Review Roundup: HAMILTON Tour Kicks Off in San Francisco

Few things have been as highly anticipated as the national tour of the sweeping hit Hamilton, and now the show has officially kicked off in San Francisco.

HAMILTON is the story of America's Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, an immigrant from the West Indies who became George Washington's right-hand man during the Revolutionary War and was the new nation's first Treasury Secretary. Featuring a score that blends hip-hop, jazz, blues, rap, R&B, and Broadway, Hamilton is the story of America then, as told by America now.

Let's see what the San Francisco critics had to say...

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Linda Hodges, BroadwayWorld:

Time, once again...
for bravery and honesty.
Hamilton was one of them.
Women were the strength of them.
Alexander Hamilton,
Lin was waiting just to sing for you.
Alexander Hamilton,
We're so happy that your life rings 'new!

Jay Barmann, SFist: Theater fans likely don't need to hear another reason to see this show, and they either have their tickets already for the five-month run, or they're planning to hop on the lottery every day until they get one. But I'll say that it struck me watching the performance last night that this musical, in its lyrical brilliance and historical intricacy, is a wildly dense thing to absorb. I probably only grasped half of all that gets said/sung on first seeing the show, and it took multiple listens on Spotify to appreciate it all. First-timers who want to hear the show fresh from the stage - which I recommend - are going to have to accept that they likely won't catch everything in Miranda's spitfire songs, and it's a piece of work that demands some intense listening, and re-listening.

Lily Janiak, SF Gate: "Hamilton" reminds us that our history was not preordained by some outside force or even by almighty founding fathers but eked out by the daily, uncertain decisions of flawed, selfish human beings. Lyrics like "How lucky we are to be alive right now! History is happening in Manhattan, and we just happen to be in the greatest city in the world" make you start to wonder, in spite of yourself, how the American Revolution will end.

Karen D'Souza, The Mercury News: As Alexander Hamilton, Michael Luwoye burns with gravitas and ambition as the penniless and illegitimate orphan who rises to the heights of power. The formidable actor gives him a pugnacious spirit that sets fire to every scene he's in. It's a devastatingly visceral performance matched in intensity by Joshua Henry's Burr. Henry glows with bitterness and ambition as Aaron Burr, the man destined to play the villain in his fatal duel with Hamilton. In many ways, it is just as much Burr's musical because he is Hamilton's alter-ego as well as his nemesis.

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