I ignored the stories of sold out theaters, and the hottest tickets ever, for as long as I could. I lasted until my daughter found her way to the Hamilton soundtrack, and introduced it to me on a long ride home, north along the east coast.
The music hit me - Battle of Yorktown, My Shot, Hopeless, The Room Where it Happened. I was completely hooked when I got goosebumps watching the Yorktown video from the Tony Awards on YouTube.
In the fall of 2017, we went to the Bushnell in Hartford to see Les Miserables. While buying the tickets earlier in the year, I noticed Hamitlon would be on national tour soon, and it was coming to Connecticut."Hamilton is coming, Hamilton is coming," I told my wife and daughter. "And we're getting tickets. I promise. No matter what it costs."
The day the tickets went on sale, I had three computers and six browser windows open; six chances and six shows at which to try to get tickets during the theater's absurd lottery system. I was online and in the waiting room 15 minutes early. Forty-five minutes later, I had tickets - second to last row for a weekend matinee. I was bummed. I wanted orchestra. I was prepared to pay bigger.
No one else was concerned about the seats. We were going. We were going to be in the room, and that's what mattered. That was all, as I understand it, that Aaron Burr wanted. We were ahead of him, at least.
The show gripped me right from the start. From the opening note, it was fresh, powerful, original, innovative, funny, and simply, oh so good. I found the first act better than the second, which included one tear-jerking moment after another, and much mellower musical numbers. But that doesn't mean I wasn't completely in awe the entire three hours. I most definitely was.
The songs that had first hit me while just listening to the soundtrack were, of course, much more impressive live, but I was particularly blown away by Satisfied. It's Angelica's retelling of Eliza's Hopeless, and a stunningly choreographed number during which Angelica tells of the sisters' meeting Alexander from her own perspective.
We spent more than $400 for our second-to-last-row seats, and I would easily spend that money in a heartbeat to see the show again, without any hesitation, at any time.
I've seen a lot of musicals, and have my long-time favorites. I'm not exactly certain yet, in the overall scheme of things exactly where this one fits in the ranks. I might not know until the next time someone asks me what the best musical I have ever seen.
But I do know this. If you ask me if there's a show you should go see that is unlike anything you've ever seen before, in a blink, you'll hear me recommend Hamilton above all others.
