With lots of people being vaccinated, things are starting to open back up, including musicals. As far as musicals go , there was only one I really wanted to see, – ‘Hamilton: An American Musical’. My friend got me into the musical last year – I was quickly addicted not only to the music, but the performance. I was thrilled when my mom told me she would be taking me to see Hamilton as an early Christmas gift. 

Since I have watched the musical many times via Disney Plus, I had high expectations that it would be as good as the on-screen one I had watched. Even though my mom warned me before the night of the show there would be new cast members, and it wouldn’t be the same cast that I watched; I was still excited. 

On Sunday night, we got dinner, then headed off to UT Austin’s Bass Concert Hall. I was almost jumping out of my seat. I was itching for it to start, and I’m not joking, but I actually really liked my seat. Even though it was in the balcony, I had a perfect view of the stage and could see practically everything. Soon enough, the lights dimmed and I was thrown into the revolutionary era of Alexander Hamilton.

My thoughts on the show: it was amazing; and the cast did such a great job. At first I was surprised  by the new cast, but I got used to them and I thought they did such a great job and are going to be able to continue what the original cast did and make the show successful. I was kinda disappointed in a couple things with the show, like them not giving Alexander Hamilton long hair.  The original Hamilton, Lin Manuel Miranda, had long hair [it was in style back then for males to have long hair] so it was disappointing to see that they didn’t use that style this time. Lafayette also didn’t have that strong of a french accent like the original Daveed Diggs’ Lafayette did, and it was interesting to see how tall George Washington was in this show compared to the rest of the cast members. Standing next to Alexander, he was a giant. Having Thomas Jefferson not hand the conductor the pamphlet in the Reynolds Pamphlet was sad, but I was told it was just because of how the stage was at this particular center, so I wonder if they do that part in other theaters. I still got chills when I heard Angelica say to Hamilton: “I love my sister more than anything in this life, I will choose her happiness over mine every time.”

 I have a lot of favorite characters from the show, but King George was the real winner. He was so funny throughout the show, and the way he was portrayed made me crack up. I also liked the Schuyler Sisters performance, they did so well together and their voices fit perfectly. I was nervous about The Reynolds Pamphlet, [this part of the show is freestyle] because I didn’t know how it was going to look, but I loved it. From George Washington’s facial expressions when he found out what Alexander did to Eliza, to when Angelica screamed at him, to when King George strutted down the stairs like the king he is, I loved it. What was actually the most interesting was how similar some of the new cast members were to the original ones. I thought it was the original, I actually thought that it was the original Schuyler Sisters in the show and not the off-Broadway ones, that’s how similar they looked. 

My final thoughts on this show: it was amazing and I really enjoyed it. Even though there were new cast members, and the show was a little different compared to the on-screen version, it was such a good performance, and I know this cast is going to continue putting on great shows. The show is so good that I’d want to see it again. I highly recommend seeing this show if you ever have the opportunity.