couldn’t tell that she’d already been three times based on the way she mouthed every lyric, laughed hysterically at every joke a beat before they landed, or danced and hooted and hollered like a pageant mom, then you’d know because she’d mentioned how many times she’d seen it about 72 times already (I guess she needed to let us know how great it is to justify spending an entire month’s rent on this one show)! In her best vocal fry, she said: “This is my fourth. It’s soooooo good.” She turns to the people behind her. “You guuuyyysss. Is this your first time? Lin is just. The. Best. Isn’t he?” Nightmare.
What would’ve been a perfect close to the act fizzles into a scene with Aaron Burr, sir, and Hamilton singing about parenthood (Hamilton had eight children, I only met two) and how they were both orphans. Hamilton and Burr, sir, mirrors of each other. Two sides of the same coin! Metaphors! Then something, or other, about lawyer stuff. I don’t know, I kind of fell asleep around this point. Lights up.
Intermission. The superfan next to me apparently finds me a kindred spirit. “Have you seen it before? This is my fourth time.” That’s 73. I smile and nod. She starts in on the people behind us, referring to all of the actors by their first names. “Daveed [Lafayette] is so funny. I’m so amazed by Lin. He’s so talented. He wrote it!” I hate her.
Me & @EmmyHawk w/@KelseyGrammer, curtain before my 1st Broadway show, line outside Hamilton to meet actors was crazy pic.twitter.com/Xe5PGDTXeI
— morgz (@meowgz) March 25, 2016
Act II begins another hour and half of reprises. Basically the same songs from Act I, with different lyrics. Hamilton gets tricked into a honey trap and starts banging some shady lady. He should have really gone with his wife to the lake house! He’s also kind of in love with his wife’s sister (I honestly rooted for the sister; I found his wife shrill and whiney). There’re some really great songs, but the staging is a bit pedestrian. You go in expecting a giant “Be Our Guest” kind of number, but all you get is dancing around a giant desk (props to the props dept, though). And writing. Lots of writing.
There’s a bunch of (inaccurate) history mumbo-jumbo; we learn a lot about the founding of our country through sick rhymes and a little freestyle. Hamilton’s son dies in a duel. Hamilton’s wife is sad. Hamilton and Aaron Burr, sir, have it out a bunch. They duel. You know the rest.
The crowd explodes. All of the white people stand up and cheer. It blew them all away. Some douche-bro near me said, “The best thing I’ve ever seen.” I was a little perplexed. How many shows have you ever seen? What’s your favorite musical? Jersey Boys? What was the last musical you saw? Lion King at The Fox in 2006?
My friend Danny put it really well when he said:
As far as I understand, Hamilton’s “breakthrough” is that it tells the story of Alexander Hamilton’s life using people of color and contemporary musical idioms. Great, but is that it? There’s so much to be said about America’s history of slavery and racism; we’re tragically reminded of it every day. However, this show seems set on merrily speeding through Hamilton’s (highly edited) life story without delving deep enough.
A lot of people love it. It’s brought modernity to musical theater. The cast album is spectacular. I still listen to it all the time. But I never gained that experience, that moment, that I needed from the “best musical ever.” It’s three hours long! No one ever mentions that! That’s longer than Batman v Superman! That’s almost an entire season of Broad City!
Can you say no this? It really depends on your situation. If you’ve won the lottery, either through the state of New York, or the show’s very own #Ham4Ham, then you betcha! You’ll get to see an okay musical and be part of the conversation with all the other rich and/or lucky white people.
But if you are looking for a connection, a life-changing experience, I would suggest seeing something else. Perhaps Cynthia Erivo in The Color Purple (rush tickets can go as low as $35). If you’re just looking for a hilarious fun and affordable night, try Disaster (half off tickets by using code FOOL1 until April 15th)! Check the boards, look online, there are tons of options! Go see new musicals. Try discovering the next big thing, before it’s too late. If you can’t get a ticket, just know the world is wide enough. There is more than Hamilton. And honestly, you’re not missing that much.
Follow Sam for more declarations of independent thought: @thesamkite.
If you’ve seen Hamilton, do you think it’s worth the hype? Let us know in the comments!
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I am an old white guy, not rich, with a 15 year old daughter who is also caught up in the Ham experience. I think it is wonderful experience because it has gotten kids involved in history. We live in a little town in northern California and we paid a small fortune to go to New York to see this show. I hope my daughter does not see this article because of all the negativities. I have never felt compelled to comment on any articles before but this article is sad. Let’s hope that only a few people read this article.
I would love to see it but unfortunately, I’m not willing to mortgage my house and I cant afford to go to NYC to see this production without knowing I could get a ticket. I think this writer was explaining his point of view and that’s his critique and how he saw the show. Lin is amazing. I loved In the Heights and Ive followed him for a years. My 13 year old son is dying to see this play. (A young black kid who has little interest in theater or history.) However, he wont be able to see positive role models because the scalpers have scooped these tickets. The rich white folks are seeing this show multiple times. I think this article was interesting because it gave me the knowledge I already knew. It’s wasted on the rich white folks.
WELL PUT! And I agree with this author wholeheartedly. The irony of Hamilton is palpable and sickening.
Mandy…Yes, Yes , YES!!!!
I’m here online trying to figure out hacks for getting tickets . I am a professional solo mother of an 11 year old (who’s never been into something that’s not a video game this intensely!!)
However, I am not rich and I am not connected – so I’m doing what I’m doing—- trying to figure it out —- so my son can have the same experience that his white school friend with wealthy/connected family is going to have —TWICE!!
Working sooooooo much harder!
Thank you, sir
Kent… Your daughter is very lucky. I believe the point he is making here is that this fantastic musical is available only to the rich and famous. As he mentioned… In a time where we really need to enrich the minds of our youth and help them appreciate the arts, we push them farther and farther away. It is shameful.
You live in northern California and went all that way for a super expensive 3 hour play. You are rich.
I left this article knowing an awful lot more about your seething disdain for the people who are able to attend showings of Hamilton (it kinda seems like when you say “white people” what you actually mean is “women, especially those who are enjoying themselves too much” but I could be wrong) (also why are you holding Lin Manuel-Miranda and the work itself accountable for the attendance demographics???) than anything about the play’s narrative shortcomings, which it most certainly has. I would worry a lot less about trying to establish yourself as Not Like Other White People (and a lot less about policing a person of color’s work for its “whiteness”) and maybe a little more time learning to like things in spite of the fact that a bunch of ANNOYING, UNREFINED, GODDAMNED ***WOMEN**** might also enjoy it
Puleeze. He was just talking about ONE woman who has seen the thing 7 times. 7 TIMES. And — well — the shows creator(s) are the ones who shift the focus on to the subject of race when they cast exclusively people of color (NO CAUCS NEED APPLY) to sing and dance and pontificate for this privileged audience of people old or rich enough to afford a seat. All he said is it’s not up to the hype (or price). And really; what is?
In response to what you stated about “women enjoying themselves too much.’ It reminds me of something I read in The Atlantic magazine. A writer slammed white women for belonging to those clubs like “The Red Hat Society”…etc. She just pulverized the women. Her complaint was that women in these clubs usually don’t include the poor, or minorities in general, when they go out on social gatherings. The problem I had with the article is when men go out with the boys and are having fun, no one condemns them for not having minorities or the poor in their groups. The boys are just getting together and having fun. I’m a black male, and I’ve noticed that for the most part, when guys get together socially they do not go out specifically looking for the less fortunate to join them either. I don’t know if your point is relevant here, but sometimes we do dump on women for just having fun.
I haven’t seen Hamilton but I don’t think I need to to know this guy is a very sad and bitter douche canoe.
Amen
Have seen Hamilton (and liked it), can confirm
Nope, I disagree. I saw it today, and it was…fine. I was only bored once in the first act, and the second went by quicker. I didn’t understand the hugely emotional reactions that most of the other theater goers had though, I didn’t emotionally connect with it. It wasn’t awful, but it wasn’t amazing either.
Some web searching reveals that the musical contains a number of firsts in terms of its cast and style, and also that tickets are outrageously expensive. This explains many of the reactions. If you’ve paid four figures for a theater ticket, it’s unlikely you’ll admit that it’s just fine, especially to the others in your group (nobody wants to be the party pooper).
““The best thing I’ve ever seen.” I was a little perplexed. How many shows have you ever seen? What’s your favorite musical? Jersey Boys? What was the last musical you saw? Lion King at The Fox in 2006?”
Oh, man. This hyperbole really highlights the problem I have with a lot of media consumption, and it’s why I can’t stand Broadway in particular. Short of an absolutely disaster, is anyone REALLY going to admit they spent so much money on something they didn’t like? Especially those who have to make, like, a TRIP to do it?
That, in turns, encourages audiences to act less like patrons of the arts than consumers. Most people aren’t concerned as much if something addresses its particular focus well, or how it conveys its own message, so much as how close to or far from it is from being considered “the best.” It gets worse when something becomes critically acclaimed or award-winning. Nuance has to be jettisoned, and you have to “just enjoy it.”
I might sounds like an elitist saying, “Shouldn’t you know what a good show looks like?” but I mean it less in a disdainful way than a cautionary way – are you really willing to spend so much money on something you’re KIND OF sure is good? Considering all the time and money involved in something’s creation, is it financially responsible, even moral, to “turn your brain off”?
Though I don’t see why I shouldn’t be disdainful of someone who’s seen a $1000 show four times and has Nothing Insightful To Say. There are theatre students and professionals who are young, scrappy, and hungry still waiting to get the chance to truly EXPERIENCE and UNDERSTAND the show that they’ve only listened to. But they can’t afford to, because they’re in theatre. In NYC, “I’ve seen Hamilton four times” might as well be “Let them eat cake.”
I do love the Hamilton conversation – any big pop culture phenomenon is only truly worth it for the conversation –especially when compared to the industry as a whole. DID Hamilton have a duty to expound on our country’s racist history in particular, or was it okay for it be a straight musical adaptation of the Ron Chernow book? Do WE know the difference between colorblind casting and color-conscious casting? IS it ironic that George III songs are so popular with white people because it basically written to lampoon musicals written by white people?
I don’t have answers yet, because I haven’t seen it, and Lord only knows when I’ll be able to.
I have not had the privilege of seeing the show, but my wife and mother-in-law have, as have many of my friends and they loved it. However, I am not really posting about Hamilton. I absolutely LOVED the line in your dripping review where you state,
“All I saw was a harem of basic bitches, their boyfriends who are “just the best,” a few rich old white queens, and one Billy Bob in a NASCAR T-shirt, for the love of God!”
I particularly liked the part where you quote the girlfriends saying their boyfriends “are just the best”. I swear, no sarcasm intended, that is seriously funny. It’s like I can picture them (the basic girlfriends) saying it and how you intended me to develop my minds-eye picture. Well done! I hope you are writing more for comedic impact rather than pure truthfulness, but no harm either way… at least to me. Coincidentally, I do agree with you that it is a shame that most people, regardless of ethnicity or socioeconomic status, are precluded from enjoying this show. For the record I am: old, rich, white, and have a PhD. But even more importantly, I have a sense of humor and although some would say slightly warped a sense of humor nonetheless.
That is so funny “‘Hamilton:’ You don’t need to be in the room where it happens (because it’s for old, rich white people)”
I’m an older white guy (wouldn’t call myself rich) and refuse to see that racist show no matter what. You can GIVE me free tickets and I’d sell immediately. I’d never see that crap.
Once I saw that that racist guy who did In the Heights, made the Casting “Non-White Only” I knew I’d never see it.
My wife (who likes theater) knows if she sees it I will file for divorce.
I figured it was a show made for the BLM movement but I guess there are enough liberals in NY with white guilt to go and support a show that discriminates against them.
Sad
I think you completely missed the point of this. People like you ARE the problem.
Okay, it is NOT RACIST. Hamilton’s story was all white people, and so, Lin wanted to make a point that black people could make the play just as memorable and accurate as if it had white people. And so many people see it so it is not racist, otherwise it would not be this popular and on BROADWAY for heavens sake. Second, there are white people in the play, so it is not “non-white casting only”. Phillipa Soo, Jonathan Groff. And third Lin Manuel Miranda’s WIFE is white, so if he was so racist, I am sur he would not have married a woman of the race he was not a fan of. So before you go insulting the ground us hamilfans walk on, get your facts strait.
Phillipa Soo is half Chinese.
It sounds to me like you had more of a bad experience at the show that had nothing to do with the actual show. Half this article has to do with you having to pee and the bad audience around you, not the actual show itself :/
AND they said they liked the album and knew the lyrics, so shouldn’t they have known how long it was going into it?? If you know the show and DON’T go pee before, that’s no ones fault but you’re own
I’m a Puerto Rican and nowhere near rich who had the honor to see hamilton with the Original Cast on Broadway .. my seating was center , center orchestra which were better seats than the president’s … Awesome for a true BrokeNyer with no connects…
Hamilton isn’t overrated c: you do you, we do us. Stop trying to make me stop liking something or Turn around,bend over and lemme show you where my shoe fits
No way I could ever see this… the premise is so cornball…And I’m an old half-white guy!
You are awful. Obviously you don’t actually know Hamilton’s genius lyrics and choreography, otherwise, you would not tarnish the name of Lin Manuel Miranda as you rudely have. Stop hating on Hamilton.
Ella the Hamilton supporter, you are exactly right, he should stop this behavior. I have the honor to be your obedient servant, but the question is, do you?
The problem attendees don’t want to hear about, and don’t care about, is that these ticket “brokers” are actually SCALPERS and their tickets were purchased illegally. The extra money does not support the arts but a sort of organized electronic crime that locks real New Yorkers without serious amounts of cash from enjoying much of the culture that happens here. I don’t see concerts at MSG and I don’t see most broadway shows either, because there is always some tourist willing to pay “a small fortune” for that ticket.
By the way, MOST theater audiences skew old and white because that is who supports theater in this country, overall. Don’t be mad cuz they are also the audience for the one show you want to see.
Be mad cuz people don’t care if the tickets they buy are being sold illegally… THAT is why the average New Yorker (who happens NOT to be white) can’t see Hamilton, or Madonna, or Beyonce, either. Scalping and illegal resale of tickets is what’s keeping you out. Still think it’s a victimless crime?
I’ll bet black people think you’re a dick too.
I’m Cuban and white and I think it sucked. Glad I found this article, it says everything I felt. OVERRATED CACA!
I have one thing to say to you. Fuck. You.
That’s the reaction of someone who has just spent an outrageous amount of money on a theater ticket and doesn’t want to listen to a reasoned opinion.
It was not an actual dramatic story – had no actual plot, story arc or character development. I got bored because frankly, it felt like someone (Lin) took one history text book and wrote songs based on a series of events that took place (read: “this happened, then this, then this, then that, then this” is NOT a plot. Or a story. That’s a history book with sections and sub-sections.). No real structure. I think its success is more a commentary on social appetite for diversity and different types of musicals – great – bravo, I agree! But excitement over novelty and inclusion does not equal an actual masterpiece. Sorry! Funny how commenters are taking offense at the author’s critique – as if liking Hamilton is a litmus test for being the Ultimate Good Person. It was a good show. period. the rest is identity politics or lack of exposure to theatre.
All it is, is an idea from one man to conjoin a rap and a musical together. It may be very well written but I do think it is overhyped in the sense that people jump at stuff that is new. It seems cool and new and unique, to a lot of people. Because New, and unique sell a lot in todays world.
However I will not diminish the fact of the time and effort it took into creating such a play. It may be spectacular to watch it, and I hope one day to share the experience of watching a Broadway musical such as this.
There is nothing more insufferable and pathetic than a sniveling white douche-weasel using the term “white people” as a derogatory insult. What a pathetic little whining twerp this writer is. I can’t imagine spending five minutes in the presence of this twerpy little white dweeb dropping the term “white people” in a desperate effort to be edgy and down. You’re a loser, Kite.
I don’t give a hoot who reviews a play and who doesn’t. I’ll be by own judge thank you. If they have good voices, that’s usually enough for me. I love listening to the music as I walk in the mornings. It has inspired me to start reading about Hamilton and that period of history. It is coming to San Francisco but I won’t be going. I’m just a retired nurse and would never spend $800 for a ticket. I could cruise the carribean for a week for that price! If it awakens curiosity in people then it is a good play!
Bravo, sir. I’ve been waiting for someone who’s been to a log of musicals to be more honest about Hamilton.
After publicly disrespecting Mike Pence when he attended the show, I have lost all respect for the cast of the show and now have no interest in supporting it. Neither does so many others who feel the same way.
Yet, even with the dirty stunt the cast pulled, Mike Pence responded respectfully and dignified.
Yes, right on! When performers disrespect ticketholding audience members, they’ve lost me!
The author is correct. Seeing Hamilton is basically just the latest outlet for rich white liberals to get their dose of multiculturalism / white guilt. This musical is literally just a bunch of people rapping on stage about a fairly boring story.
Went in NYC with my husband.
He got ticked off with me when I fell asleep during the performance not once but 4 times.
My husband’s boss gave us the tickets.
I am still wondering why his boss dislikes my husband so intensely.
At least we had a super NY pizza after the show.
I went to Hamilton with my best friend
Songs were sort of ok, but our overall impression was negative
Kind of like a high school performance poorly done.
The pizza is great in this city isn’t it? Yes, I too had pizza after the show. And it was better than the show!
I totally disagree.
My wife and I thoroughly enjoyed Hamilton.
My girlfriend loves this musical, she hasn’t seen it but she is obsessed. I feel awful because she will play the songs in the car and it is like nails on a chalkboard to me. I talk shit about it and hurt her feelings, then feel like a prick for dissing her interests.
At least seeing this review, i don’t feel like a total freak. This just isn’t for me, to the point where i cant tolerate it at all. The whole thing feels as white as a Trump cabinet meeting, and about as genuine on a human level.
The average working American doesn’t give a shit about Alexander Hamilton, and putting his Wikipedia page to some (in my opinion) really awful music doesn’t enthuse me any more.
I wouldn’t have minded if you criticised the play, the acting, the singing- whatever, but you sound like youre really GRASPING at something to be hateful about while simultaneously making sure everybody reading this know YOU DEFINITELY ARENT RACIST AND OOH ARENT WHITE PEOPLE ANNOYING AHA GUYS??
Hate to break it to you buddy but you are white people this was a mess of an article and I don’t really think you got whatever point you were desperately trying to make across.
This 60-year-old white bitch stood in line for 3 hours in order to pay $199 for a ticket to this show. I enjoyed waiting in line more than the show. The people were interesting to talk to. Hamilton is hyperbolic sound, movement, and acting. I had to put my hands over my ears because the sound was way too loud. I couldn’t stand it so much that I left at intermission and gave my ticket to a very grateful woman outside the theater. There’s an hour and a half of my life that I’ll never get back.
From a rich, white guy…
Saw Ham with my wife for her B’day. She loved it. I loved…half of it. First act was super. Until the second last song which bogged down. Shuda ended the first act after the song before it and started the second act with the first act closer. The second act suffered from the usual ‘play’ disease….getting too preachy and redundant. I fell asleep 4 times. Cut two songs (for a total of three) to tighten the production. ENTERTAIN. If I want a lecture, my wife or mother will do just fine.
Great choreography and a superb set (liked the dual roundtable)
Singing/orchestra was excellent.
King G was great levity (but made no curtain call???)
Theatre seating provides great viewing
First act: A-
Second Act: C- (Boring songs and padded)
Total score: B-
NO WAAAAY justifies the price. But it made her happy, so it was very worth it.
You say you like the album and were singing along to the songs in your head, and then proceed to ramble on about needing to pee and not knowing when intermission is?? Did you or did you not know anything about this show going into it? If you listened to it before, like you said, then you are either an idiot for not remembering how long it was, or you’re just trying to be cool because Hamilton is too mainstream for you. Just a warning, les miz is long too, so if you see it don’t be a moron, go to the bathroom first.
Love this article… the ticket prices are insane! Rich white are the majority that will get to see this play, while the young latinos, and blacks in low income communities once again get left out.
I use to be a fan of Hamilton but everybody around me ruined it for me. A lot of Hamilton fans think that the only good musical and everything else sucks or stole something from Hamilton that made it popular. No. Not true. Have you heard the music for Bandstand, Tuck Everlasting, Come From Away, Bye By Birdie, Newsies, Finding Neverland, In Transit, School of Rock, The Fantasticks, Be More Chill, or basically any other music. I know the answer, it’s no because you won’t give any other masterpiece a chance. And whenever people ask me (of course accompanied by a dirty look) why I don’t like Hamilton this is how I answer. First, Hamilton got nominated and won Tony’s it didn’t deserve. Best score and direction and leading actor I get. But they did not deserve costume or set design. Tuck should have won set because they had a giant metal tree that moved and a silo that came out from the stage while Hamilton had a spinning stage, big whoop. And virtually any other show should have won costume because all of the Hamilton costumes look the same, most are white, and there are like five with color. Then people will ask me why I like Dear Evan Hansen because they think that it won things it shouldn’t have won. But it didn’t, I think it got what it deserved and didn’t what it didn’t, they didn’t get costume or choreo and that makes sense. Then I get really mad and say that lots of great shows had to close because of Hamiltons popularity. Tuck Everlasting, The Great Comet, and Bandstand all closed or are going to closed because they got overshadowed. And let’s be honest, Bandstand is the better American musical. And I don’t think any of the Ham fans know what Be More Chill is and the sad thing is it might never see Broadway because of these overpopular shows. Hamiltons had a great run but it’s time for it to close.
Great article agree with it!
Wife got tickets for L.A. run. All in all not bad , except historically wrong. Music loud and rap a high school level production. Prices for seats 3 times too much.
Save your time and money.
Ok I’m sorry but I found this because I was doing a paper on types of writing and thought that these would be helpful. Look you do not have to like a musical or even have to explain why you don’t like it. However that musical means so much. I am an immigrant so to see something that involves my race in any way is real helps me feel like I fit in. Personally I do not think that you can base something off of it’s audience, instead look for facts about it.
Uh, aren’t you a young, rich, white guy, Sam? A hipster desperately trying to get street cred by….bashing a show made by a POC who cast POC? Kinda suspicious, that.
Thank you for being so honest with this post. I saw Hamilton and was actually disappointed. I mean, I GUESS it’s worth seeing…but not nearly as life changing as people claim. It’s become like the Emperor’s New Clothes. I think insecure upper middle class people have heard their ilk claim how astoundingly great Hamilton is so many times that if you claim otherwise you might appear uncultured or some crap. I would be willing to bet that well over half the people who gush about Hamilton do so only because they want to be accepted.
My son has been begging me to take him. He memorized the whole album .I’m not a rich old white lady but an LPN (licensed practical nurse) who had to put the tickets on my credit card. I almost had a heart attack when I saw the price. But my son is also a person of color and he should have this experience that white kids..and obviously white women seeing this 5-10 times have. So I went ahead and will be working double shifts to pay the cost of the tickets off. I just hope some white hipster doesn’t see me and think I’m some upperclass snob who can afford to go to plays like this. I make Lpn wages…look it up. And I am going to see HAMILTON and EXCITED about it.
Let me get this straight. Hamilton has:
1) Racist casting.
2) The racist casting minimizes understanding of the racism of the time.
3) The pricing is racist.
4) The critics are racist.
5) The audience is racist.
6) The cast preaches to / tries to publicly shame paying audience members they think are racist.
So would this show torture me, because of the color of my skin, merely six times, or half a dozen? I think I’ll pass. But thanks for the great info.
Hmm, so what I know about “Hamilton“ is the following:
1) The casting is racist.
2) Because the casting is racist, it’s hard to understand the actual historical racism of the time.
3) The audience is racist.
4) The ticket pricing is racist.
5) The critics are racist about the audience.
6) The director and the cast publicly disrespect audience members they feel are racist.
No, I don’t think so. Don’t want to pay for being tortured.
I saw Hamilton last week with my boyfriend. I am a second generation Colombian living in Chicago and my boyfriend is a second generation German living in Chicago as well. Neither of us are rich but his parents who are bought tickets for $150 a pop. They last minute decided not to go so the tickets fell on us. We had heard of the play but weren’t really dying to see it. We went for the experience.
My boyfriend and I were perplexed by the play. Reading through your article, I was so amazed that I felt like I was reading my own thoughts. Especially this whole paragraph:
“And boy, was it white! There were so many old-ass white people, I thought I was in Branson, MO. If they weren’t decked in furs doing their best “smell the fart,” they were like, totally stoked, and totally hyped, from their, like, totally ahmazzing pumpkin spiced lattes. You’d think such a “groundbreaking” show would be more accessible to the people it should be inspiring: kids from the inner city, people who have a hard time connecting to the arts due to lack of representation; people of all classes and races coming together. Nope. All I saw was a harem of basic bitches, their boyfriends who are “just the best,” a few rich old white queens, and one Billy Bob in a NASCAR T-shirt, for the love of God!”
Thanks for writing this article! Those who have no idea what it’s like to be a minority, will never understand a lot of the points made here. It’s a sad reality of life. I think the writer had somewhat good intentions with the play but Hamilton though great in talent is lacking in character…
Hi,
I just wanted to say, as one human to another, you hurt my feelings. I fully support your right to your opinion of this show, and in fact was excited to read your article to get a different perspective. However,
“the most popular musical to cast its spell on Broadway since Queen Elsa belted about the Wizard to every mom from Green Bay”-was that necessary? I am a mom of color, raising children of color and did enjoy Wicked. Why take a good article and put snippy little comments into it? Don’t people of color in the Midwest deserve the same respect as people in New York? Are you not perpetuating stereotypes right there?
From a mom of color, Minnesota
(Minneapolis, where we have theatre also)
I needed to hear this.
I’ve been OBSESSING over the soundtrack, the cast, even American History (and im British) – relentlessy searching to find a way I could pay to see it or justisfy paying an arm and a leg to go.
Deep down, it was giving me that uncomfortable feeling that it wasn’t for me (and not because im British), but rather the only people who would look like me would be on stage. As if the ticket price was in fact a conscious effort to exclude me. Can anyone explain why esle it would be so priceyyy?
I feel more peace about not seeing it. But I cant and wont promise that my lottery attempts will die here too.
I love this article about why Hamilton sucks. Especially the ” They also have a daily “lottery” where you can try to get a ticket for $10, also known as a #Ham4Ham (he’s the guy on the $10 bill, get it? Advertising!), which is basically New York’s version of Black Friday at Walmart (since there are no Walmarts in New York, how else would the bougie gawk at mobs of poor people fighting over something totally not worth the hassle?).” Part. When you think about it the whole performance just kinda praises him. It’s kinda weird like his life wasn’t that hard.