Hamilton

⭐ 8.5/10

(Originally written by Joseph)

I went into this being the only person with zero background knowledge of the play, the plot, the history etc., besides the fact that it provides the original for Dear Baby Yoda... After settling into it, realizing there really would be no normal talking, and pausing for a few wiki checks (this many 18th century politicians were black?!), I really loved it. I thought the soundtrack was incredible and unique, and I was so impressed that they wrote SO many good songs that could occupy 2.5 hours of time. That's like writing 4 normal albums, plus it has to make sense in the form of a story, plus choreography and everything else that goes into making a stage musical. It's hard to grasp what goes into a production like this, but I thought it was so darn impressive and I know I'll be going back and listening to these songs for a while.

It was an interesting play to watch right now, especially with the diverse cast essentially telling a positive story about the founding fathers who are not real popular right now. But I suppose the characters all have depth and I appreciate that they explored that. I'm assuming a bit is lost watching a recording of the play, and my only real complaint is that the 2.5 hours of music gets a little exhausting. Not only is it difficult to follow at times, but because every song follows a normal structure, each hitting a fever-pitch by the end, it kinda feels like this play has like 30 climactic moments. As great as it was, I felt a sense of relief when it was over.