BroadwayDave

Books are great things. They allow the author to insert significant detail that sometimes has to be omitted due to the running length of the program. Short of turning the musical into two parts - similar to what they did with “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child”, with a total running length of five hours and fifteen minutes - “Hamilton” is already three hours long. I imagine it would have lost quite a bit of its popularity and uniqueness had it been turned into a two-part musical. It would have been sort of ridiculous at that point. Now, as I normally do with musicals I attend, I’ve been listening to the OBCR since the day I bought my ticket to see the show. Having read countless reviews, and knowing the show was “sung-through”, I knew that what was in the OBCR was the whole show - lock, stock, and barrel. There was to be nothing else, no excess dialogue, like what you find in many other traditional musicals where dialogue and music share the stage evenly to a degree. So having read the book while I was listening to the OBCR, I knew exactly what I was in for. One of the main reasons I listen to the OBCR before seeing the show is that sometimes there will be an over eager orchestra that will drown out portions of the song, as they did in “Waitress”, “Love Never Dies”, and a couple others. And in some cases, the performing artist in the musical sings with such inflection or pitch, or so fast, it’s next to impossible to understand the lyrics, as in the case of “Guns and Ships” and the initial part sang by Lafayette. Listening to the OBCR in full hasn’t always been to my advance, as in the case of “Love Never Dies”, where I knew the ending before I saw it. Sort of a self-inflicted spoiler alert. Not everyone listens to the OBCR, some not at all. Due to the fact that a good part of the “story” is told through the song, I feel it important to listen to it beforehand. You can see those who don’t rifling through their playbills trying to find out what song they’re on and where it’s at in the story. But again, in the case of “Hamilton”, a limited time frame dictated leaving out detailed parts of his, and others, amazing lives, where a long, drawn-out event was reduced to one line in a song. Take for instance when Jefferson comes back from Paris, and asks Sally to get the letter off of his desk. That “Sally” is another entire book in itself. So, yes, details of Hamilton’s life and the autobiography were left out. That’s why we get multi-season and multi-part week long mini-series like “Turn”, “John Adams”, and “Sons of Liberty”.

Also, today I finally finished watching the A&E Original Series “Turn: Washington’s Spies” (40 episodes / 4 seasons, on Netflix), and Alexander Hamilton shows up near the end of Season 3 (if I remember correctly). There’s a lot of A.Ham in this story stretching through Season 4. This is a GREAT show and I enjoyed it immensely.

Laurens was indeed in “Hamilton”, and in quite a few scenes all through Act 1. Lin-Manuel Miranda also said he wanted to recognize the relationship of the two men, but not focus on it, very briefly referring to it in “My Shot”. I also read the Ron Chernow biography before seeing “Hamilton”, and there was a LOT left out in the transformation of book to musical, the latter obviously not meant to be a direct translation to stage from the incredibly detailed tome.

“In recognizing Hamilton and its co-creators, the Kennedy Center is making an unprecedented statement about an unprecedented work — a work that transcends cultural boundaries and tells America’s story in a powerful and contemporary way.” https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/kennedy-center-honors-2018-hamilton_us_5b5892ede4b0b15aba9448f1

“It is therefore fitting that in broadening the Honors pantheon to include creation, and not just creators, the Kennedy Center is bolstering the notion of the musical as a form both popular and worthy of serious artistic consideration.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/theater_dance/the-kennedy-center-honors-are-taking-a-risk-by-awarding-hamilton--but-its-worth-it/2018/07/27/37931630-9088-11e8-9b0d-749fb254bc3d_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.a98cfd504ad2

Adding a few pictures, hope you enjoy them...

Saw “Hamilton” last night (July 20, 2018) while celebrating birthday #59 in Cleveland. This performance was by the Philip Cast, one of two cast currently touring, the other being the Angelica Cast. This was AMAZING. From start to finish I loved, loved, LOVED this show. Well, most all of it. Joseph Morales as Alexander Hamilton and Shoba Narayan as Eliza were simply wonderful, the latter by far being the best vocal of the cast, her singing was just beautiful. When she sang “Burn” is was heartbreaking, especially at the end. And her rendition of “Take a Break”, with Ta’rea Campbell as Angelica, was soaring. Morales is very comfortable in his role, and at times you’d have sworn you were watching Lin-Manuel Miranda up there, although he took the part of Alexander Hamilton and made it his own. His singing was also quite good, especially in “Hurricane”. The hardest cast to warm up to was Nik Walker as Aaron Burr. At first I didn’t care for all the vocal ranges, switching, and higher pitches of his voice, however he was great in songs like “Wait For It”, and “Dear Theodosia” singing along with Joseph Morales, where they were both very touching. The staged scenes and performances of: “Hopeless”; “Say No To This”; the first “Stay Alive with attack! retreat!; “Blow Us All Away” continuing along with “Stay Alive (reprise)”, and “Its Quiet Uptown”; “What Did I Miss?”; “Yorktown (The Work Turned Upside Down); and “My Shot” with it’s iconic finish, were some of my favorites. All were highlights of the show. “You’ll Be Back” and “What Comes Next” with Jon Patrick Walker as King George were a wonderful comic relief, and the audience laughed heartily in their approval. And at the beginning of “Yorktown” where Hamilton and Lafayette met up again and said “Immigrants, we get the job done”, this generated a nice round of applause from the audience. As far as the audience around me they were all quite well behaved for the most part. The man and woman sitting to my left departed after the first act, where she had been basically bouncing and dancing in her seat for a few songs and pointing out some of the lyrics here and there to him. The lady to my right, and be gentleman in the row in front of me, couldn’t keep from checking there phones every few minutes during the first several songs. Other than that, and the guy who kept kneeing the back of my chair toward the end of Act 1 because the rows are like six inches apart (not reall, but it felt like it), it was a good audience. So many great songs, so many great ensemble and cast scenes, such great choreography. The ending was dramatic, heartbreaking, and brilliantly played. I was quite emotional and teared up quite a bit, even though I knew it was coming. As for as exterior posters or decor like what had been posted earlier in the thread that was in San Francisco, there really wasn’t anything like that in Cleveland except for large electronic billboards around the Playhouse Square area that occasionally flashed the Hamilton poster, along with ads from various sponsors and other upcoming musical arts performances. Overall this was an impressive and superb show, and the BEST birthday in a very, very long time. Can’t wait to see the Angelica cast in January.

Today’s the day!!! Celebrating birthday #59 today in the Playhouse Square theater district of beautiful downtown Cleveland - staying just steps away from the State Theater - and the evening performance of the Philip Cast in “Hamilton”. Yeah! This is only the fourth performance of the show in Cleveland since it started on July 17th, and it’ll be here until August 26th. Had the opportunity to tour the very large, ornate, and gorgeous lobby of the State Theater and saw tonight’s listing of performers: very glad to see Jospeh Morales playing! Also, standing in as Charles Lee will be Phil Colgan, and as Philip Schuyler/James Reynold/Doctor will be Julian Ramos, with swing Camden Gonzales performing. Looking forward to the show!!!

Never made it back to Italy or continental Europe after I returned from being stationed in Italy. That was my last duty station after twelve years in the USN. I did take a trip to London around 2009 and spent five days there. Pretty amazing trip!

Tooooo funny!!!

In case anyone missed this... Seeing this clip of her last curtain call and bow brought back the most amazing memories, a HUGE smile on my face, and tears to my eyes. Soooo amazing. Glad to have seen her perform. Absolutely fabulous!!!

On younger and (some) middle-aged guys, when it is darker hair against a nice skin and a good jawline, and maybe not so much on gingers, yes some can pull it off quite well. On others it just looks unkempt. And I agree on older men, as myself, it just makes us look older with the gray stubble, so I shave every day except on weekends when I’m just staying in.

When I was in the USN and stationed in Naples, Italy (1988-1990) I travelled a LOT, practically going somewhere every weekend even if it was just to Pompeii, Capri, the Amalfi coast, or Rome. On longer weekends we’d head up to Florence and Venice. Coolest city I ever visited was San Gimignano. At the beginning and end of my four year tour of duty in Italy I took the train around on a long Eurail Pass hitting a few of the major cities - Viennna, Amsterdam, etc., and once spending five days in Paris. While there I spent the entire day at Versailles and enjoyed it immensely, as others have said the gardens probably more so than the palace. The grounds are expansive, the palace quite stunning, especially the famous Hall of Mirrors. All in all is was a grand adventure to be sure.

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I turn 60 next year, another milestone birthday. Already looking at things to do to make it ‘special’. One thing I had been looking at was a cruise to Bermuda, having never been there. But for a single occupancy cabin it’s rather pricey, plus when you add in all the extras it gets expensive. So I just may hit Broadway again for a few shows, especially the iconic “Phantom of the Opera” which I’ve seen on the National Tour, but that one is a re-imagined version and quite different in staging than the one at the Majestic Theater in NYC. I’ll have to see what else is still showing when I book the airline tickets and hotel. Always a treat now to plan what I want to do for my next birthday!

You’re still a youngin’, so don’t grow too old too fast. Break the chain and go to a great concert, a fabulous musical, or plan a weekend road-trip. If there’s a cool museum, Hall of Fame, or attraction/theme park nearby, go there. Even if it’s to an underground scenic cavern, amazing waterfall, or National Park, plan a trip. Even if it’s just a day trip. I’ve been doing things by myself for decades. It’s never boring. Next Friday I turn 59 and will be seeing “Hamilton” on my birthday. So excited! And treat yourself to a free birthday stack of pancakes at IHOP or breakfast at Denny’s - sign up at one of dozens of places that will give you a freebie on your birthday. I get quite a few emails now for free stuff. Check the link I attached. You could literally eat all day for free. https://www.bradsdeals.com/blog/free-birthday-meals And for your big #40, do something really special. Take a few days off and go to Chicago or NYC. Plan all sorts of 1st’s that will make it memorable. Life is too short and too precious. Celebrate!

For quite a few years after turning 50 I gave up on birthdays. I live by myself, have relatively few friends, and fewer co-workers or neighbors who care. Due to some drastic changes in my health a few years ago I decided to start treating myself: go up to a Pirates ball game or see big musical performance, have a special meal in a fancy restaurant (since I rarely eat out), and/or plan something special by going somewhere I’ve never been. I’d be interested in hearing what amazing things you do on your birthdays. Whether it was small, huge, and something in between, what did you do that was special for your birthday?

The set for this looks absolutely stunning... https://www.instagram.com/p/BlDlBTlnhyN/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=5n10en1ncdpc https://www.instagram.com/p/BlEfwzUF2DS/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=cndim5p9e2ir https://www.instagram.com/p/BlEr4Z6j9oN/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=grrfyhbzjqsx

Proud owner (it’s actually coming in the mail) of a ticket to see the National Tour Launch of “Hello, Dolly!” Saturday Oct. 6th for the matinee performance, Center Mezzanine Row E, at the reasonable cost of $101.25 including all taxes and fees, etc. 87 Days and Counting!!!

I’ll let those “memories” stay in my head. Makes me feel old, though. Guess I am.

Tickets for the National Tour Launch of “Hello, Dolly!” in Cleveland go on sale for Playhouse Square donor members July 11th at 10 am, and for non-donors the sale starts July 27th at 11am. VERY EXCITED!!!

Both ways, Twenty-eighteen and Two-thousand eighteen, depending on how I’m feeling that day.