Hamilton + Gay's The Word = INCREDIBLE WEEKEND

[spindizzy]

Hello my darlings! I went to see Hamilton in London last Friday and it was incredible! The cast are all really good, and I loved all of them. It's so different seeing it all in motion than listening to the soundtrack! I know, I know, Captain Obvious Is Obvious, but it adds such extra layers even when the music is so visual! Random things I wanna yell about:

• The choreography for Hurricane is so great, and I love that Maria Reynolds is the person who hands Hamilton the pen he's going to use to set his life on fire.


• King George's songs are funny enough on their own, but when you can see him doing the jerky choreography, or pulling up a chair to watch the drama, it's great. Especially for the fourth-wall breaking side-eye that Burr gives him.


• The "SIDDOWN JOHN!" bit lived up to every single one of my dreams.


• It's weird realising the context of some songs, like "Washington On Your Side" – I never realised until I saw it staged that it was Burr actively approaching Jefferson and just feeding him rope until he hung... Well, Hamilton.


• The bit in Non-Stop where Hamilton goes straight from Washington to Eliza is staged with both of them on the balcony and Hamilton on the stage, and it's really interesting, visually!


• Washington's actor's voice is so deep by the way. Like, there are probably creepy fish that could survive in the depth of his voice. *_*


• My brain is glitching and playing me the visuals from West End Hamilton with the audio from Broadway Hamilton and this is NOT WORKING.


• Jefferson is stylish as fuck. I love the way he wore his hair as Jefferson and swaggered around the stage.


• (Now I'm remembering the imitation Hamilton did for "Whatever it is you do in Montecello," and I'm giggling again.


• The bit in Satisfied where they rewind the choreography back two songs and run through it all again is exactly as amazing to see as you've heard. It's so cool and dramatic and I love watching it all fit together?


• The song about Laurens' death is in the musical but not the CD!


• Man, I forget how much of the second act I just don't listen to because it makes me sad. I am very in on the "Can we get back to politics (please)" storyline, and then the affair/deaths thing... I only listen to when I'm in the mood for Eliza wanting Hamilton to burn or Jefferson/Madison/Burr to brag about how he'll never be president now. GUESS WHAT I CAN'T SKIP.


• ... I don't know if it's just that we're in the nosebleed seats, but Philip didn't look as odd as a thing as we were led to believe.


• I think the song that got the longest applause after it was One Last Time? But the whole thing got a standing ovation and I am delighted by that.

(I did end up dressing up for it, in the dress I wore to the Hugos and my "How do you write like you're running out of time" bracelet from thebaconfat in case anyone was wondering how that twitter panic turned out.) (Also: the theatre is NOT ACCESSIBLE. Fair warning.)

AND: I got to go to Gay's the Word, because it turns out that it's just the next stop from St Pancras? Their second hand gay fiction shelf wasn't that great when I went (there was a lot of DRAMA, like "our hero was abused as a child by a priest but now he's living high life with sex, drugs, rock and roll, a rentboy, and a lover with HIV" and you think I'm exaggerating but I swear to god that was the summary of a book I picked up. I just want the murder mysteries and the fantasy novels and... Things not set in the nineties US club scene?), but I ended up looking at pretty much every lesbian fiction book they had. And then I left with like eight mysteries with queer female leads, Carmen Maria Machado's short story collection, and a Lynn Flewelling book.

COME ON, IT'S ME, WHAT DID YOU EXPECT.

(Aside: if they have a bisexual section, I didn't see it. LGT, yes, all clearly labelled, and three separate non-fiction sections depending on whether you wanted history or sociology/politics or practical information, a kid's section, yep, but... No obvious shelf labelled bi? I must have missed it!)

But yes, WHAT A GOOD WEEKEND. There is probably more yelling to do and I am just too brainfried for it, but: SO GOOD. SO. GOOD. <3 And today I was a responsible adult who finally got around to booking a doctor's appointment to see if I DO have anxiety or just a bad personality, so I feel like I earned that weekend in advance. :)

Comments

[rionaleonhart]

I'm glad you enjoyed it! I saw it last month, and it was a great time. Jefferson weirdly reminded me of the Cat from Red Dwarf in the way he moved (and how extremely stylish he was).

[spindizzy]

Yay! I'm glad you enjoyed it too, you're right it was a super great time! <3 ... Oh god, now you've said it I cannot stop picturing it, excellent, A+.