Hamilton (2016/2020)
Jul. 3rd, 2020 23:05Like everyone else, I watched the Hamilton film on Disney+ today. I never wrote up the original, which was a truly magical evening in June 2016--we saw one of the performances that was recorded for the film, specifically the one where Jonathan Groff came back to play King George III. The film does a really great job of showing you things that it wasn't possible to see in the house, or at least not from anywhere but the front row. (We were house left balcony, and the seats were pretty good, but being able to see the details of everyone's expressions alone was great.) There were a lot of little moments that I'd forgotten, and a lot of things that were played very slightly differently from when I saw it again in San Francisco in January of this year. I want to go see it again, when all this is over.
The original cast was amazing, and watching the show I found myself remembering so many things about that day and that trip that I'd forgotten, buried under the sorrow of what came not too much later. Things like when I co-won the betting pool at the Tonys viewing party I went to the previous weekend with
pocky_slash despite knowing very little about Broadway and we ate Hamilton cupcakes. Things like trekking almost all the way downtown to stand in front of Hamilton and Eliza's grave, and Angelica's--nearby--and weep. Things like how ungodly hot it was inside the theater during the show; June in New York City, a full house, the stage lights and the cameras, the film equipment in the street outside. Eating gelato at that one place on Eighth and taking the A train back uptown afterwards. Weeping through most of the second half of the show. The amazing group of people I saw the show with, and the equally amazing group of people we met up for drinks with before we saw the show. Watching the Brexit results come in on
oliviacirce's couch the previous week, a moment that even then felt like the world turned upside down.
There is much work to be done, but it was good to remember how all of that felt, and to think that it might be possible to feel that way again. Rise up.
The original cast was amazing, and watching the show I found myself remembering so many things about that day and that trip that I'd forgotten, buried under the sorrow of what came not too much later. Things like when I co-won the betting pool at the Tonys viewing party I went to the previous weekend with
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There is much work to be done, but it was good to remember how all of that felt, and to think that it might be possible to feel that way again. Rise up.