Theatre Trip: Hamilton (FINALLY!)

HAMILTON

Victoria Palace Theatre

Date: 14 December (Tuesday), 7:30pm

Seats: Stalls, Row C, 30-31

(Seen with Richard!)

Understudies: Alexander Hamilton (Alternate - Nuno Queimado), Aaron Burr (Jay Perry), King George (Aaron Lee Lambert)

This show we had been waiting SO LONG to see! Booking tickets to Hamilton was my 30th birthday present (which was in January 2020), and we booked for 6 months later to make sure we could get amazing seats. However, 2020 (and 2021) had other plans and our show was postponed a year, then again 6 months as the new date was one week before the theatres reopened properly! So it took almost 2 years, as I now turn 32 in just a few weeks. It was totally worth the wait though!

Richard and I got some sushi from Itsu for dinner and ate it outside the theatre before we went in. We had plenty of time and even though the queue looked long it was pretty quick to get in. Our seats were amazing! We were close enough we could see absolutely everything and with lots of detail but far enough back that we could see the whole stage in one go. The set doesn't move very much with helped too. We had a few understudies as well due to Covid sickness.

I thought the show was amazing. I knew the music well but I hadn't seen the Disney+ version so I didn't know anything about the staging or choreography and I thought it was amazing! Really dynamic and musical, and the ensemble was really amazing. They had a lot to do and did it all in their costumes, which I thought were really clever. They wore their base layers (which were vaguely period) and continued to add and remove additional layers depending on who they were in any number.

There were a few cast members who I thought really stood out. Angelica Schuyler (Ava Brennan) was fab, and every time I saw her I wanted to see her more. We did think that Hamilton (Nuno Queimado) was VERY good and that he got stronger throughout the performance. I also really liked Jefferson in Act 2 (Waylon Jacobs), he was an excellent balance of funny and witty and had a really excellent suit! I also loved King George (Aaron Lee Lambert) - he had everyone in hysterics with just his mannerisms.

It was also much funnier than I thought. This sounds obvious, but you can't see facial expressions on a cast recording. Some of the more deadpan lines were much, much funnier when you could see the visual gags that went along with it!

I am so grateful we finally got to see it! I am really looking forward to returning to see some other performers in the roles, particularly of Hamilton and Burr. It also turned out we had great timing - as due to more extended absences, Hamilton has been closed for almost every show since (I'm writing this almost a week afterwards, with shows not going ahead for Wednesday, Thursday (2), Friday, Saturday (2) or Sunday!) so really we should consider ourselves lucky that we go to see it at all. I am very grateful and will be returning when things settle down again.