漢密爾頓 Hamilton (同場加映)

以下是從另一個角度看這齣戲，和我的看法很不一樣XD

Hamilton review

I’m not really much of a musical watcher, but I like politics and history a lot!  So I thought this would be a good musical for me.  I was treated in London to a fabulous show, full of really nice songs, and these aren’t the run-of-the-mill Rogers and Hammerstein-style songs. No! They are more hip hop in style and sound very sophisticated and interesting. It’s pretty much the best musical I’ve seen recently.

I didn’t really know much about Alexander Hamilton except that he is on the US $10 bill and that he was once in a duel with vice-president Aaron Burr (before I saw the musical, I got mixed up about who had won that duel), so the musical helped fill me in on some more details of his life and learned something about the founding of the U.S. The funniest part of the show was the portrayal of King George III, a fat and bumbling monarch!  The way the Americans poke fun at the British in their musical and watching a British audience laugh and appreciate all of the jokes made about a war fought between the two countries is part of the entertainment too!  I just wonder, if the French were to make a musical which pokes a lot of fun at the British, would the British audience still laugh quite as hard about that? [Somehow, I don’t think so…]  Anyhow, the musical itself was outstanding!  But you know what – I like musicals with lots of complicated set changes and intricate sets; they didn’t really change the set too much so I give the set complexity only a C.  Costumes were very nice and so was the dancing, though.  So many attractive people in the cast I got mesmerized a bit when they were dancing.

The biggest problem that I had with the show is that the beautiful choreography and organization of the performance on stage was totally absent off stage. We had to stand outside in the rain for about 30 minutes just to get inside the freaking door of the theater! That was crazy and so annoying.  So here is why – they’re obviously worried about people buying tickets and then scalping them to resell, so instead of issuing normal paper tickets like all the other theaters they try to be smart and demand that everyone show up with an ID and the credit card used to buy the ticket and prove that you are the buyer. No one allowed in. But never mind that it’s pouring rain outside on a cold winter day and the queue to get in is a snaky mess about 500 meters long out the sidewalk and round the block. That’s complete nonsense what they are doing. GET MORE PEOPLE TO DO THE ANNOYING ID CHECKING. DO YOU PEOPLE AT HAMILTON UNDERSTAND  HOW ANNOYING IT IS TO PAY 200 POUNDS FOR A BLOODY TICKET AND THEN STAND OUT IN THE RAIN?  F for that.  I was so angry by the time I got in that I had to order some alcohol immediately just to calm down.

 

Ok so everything about musical gets an (A) except for sets (C) and ticketing (F). Overall, (B). Yup, I’m a tough cookie to please. When I look at the picture of the queue in the rain I still feel so irritated.