United Kingdom Hamilton (UK touring production): Edinburgh Festival Theatre, 5.3.2024. (SRT)
I guess it was always going to happen. Hamilton, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s retelling of the story of the birth of the USA, is probably the biggest thing to happen in musical theatre this century. It burst out of Broadway years ago, and now its UK iteration has broken out of London’s West End, so the giant arrives in Edinburgh as part of its first UK-wide tour.
Is it worth the hype? Most definitely. The sheer inventiveness of Miranda’s conception is often incredible thing to behold. He has described it as the story of ‘America then, as told by America now’, and he plays such dazzling games with the USA’s founding story that you would salute him for his originality even if it wasn’t such a gripping watch. In his version American’s Anglo-Saxon founding fathers, indeed nearly all the major roles, are played by non-white actors, and the show’s musical and dramatic drive mostly comes from elements of contemporary black culture in the US, thus massively expanding the repertoire of what the show is able to do. Brilliant examples include Thomas Jefferson’s first appearance, which is staged as foot-tapping Boogie-woogie, or the Compromise of 1790, which becomes a rap battle. But the thing that drives it most is hip-hop, that fast-talking genre that combines patter, attitude and unstoppable rhythm.
In fact, it is that rhythm that makes this show so compelling to watch. The first half, in particular, which tells the story of the Revolutionary War, positively thumps with rhythmic energy all the way through, before the show becomes much more tender in the story of Hamilton’s personal life in the second half. Tellingly, the women tend to get much more lyrical music, with some terrifically singable melodies from the sisters who form Hamilton’s love interest, and a beautifully poignant set of numbers from Eliza, Hamilton’s grieving wife, in the final half hour.
It is completely unfair – if sort of inevitable – to judge this cast by the standards of the Broadway production that many Hamilton fans will already have seen on Disney+. That involved the show’s original creators who were uniquely invested in it, and if this cast doesn’t quite have that level of energy, then they still do a terrific job with the material often putting their own stamp on it. Shaq Taylor and Sam Oladeinde make an excellent pairing as Hamilton and Burr, his nemesis. Watching their relationship develop is one of the show’s joys because we are told at the start how it ends, and so tracing it to its explosive finale gets an extra edge of poignancy. KM Drew Boateng bubbles with energy as both Hercules Mulligan and James Madison, while Billy Nevers steals the limelight as Lafayette and, especially, Jefferson. The only actor capable of upstaging him is Daniel Boys, who makes a terrifically daft King George III. Maya Britto tugs the heart strings as Eliza Hamilton. Aisha Jawando struggles a bit with the rapid-fire rap but brings real heart to the show’s final sequence.
David Korins’s skeletal set encompasses everything from an intimate drawing room to a raging battlefield, and everything else in Thomas Kail’s production is full of fluid energy, telling the quick-paced story as clearly as it can. Music director Zach Flis keeps everything moving in the pit, and the mix of modern electronics with classical strings combines the eighteenth and twenty-first century worlds very effectively.
It is also heartening to see the huge Edinburgh Festival Theatre full to the brim with people who are often paying a very large amount of money for their tickets. If the Hamiltonian hype puts some money in the theatre’s coffers that they can use once the juggernaut has rolled out of town, then it’s even more welcome. Resistance is futile: this is not to be missed.
Simon Thompson
At Edinburgh Festival Theatre until 27 April. For further tour details click here.
Cast:
Alexander Hamilton – Shaq Taylor
Aaron Burr – Sam Oladeinde
Eliza Hamilton – Maya Britto
Angelica Schuyler – Aisha Jawando
George Washington – Charles Simmons
Marquis de Lafayette / Thomas Jefferson – Billy Nevers
Hercules Mulligan / James Madison – KM Drew Boateng
John Laurens / Philip Hamilton – DeAngelo Jones
King George III – Daniel Boys
Creatives:
Author – Lin-Manuel Miranda
Director – Thomas Kail
Director / Choreographer – Any Blankenbuehler
Musical director – Zach Flis
Musical supervisor – Alex Lacamoire
Scenic design – David Korins
Costume design – Paul Tazewell