The ‘Hamilton’ National Tour Reminds Us of America’s Complicated Past
Out of all of the Broadway shows I’ve seen in San Diego, none had my excitement pre-show like Hamilton. Prior to living in San Diego, I wasn’t located anywhere near local theaters that housed national tours of Broadway shows, and if I didn’t get a stream of it (as I did with Hamilton thanks to Disney+) or an accompanying movie (like Wicked), I had no idea what it was about.
Since I was already a fan of Hamilton going in, that also made me nervous that I wouldn’t be a fan coming out. I already knew I liked the music and the storyline, but I feared that seeing a production without the original cast would temper my opinion.
Fortunately, I was wrong.
(Side note: The press photos included in this article are not of any of the actors who were in the show I saw.)
Jimmie J.J Jeter - HAMILTON National Tour - (c) Joan Marcus 2024
Tyler Fauntleroy and Company - HAMILTON National Tour - (c) Joan Marcus 2024
Justin Matthew Sargent - HAMILTON National Tour - (c) Joan Marcus 2024
How ‘Hamilton’ delivered
As mentioned, I was already a fan of Hamilton prior to coming to this show. I read every page of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton: The Revolution to get every bit of backstory and thought process behind every song. The same book was also one of the first drawing attempts I made while taking an art class in December. When my roommate in Monterey and I watched it for the first time at the end of 2020, we both were so inspired by it that we wound up moving out of Monterey to pursue our lives outside of it, both having felt trapped in our current day-to-days at the time.
Hamilton: The Revolution cover
My attempt to draw it
Will I ever be satisfied?
If not for Hamilton, I very well may not have ever moved to San Diego. Had that not happened, my career would not have flourished the way it has, and I certainly wouldn’t have been able to see the number of live shows I have since being here.
I could go on, but this isn’t about the Disney+ production: It’s about the actual live show I got to witness for myself.
Blaine Alden Krauss took on the lead as Hamilton, and in my opinion, he’s much better than Lin-Manuel (no offense, though, truthfully, I don’t think it’s hard to top him vocally.) Kendyl Sayuri Yokoyama played Eliza, and her soft but strong vocals really brought the character to life, and she brought me to tears during the scene where Hamilton and Eliza grieve their lost son. I was equally impressed with Jisel Soleil Ayon as Angelica, who brought the house down with some powerful vocals. Deon’te Goodman also crushed the role of Aaron Burr. John Devereux, whom I admit I spotted as a hottie based on his cast photo, stepped in as the understudy for George Washington, which Kameron Richardson normally plays. I don’t know how Richardson could have done better, but I’m stoked I got to see what Devereux brought to the role. Additionally, Paul Louis Lessard could not have been a better choice to play King George III.
Is the ‘Hamilton’ storyline still prevalent?
It’s no secret the world is in some turmoil right now. No matter what side of the coin you fall on, conflict and conversation revolve around the Constitution and what it does and does not uphold.
For the record: I am staunchly anti-Trump. If that bothers you, either bounce right out of here or continue reading with caution, because I’m not here to praise the goon making a mockery of the Constitution while he sits on his golden toilet and wipes his ass with our hard-earned tax payer money. If you think he’s for you, do you.
Anyway.
A main reason I even bring this up right now is to compare Trump to George Washington. For some reason, Trump thinks he’s better than both Washington and Abraham Lincoln, but he also thinks he’d make a great pope and moonlights as a Sith Lord pretending to be a Jedi, but I digress.
What we see of Washington in Hamilton is, my friends, what a leader looks like. He took his troops into battle and faced the war head-on. He stepped down when the time was right and let the power move to someone else, for better or worse. He may have had slaves, which is really the most unfortunate thing about his history, but he was known for his honesty, his integrity, his humility, and his actual focus on unity, all of which the current administration lacks (though I’m sure they’d love to bring slavery back).
America was founded by immigrants, which this administration also seems to forget. Unfortunately, that also included the mass genocide of the Native Americans, and there’s a bloody history for us that gets outshone by Christopher Columbus. Those are the days Trump wants to return to to “Make America Great Again,” but that’s almost like returning to the Old Testament after Jesus came and died for everyone in the New.
Then again, Trump is the most anti-pretend-Christian wannabe out there, so he probably doesn’t even know when and where Jesus shows up in the Bible.
How were the live performances?
I digress again.
Watching Hamilton on the stage just reminded me of how messed up our current administration is, and it made me angrier to see everything currently happening in the world. The show originally premiered in 2015, right before Trump’s first presidency. Even this went on to prove how racist many Americans are due to the complaints of non-white actors being cast in the roles of white historians, not to mention the fact they used rap and hip hop to tell the story of our Founding Fathers.
Company - HAMILTON National Tour - (c) Joan Marcus 2024
The current cast of the national tour brings all of that to the stage. There’s something strong and powerful to be said of marginalized communities who have had to fight for basic rights. They brought that emotion into the characters to help them deliver, which they all did to the best of their abilities.
The “best of their abilities,” unfortunately, was slightly marred by some not-so-great acoustics in the San Diego Civic Theater, as well as some issues with the microphones that cut them off at random.
This was to no fault of theirs, and it was also the first time I’d ever seen that happen at the Civic, so it isn’t too common, either.
So… is the show worth seeing?
Without a doubt, it is worth it to see this show live on stage.
Sure, you can watch it with the original cast on Disney+, and the staging and sound and lighting and everything else is, theoretically, better.
(l-r) Lauren Mariasoosay, Marja Harmon, Lily Soto - HAMILTON National Tour - (c) Joan Marcus 2024
But the chance to be in the audience—or, rather, in the room where it happens—is a different experience altogether. The show moves by in a blink, and I would have been able to stay put without the intermission, which is not really something I would say for any of the other shows I’ve seen.
Fortunately, for San Diegans, Hamilton has a pretty epic two-week run at the Civic, which is also rare since we usually only get a weekend. You can grab your tickets for the show from San Diego Broadway through May 18 for the closing night.
All in all, Hamilton deserves every award it’s ever received and then some. It’s just a bummer the awards can’t continue to include the current cast of the national tour.
A.D. Weaver and Company - HAMILTON National Tour - (c) Joan Marcus 2024
