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My long-winded and long-overdue Hamilton Chicago review

Here's the thing, I could go on for hours about why I love Hamilton and the impact I think it's going to have, but that's a post for another time (that will come, because I have a lot of emotions about this show). For the time being I want to offer my thoughts on the Chicago cast compared to both the original Broadway cast (OBC) and the understudies I had the privilege to see. (A word on some of my comparisons: I've seen Hamilton a few times, and at least three different actors in each role, so that's the basis of my Chicago review.)

Because of my ridiculous obsession with this show, I found myself in Chicago last week to see my favorite show yet again. I had the chance to see the show back in October doing opening weekend, and I was astounded to see how far this cast has come in five months. Don't get me wrong, they were phenomenal to begin with, but this most recent performance blew me away (pun intended).

(If you want the short and sweet version of my comments, check out the tl;dr before the cut.)

In the room where it happens

Seeing the Chicago cast twice was an interesting experience, because with the exception of the parts of Burr and Peggy Schuyler/Maria Reynolds, the cast was the same. The one constant, however, was the pure fire and energy this cast brought to the stage. They had a sort of bright-eyed-and-bushy-tailed feeling that made the excitement in their eyes infectious.

Looking at the Playbill, you can see the cast is overwhelmingly younger than their Broadway counterparts. For many of them, this is their first gig, so rather than having credits of former shows and national tours, they had thank you's to parents, teachers, and God, but that doesn't mean they looked inexperienced. On the contrary, they were an unbelievably talented bunch, but they took on the show with a sense of awe and appreciation for the chance to be a part of the phenomenon.

The New York show has an energy to be because it's been rehearsed for almost two years now and works like a well-oiled machine; Chicago has the drive of a group of people who are diving in head first on an adventure into the unknown together, and it's that ethos that gives you the feeling that you're seeing the American Revolution unfold before your eyes.

The rest of my review is under the cut, but here’s the TL;DR:

Miguel Cervantes was my favorite Hamilton yet. Hurricane. Was. Incredible.

Wayne Brady somehow managed to combine the best parts of a Tony award winner (Leslie Odom Jr) and my favorite Burr (Sydney Harcourt) for a Burr that was calculated, emotional,

Joshua Henry was a new take on Burr that was very entertaining.

Jonathan Kirkland as Washington was good, but not great and only seemed lackluster because the rest of the cast was so phenomenal.

Ari Afsar gets the "Most Improved" award because her performance in October left much to be desired, but in March she was a fiery woman and a wife who did not take any of Alexander's crap - basically exactly how I imagine Eliza Hamilton.

Alexander Gemignani is obviously a Broadway vet with plenty of experience. He made King George his own in such a hilarious and captivating way.

Karen Olivo is an actual goddess and gift to this world who slayed the hell out of Angelica.

Samantha Ware was a decent Peggy, but her Maria was insane. Everything about "Say No To This" felt like I was truly watching an affair unfold.

Amber Ardolino gave quite possibly the most provocative and sexy portrayal of Maria Reynolds I've seen.

Jose Ramos is such an adorable human being and his Laurens/Philip had such admiration and respect for Hamilton. It was beautiful.

Wallace Smith's Mulligan/Madison deviated the most from the OBC simply because he is so different from original Mulligan/Madison Oak Onaodowan, but in the most wonderful way. If Javier Munoz is the "sexy Hamilton", Wallace is the sexy Mulligan.

CHRIS FREAKING LEE. I have no words. With the right actor, Lafayette/Jefferson can really steal the show, and Chris is indeed one of those actors.

(If you’re looking on my review on a specific actor, all names are bolded for scan-ability.)

What's your name, man?

Miguel Cervantes was by far the best man they could have cast to play the titular role of Alexander Hamilton. In New York, Lin Manuel Miranda was obviously a fantastic lead because he wrote the show, and his successor Javier Munoz, often called the "sexy Hamilton," brought a certain charisma and charm to the role, but Miguel seemed to take the best parts of both of them and masterfully mesh them with his own expertise.

When we first meet Hamilton, he's seeing the world like an overly optimistic 19-year-old, and that's exactly what Miguel portrays from the second he steps on stage. What's interesting is how he grows as a character (and in age) throughout the show. Lin and Javi seemed older and almost jaded by the second act, but Miguel kept up the appearance of optimism while having someone else below the surface that you saw more when he interacted with those closest to him, his wife and Washington. In short, he was a politician.

Interestingly enough Joshua Henry as Aaron Burr had a similar quality of hiding his true feelings when interacting with Hamilton. In comparison, Leslie Odom Jr.'s Burr was very reserved, and you could almost see him seething with quiet resentment, so it was especially chilling when he challenged Hamilton to a duel. On the other hand, in New York you also have Sydney Harcourt as Burr who was a very reactive character; you knew what Burr thinking by how he reacted to his surroundings, so it was the moments he didn't react that made you realize there was more than meets the eye.

Joshua Henry found a way to mix the reactive Burr with the Burr who had hatred against Hamilton festering inside. This created a very interesting dynamic between the two because you knew they were enemies by the end of the show, but they were pretending to be friends for the sake of appearances.

The March performance was truly a treat because Burr was played by none other that Wayne Brady. I grew up watching Who's Line Is It Anyway?, so I almost couldn't believe it when I found out he would be on stage the same time we were seeing the show. I knew he was a talented comedian, but how would he handle Burr, a character who is arguably one of the most dramatic of the show? The answer, of course, is masterfully.

My favorite Burr will probably always be Sydney Harcourt because of his reactiveness; some scenes didn't make sense to me or have as much weight when Leslie Odom Jr. performed them because his Burr was such an internal character, but I understood them with Sydney. Wayne Brady perfected that reactive nature while still having the captivating power I saw in Leslie. His only shortcoming was his dance ability, but I won't hold that against him too much. The highlight of his performance, on the other hand, was most definitely "Dear Theodosia"; this might be the first cast I've seen where both actors for Burr and Hamilton have children in real life, and the emotion behind that song was palpable.

I'll take a moment to diverge from glowing reviews to offer my minimal critique of the show: Jonathan Kirkland as Washington. I only say he wasn't my favorite because there honestly wasn't anything that stood out to me, and if I'm having trouble remembering the performance, there probably wasn't much to recall.

The one positive Jonathan had over other Washington's was he seemed to be a solid head taller than all of the "revolutionary set" and it made it feel like I really was watching a more accurate representation of the Revolution, at least in Act I. Hamilton and Co. were basically a bunch of crazy twentysomethings running around and trying to start a new country while Washington, the only real adult tried to hold it all together. That is exactly the feeling I got seeing Jonathan Kirkland looming over the rest of the cast.

The most improved performance from October to May has to be Ari Afsar as Eliza. Here's what I had to say about her in October:

"Ari's Eliza is adorable the second she steps on stage. She looks around her at a city full of change and excitement like a kid on Christmas, which is fine for the beginning stages of Eliza. My problem is that she never looses that, so you don't get a lot of development from one of the most interesting characters in the show. During Eliza's heartbreaking second act, I didn't feel for her like I did with any of the New York Eliza's. She's talented, but I think she's a little inexperienced in terms of Broadway."

I can't say enough how much more I enjoyed her performance in March. I still stand by the fact that Eliza is the most interesting character in the show, and Ari might be the most interesting Eliza I've seen to date. She wasn't this demure, sweet wife who stood on the sidelines. No, this was a woman who tried the do what was best for her husband and he resisted her at every turn.

She still had that child-like wonder in "Schuyler Sisters," and seeing her fall in love in "Helpless," was adorable, but we start to see a different woman around "That Would Be Enough." She's not just singing a sweet ballad to her husband about their future child, she's pleading with him to understand that she wants him more than his ambitions, which can be seen again in "Non-Stop" when Washington asks Hamilton to be in his cabinet; Eliza does not want him to go, and almost seems like she's lecturing him until he throws her own "Look around, look around...." line back at her. She seems to realize it's not worth trying to convince him at the end of "Take A Break." After Hamilton says he has to go, Angelica looks as if she's going to continue to persuade him, and Eliza just stops her and shakes her head.

It's these small moments that give both "Burn" and Philip's death so much more weight. All in all, she might have given one of my favorite Eliza performances, though not necessarily my favorite vocals. (Not to say she was bad, she was fantastic, just not my favorite.)

What comes next?

The actor who probably took the most liberties with their interpretation of the character was Alexander Gemignani as King George III. The defining characteristic of OBC King George Jonathan Groff was the way he portrayed emotions with nothing more than his facial expressions and tone. He hardly moved while on stage, and Rory O'Malley followed suit, but Alexander was all over the place both in voice and movement. Vocally, he didn't copy his predecessors, choosing instead to even speak some lines rather than sing them, and he pranced around the stage far more than Groff or Rory. All of this created a character who was terrifying due to his unpredictability. "I will kill your friends and family to remind you of my love" felt less like a funny like in the song and much more like the promise of a power-hungry ruler.

I've thought long and hard about Jose Ramos's performance as John Laurens/Philip Hamilton and what to say in comparison to the OBC's Anthony Ramos (other than the fact that they have the same last name). I've found Jose's performance is the hardest to critique because he is so similar to Anthony in many ways yet also so different. I think overall, Jose's Laurens/Philip had a bit more innocence to them; there was a spirit of optimism to him where I saw more of a bold and flippant persona from Anthony.

I think what throws me off most is the difference in interactions of Laurens/Philip with Hamilton from Jose to Anthony. There is speculation that Laurens & Hamilton's relationship might have been more than platonic, but even if it wasn't, their bond was stronger than most. Anthony's Laurens and Lin's Hamilton (and even, really, Javi's) seemed to play this up. You got the idea that even if they were just friends, they definitely had no boundaries between them.

With Jose & Miguel, they were still obviously very close, but Jose's Laurens held such a deep admiration and respect for Hamilton. I could almost imagine him standing to the side while Hamilton awed a crowd with his words saying, "Wow, I'm so amazed by him. I'm so proud of him." If we're to believe that Hamilton and Laurens were indeed intimate, this would be the Laurens that is pining after his best friend who's busy falling in love with two girls.

Compel him to include women in the sequel

If you're familiar with the show, you'll know there's a lot of double casting from the first act to the second. As previously mentioned, Hamilton's bff also plays his son and two of his Revolutionary bros become Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, but the most interesting change in my opinion is Ham's sister-in-law who is then his mistress.

All of the doubles tend to be pretty drastic changes, but Peggy Schuyler/Maria Reynolds requires an actress go from sweet youngest sibling (who also sounds like a child) to sexy seductress who can belt like nobody's business. Samantha Ware handles this change beautifully. Peggy in "The Schuyler Sisters" is this adorable girl who's happy to be following her sisters around, but when Maria enters, it's hard to believe they're played by the same actress. In "Say No To This," Hamilton details his affair with Maria Reynolds and how he was blackmailed by Maria's husband. It's a sultry song from the sound to the staging, but it was always a song that fell a little flat to me. That changed in Chicago.

Lin and Javi's Hamiltons paired with Jasmine Cephas Jones (OBC Pegga/Maria) were good, and you could definitely tell Hamilton was doing something he wasn't supposed to, but I ended up frustrated with him for going through with it. With Miguel and Samantha, I felt like I was watching something I wasn't supposed to, but at the same time, I couldn't look away. "Say No To This" is a sexy song, and this was the first time I felt like there was some serious desire from either of them.

Chicago understudy Amber Ardolino took the sexiness of Samantha's performance and turned it up even more (which I didn't even think was possible). This leads me to believe Miguel as Hamilton might be the key to "Say No To This," but obviously the scene wouldn't be possible without the girls. At the beginning of the scene, Maria and Hamilton have an almost kiss, and the sexual tension between Amber and Miguel was heavy in the air. By the time they do kiss, it was a full on make out at center stage, and it was full steam ahead from there on out. Seriously, I felt like I should avert my eyes even though everyone on stage was fully clothed. Bravo. That's acting right there.

Quite possibly the biggest star in the show, excluding the limited engagement of Wayne Brady, is Karen Olivo, who plays the eldest Schuyler sister, Angelica. Karen is a Tony award winner who originated a role in Lin Manuel Miranda's first musical, In The Heights. A couple of years ago, she decided to retire to the Midwest and take a break from acting, but she returned to the stage for Hamilton, and boy, am I glad she did. You want to talk about some freaking character development? I could go on for days about Karen's portrayal of Angelica. She had some serious shoes to fill, too: Renee Elise Goldsberry won a Tony for her Angelica, but I might be willing to say Karen did it better. I'll try to sum up her performance without going on too long.

Let's start with "The Schuyler Sisters." Just as Eliza steps out amazed by New York, Angelica enters the stage in awe, but for different reasons. Angelica is an intellectual (a big reason she and Hamilton are so drawn to one another), so to her, New York is a place of new ideas and so much to learn. My favorite part of the song was her line, "I've been reading Common Sense by Thomas Paine..." Renee's Angelica says it almost as if to warn Burr, "Look, I'm not just a pretty face, okay? I'm educated, so you better back off," but Karen's Angelica looked about how I imagine I do when someone asks me about Hamilton: "Okay, so I found the most incredible thing and I've learned sooo much from it, so let's talk about it and dissect every bit of thematic symbolism and depth in every word here." She can't be bothered to give Burr the time of day because she'd rather engage in political discussion.

Then there's "Satisfied," Angelica's confession that although she saw (and loved) Hamilton first, she's choosing to let him be with Eliza because she loves her sister more than she cares about her own satisfaction. Here's a fun story behind the song: Lin originally wrote this melody in a song for an album Karen had intended to record. The project was tabled, and when it came time for an Angelica feature song, Lin essentially asked for the song back. This could be why Karen's performance of the song is so powerful; in a way, it's coming home to the artist it was meant for. It's an incredible song to begin with, but the performance (before this one) that absolutely blew my mind was from understudy Alysha Deslorieux because she threw in some runs at the end that blew my mind. Oddly enough, so did Karen, which leads me to wonder, which one learned from the other?

Seriously, please send me a message if you ever want to know more about Karen as Angelica because I could dissect every detail of her performance of "Satisfied."

The world turned upside down

Still with me? I'm almost finished, I promise.

For the most part, there were a good number of similarities between the New York cast and the Chicago cast. That stops with Wallace Smith. Let me tell you about my love affair with him as Hercules Mulligan/James Madison. Everything about Wallace's performance is different from Oak Onaodowan's Mulligan/Madison, but it's because he has to be. In now way are Oak and Wallace similar; their demeanor, the way they carry themselves, their voices. Some of the cast could imitate the OBC and use that as a bit of a crutch, but not Wallace. And holy cow, that was the greatest thing he could have done. Hercules Mulligan makes a sex joke in "Aaron Burr, Sir," and with Oak's Mulligan, it was a funny comment between bros while drinking, but with Wallace's Mulligan, I fully believed he had somehow tried to have sex that somehow involved four corsets and a horse.

Whereas Mulligan was crude, Madison was obviously educated, sickly, and upper class. He constantly tried to have perfect posture, even though he had a persistent cough (which Wallace worked into the character wonderfully). His relationship with Jefferson was hysterical, but also exactly how I imagined it to be - he was always there to support Jefferson in whatever he was doing, but also the brains behind some of their schemes. One of my favorite Madison/Jefferson moments came in "Cabinet Battle #1": Jefferson usually drops the mic, but Madison catches it before it hits the floor. Instead, Chris Lee's Jefferson set the mic down on the floor like it was too hot to touch and Madison had to use his handkerchief to pick it up and then pretended to blow on it until it cooled down. It was hysterical.

And so I've saved the best for last. Tony Award Winner Daveed Diggs (*giggles because I can say that*) perfectly originated the role of Lafayette/Jefferson on Broadway, and understandably so, seeing as how elements such as the lighting-quick raps were written into the roles specifically for Daveed. It is easy to say a certain role was written for an actor, but in this case, it's completely true. Knowing that, following up such a charismatic role is no easy feat, yet somehow Chris Lee not only tackles the role but absolutely slays it.

Lafayette is a character that, rapid-fire raps in "Guns and Ships" aside, is easy to forget as he fades into the ensemble fairly easily. Chris Lee refused to let that happen. Remember how I said Jonathan Kirkland's Washington made the Revolutionary Set feel like a bunch of teenagers? Lafayette contributed to that greatly. He was like a playful kitten around stage dancing with Hercules Mulligan and laughing with his bros as they distracted Burr so Hamilton could interrupt Seabury in "Farmer Refuted." He was absolutely adorable.

Jefferson in Act II was the charismatic whirlwind you would expect, and Chris handled Jefferson's swagger and confidence wonderfully. He was so sure of everything he said in the cabinet battles, and the fire within him in "Washington On Your Side" was almost terrifying. He balanced all of this with humorous moments such as the beginning of "Washington On Your Side": the previous scene ends with Jefferson and Hamilton center stage and Burr watching in the background. When Jefferson goes to leave, Burr starts singing about how great it must be to be bff's with Washington, and Jefferson looks around like, "Where the heck did this fool come from??" His ability to mix Jefferson's intensity with humor is astonishing.

Who lives, who dies, who tells your story?

I think it goes without saying that the creative team of Hamilton has gone out of their way to ensure the quality of the casts in every version of the show, and the Chicago cast is definitely no exception. The ensemble is stunning to watch, the main cast are stupidly talented, and everyone involved gives fervently to make sure the show is the best it can be. The show speaks to the dreamer in all of us and never fails to leave me asking, what will be MY legacy?

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