The latest Broadway musical to hit Manila, Hamilton, which also marks its premiere in Asia, is now running at The Theatre at Solaire until Nov. 26. PeopleAsia caught its staging last night, Sept. 19, a day before the musical’s media night.
By Alex Y. Vergara
Like a huge package tied up in a neat little bow, this musical, which is loosely based on history, comes complete with its resident heroes and villains, reformers and fence-sitters, dreamers and cynics, do-gooders and ne’er-do-wells, sin and forgiveness, death and rebirth, even a long-suffering wife and a scheming mistress.
We could very well be referring to a chapter in recent Philippine history and its usual cast of real-life characters, but the musical in question, Hamilton, takes us further back in time – more than 250 years ago to be exact — as it revolves around the life of the brilliant and driven, but also bullheaded, tempestuous and very flawed Alexander Hamilton, one of America’s founding fathers, who also happened to be George Washington’s right-hand man and the fledgling nation’s first secretary of treasury.
The latest Broadway musical to hit Manila (albeit an Australian production), Hamilton, which also marks its premiere in Asia, is now running at The Theatre at Solaire until Nov. 26. PeopleAsia caught last night’s staging of Hamilton, a day before the musical’s media night.
Does a seemingly remote American historical figure like Alexander Hamilton, especially one initially brought to life by one of its creators, American actor-song writer Lin Manuel-Miranda, primarily by way of rap music, translate well with certain segments of Filipinos? Judging from yesterday’s full house of appreciative, lustily cheering audience, yes!
Miranda, who also originated the role on Broadway, takes his audience back to the heady days of early American history, from the time its original 13 states were chaffing under the yoke of British colonial rule to the time the young newly independent nation, with more than its fair share of acrimonious debate, partisanship, backroom horse-trading, and outright deceit among its politicians, was charting its own destiny.
In lieu of Miranda, Alexander Hamilton was played with earnestness and commanding presence by Jason Arrow, who, like most of the musical’s principal characters, easily and seamlessly segued from rapping to belting, posturing to dancing with seamless abandon.
Lyndon Watts as the ambitious but spineless Aaron Burr, Brent Hill as the scene-stealing King George III, Akina Edmonds as Angelica Schuyler, Darnell Abraham as George Washington and, surprise, surprise, the Philippines’ very own Rachel Ann Go as Eliza Schuyler-Hamilton, Alexander’s faithful and long-suffering wife, also turned in memorable performances.
With her crystalline voice as her most potent weapon, Go made full use of her experience essaying various roles on the global stage to breathe life to Eliza. She more than acquitted herself alongside her colleagues as she acted a storm and reached for the high notes with seeming ease and clarity.
Since Hamilton is the musical equivalent of a biopic, how the lead character’s life ended in the hands of his friend-turned-foe Burr in a duel in New Jersey is already a foregone conclusion. Those wishing for an otherwise happy ending would be no different from someone going to a screening of Titanic hoping and praying for the next three hours for the ship not to sink. In other words, they’d go home disappointed.
Those expecting to see trap doors, harnesses, disappearing phantoms and giant helicopters have obviously gone to the wrong musical. With no change even in backdrops to boast of, the only things going for Hamilton are its ingenious use of lights, a conveyor belt-like revolving stage, crisp, smart-alecky rap dialogue, and lovely melodies that, because of their complex arrangements and occasionally profound lyrics, won’t even leave you humming as you exit the theater.
Just like most productions culled from the past, the challenge as well as the beauty of creating a musical inspired by history and real-life events isn’t purely confined anymore to how it ends. The weight on such productions now lies more on how the story gets there. And Miranda’s Hamilton nails it!
Credit should also go to Miranda and his collaborators who resorted to inventive use of flashback scenes and sometimes non-linear ways of storytelling, which have done wonders for this 21st century musical revolving around late 18th century events in a very white America.
Whether out of necessity or done purely as a form of gimmick, the production’s decision to resort to “colorblind” casting is also an inspired move and decidedly one of Hamilton’s novelties. After all, age-old universal traits such as loyalty and duplicity, selflessness and greed also transcend race.
So, if you happen to watch the musical with, say, your fiancé who experiences a sudden eureka moment during curtain call, exclaiming loud enough for the world to hear, “hey, I didn’t know that George Washington was black,” then it’s probably time for you to reconsider by returning something small but pricey back to him.
And we’re not referring to the price of the admission ticket.
