Review: HAMILTON at Providence Performing Arts Center

While I may have been one of the few in the audience who had never seen Hamilton before-you can tell by the amount of people who sing along to just about every song-it was still the rarest of musicals, a combination of history and the best jazz, hip-hop and R&B music ever combined.

The wife was on her third Hamilton trip, another of the many people around me thinking Hamilton was a sing-along, and just couldn't get enough.

The Musical, with book, music and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda, took home 11 Tony awards as well as a Grammy, Pulitzer and an unprecedented special citation from the Kennedy Center Honors, charts the course of Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, arriving in the US and his incredible journey through war, betrayal, revolution and politics.  To say that most people know the history of Alexander Hamilton through this musical, which premiered in 2015 after Miranda read Ron Chernow acclaimed biography in 2008 and took the next seven years to compose, would be an understatement.

Even after the incredible performance, you'll ponder what Hamilton's ambition was for everything he did-was it for honor or for legacy?  Ego?  All of the above?  You can decide for yourself but you'll learn a lot in the process.  We all know about Hamilton's famous duel but did you know his son had a fatal duel as well?  I certainly didn't and there was a lot more lessons to be learned throughout.  

Tyler Fauntleroy is a sensational Alexander Hamilton, who the wife thought rated far better than Miranda in the performance, with a stunning voice in Lauren Mariasoosay as wife Eliza Hamilton.  Other powerful performances included Jimmie "JJ" Jeter as Aaron Burr and A.D. Weaver as George Washington.  Comic relief was plentiful in this all-encompassing musical with incredible supporting performances by Justin Matthew Sargent as King George III Jared Howelton as Thomas Jefferson, and Brown Univeristy/Trinity Rep MFA graduate Kai Thomani Tshikosi as Hercules Mulligan/James Madison.

The three hour and five minute prodution with one intermission features 33 powerhouse songs, many instant classics like "My Shot", "Yorktown", "Washington on your side" and "One Last Time".

It's hard to write anything original about "Hamilton" but from this first-time viewers perspective, the attention its received over the last near decade is certainly warranted as you'll get so caught up in the music and the story that it'd be hard not to get goosebumps watching history unfold in incredible fashion. For the few of you who are still holding out on the Hamilton rush, it's worth a trip, if for nothing more than the music and powerful performances that rate top five on anyone's musicals "best of" list.  Don't wait any longer, it's at PPAC for more than another week, so this is your chance.  Trust me.  Take it.  

Photo by Angelica Tour

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