We saw the musical “Hamilton” at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood, CA on Friday, October 6, 2017. I had been listening to the music from “Hamilton” since April of the year before when I found the cast album on the airplane screens on a Delta Airlines flight. After I got home I streamed the cast album on Hoopla and enjoyed it. I especially liked the humorous song “You’ll Be Back” sung by the character King George III. The part of Hamilton on the album was played by the musical’s composer Lin-Manuel Miranda. This was the first I had ever heard of him, though he had written and starred in another Tony-winning musical many years before called “In the Heights.” I also streamed that one from Hoopla. Most of the roles in the original Broadway production of Hamilton were played by non-Caucasians including the other main character Aaron Burr played by Leslie Odom Jr. on Broadway. For my birthday in 2016, I got the official vocal selections book for “Hamilton.” We learned to play several of the songs and later performed a few at open mics such as “You’ll Be Back,” “My Shot,” and “Dear Theodosia.” We didn’t think we would be able to afford to see the musical when it came to Seattle in early 2018. Customers had to enter a lottery to get tickets. But in the summer of 2017 we planned a trip to Socal in the fall and my in-laws bought us tickets to the official Broadway touring production of “Hamilton” in L.A.
On October 6, 2017, we flew from SeaTac Airport to LAX on Spirit Airlines. They did a humorous safety briefing and joked about their miniscule tray tables. After we arrived my in-laws took us to Zankou Chicken in Glendale for lunch. It was delicious as usual and a lot of food. The weather was rather warm in Socal and it got up to 100 degrees in Covina the next day. In the evening of October 6 my in-laws lent us one of their cars to go to the Pantages Theatre. We took the 101 that was quite slow with traffic. I can’t remember where we exited but it was vaguely familiar. We made our way to Hollywood Blvd and drove west. At the intersection where the Pantages is (Argyle Ave.), we turned right and then made another right into an underground parking garage. I don’t remember how we chose this place to park but it cost $12.50. We had to go down a couple of levels and back into a parking spot that was partitioned by a white metal chain. It looked like they expected many more cars.
I can’t remember when we left for the theatre or when we arrived at the parking garage. From our parking space we took an escalator up to Hollywood Blvd. We weren’t hungry enough to have dinner but felt like we needed a snack so we went to Pressed Juicery. We got some strawberries with chocolate and one of their house-made juices. They were an adequate “dinner” outside in the warm night air. We then crossed Argyle Avenue. Large Hamilton posters adorned the high wall of the Pantages Theatre. Most people were much more dressed up than we were. Before we had left for L.A. my wife had made sure she could access our electronic tickets on her phone. We were glad it worked because it looked like others in the queue had trouble pulling up theirs. But we checked in just fine. We took note of the casting sign that said some of the understudies were playing roles that evening such as Dan Belnavis playing King George. We went upstairs and to the right. An employee then directed us down some stairs to the last curtain.
At some point on the way to our seats someone handed us playbills. They had inserts with the cast for that evening’s performance. The only substitutions were Dan Belnavis as King George, A. Larson as Charles Lee, and several in the ensemble. We reached our seats at 7:35 pm on the balcony level in the fourth row from the front. They were the furthest to the right except for one seat. The other seats filled up quickly and I think the show was sold out or nearly. The audience consisted of all ages included some kids. On the stage below they had at least two revolving circular sections, one within the other. They would use them very effectively in the show. There was also a second loft or balcony level above the main stage floor. It had lots of rigging and some stairs that could be dropped and raised. On the stage were a wooden chair, a barrel, and a chest. The theatre itself had lots of gold-painted intricate carving on the walls and ceiling.
By 8:00 pm, the seats were nearly full. The lights dimmed and we heard a voice over the speakers with a snooty English accent say, “This is your king” and tell us to silence our cell phones and unwrap any candy we might have in plastic. Then the show began. I thought I knew the story well because nearly all of it is sung on the cast album. But seeing it really added so much more dimension. Singers stood all over the stage and the upper loft level. The stairs lowered and rose as needed. In addition to the cast were dancers often wearing sleeveless, though still period outfits. They used the revolving stages to great effect. There were some large scale dance numbers and scenes with just a few characters. We couldn’t see the orchestra at all and I think they were below the stage.
We enjoyed the acting and singing very much especially Michael Luwoye as Hamilton, Joshua Henry as Aaron Burr, and Solea Pfeiffer as Eliza Hamilton. They sounded just as good as the Broadway cast album. The understudy Dan Belnavis did a great job as King George and was one of the most humorous characters. Isaiah Johnson who played the Marquis de Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson was also humorous. He had his hair in a man bun as Lafayette and let it out in a sculpted afro as Jefferson for which he also wore a shiny green suit. Another humorous scene was when Eliza beat-boxed for 9-year-old Philip Hamilton’s rap. Listening to the soundtrack I thought they would have an intermission after the Revolutionary War scenes, but they actually didn’t have it until Hamilton was appointed as Secretary of the Treasury. The intermission occurred at 9:20 pm. They did a great job with the dramatic duel scene at the end.
We enjoyed “Hamilton” the musical very much, probably even more than “Fun Home” a few months earlier. I’m glad we had the chance to see the official Broadway touring production. We did many other things on the trip to Socal such as dine with family at the North Woods Inn in Alhambra, meet up with friends at Juan Pollo in East L.A. and Brunch Coffee in Covina. We walked around downtown Alhambra and downtown Covina. It was very hot, up to 100 degrees in the afternoon in Covina. We went to the Fret House where we got a guitar pick and a folder that we still have as of JUne 2019. We returned to SeaTac on Monday, October 9 so glad we did not throw away our shot to see “Hamilton.”