It's happened before at the Newman. I remember it seemed they had somehow installed springs under the seats that flung you skyward at the end of Bring in da Noise, Bring in da Fink. Something so new, so alive, had just happened with Savion Glover's tap and Reg E. Gaines' rap, you simply could not applaud from your seat (this was before standing ovations became unfortunately obligatory-- more about that anon...). Hey, A Chorus Line began here. The place has magic.
I am deeply attached to those incredible times. I live for moments that soar through the theater and take me along on their emotional wing. None, though, not so far, have eclipsed what I experienced last night. Lin Manuel Miranda of In the Heights fame, along with his longtime director Tommy Kail, have hit this one not only out of the park, but blasting into the firmament of the greatest musicals of all time. Hamilton is now one. I'm so eager again for the poll results of my friend's perennial question to his colleagues about their five favorite musicals. There seem to be a few that just show up across the board: Sweeney Todd, Guys and Dolls, Gypsy...but so few hit everyone's list. All of a sudden, in one night at the Newman, I'm wondering how the parsing will go when we begin including Hamilton.
First, Lin Manuel Miranda is sublime in the title role, none better, and leave it at that. But wait, he wrote the spectacular score, too, that comes rapping at you with head-spinning mastery and some of the deepest sounding love songs I've heard in a very long time. This amazing team of Mr. Miranda and Mr. Kail began their collaboration when they were at Wesleyan, won the Tony Award for In the Heights, but even so--who could see this coming. Maybe that's why the directing is so seamlessly inspired, not a false beat in the entire show. The creative team here is in a sort of balanced brilliant simplicity. The David Korins sets are deceptively simple in their fluid functioning (Mr. Korins was the magician behind the in-constant-motion sets upstairs for Here Lies Love). Andy Blankenbuehler joins his old pals from In the Heights and gives us kinetic poetry with his choreography. Howell Binkley lights the show with intense, effortless grace. Now let me tell you that Brian D'Arcy James is putting on one of those supporting star turns that will not leave you alone. You want to jump onstage and just eat this guy up. Yes, Andrea Martin did a great show-stopping number in Pippin last year. But this is different: Mr. James gets under your skin and does not allow that he might come out any time soon. His performance as King George III was what they always hoped, one assumes, would come along, when they instituted the Tony for Best Actor in a Featured Roll. It must be said, Daveed Diggs as Thomas Jefferson is nipping at his heels. Bravo, Messrs. Diggs and d'Arcy James. But wait, Leslie Odom, Jr as Aaron Burr, Renee Elise Goldsberry as Angelica Schuyler, and Phillipa Soo as Hamilton's wife--are all sublime. Don't be put off by the entire run being sold out like crazy. Save up. Call your uncle. Do something. But get tickets to see Hamilton. Simply waiting for its inevitable Broadway run will not do. You will want to have been here at this initial run, believe me on this--Hamilton is everything we go to the musical theater for, and more than we dared hope.
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