Every performance of Hamilton is frequently compared with the original Broadway cast’s recorded performance. This is, somewhat, for good reason. Normally a play or musical is seen only live without a recorded version, leading to every individual’s experience being a unique performance.
For Hamilton, however, many peoples first and most frequent exposure to the performance is through the recording of the original Broadway cast, lending a validity to the performance that suggests it is the real or official performance and so live performances are oft compared to it, both in reviews such as these, but also subconsciously by those in the audience who have seen the recorded performance.
Therefore, when reading this please keep in mind that I have seen Hamilton once in the West End and I have seen the original Broadway cast on Disney+ an uncountable number of times. Whilst I will make my best effort to distance the two in my analysis and review this West End production in entirely it’s own right I will be making comparisons, naturally, to the Original Broadway Cast recording.
The first voice we hear in the theatre is that of King George III, played by Joel Montague, and so it feels only fitting to discuss him first. I really loved Montague’s performance of George. He felt like he brought an entirely fresh personality to the King that I hadn’t seen anywhere before. In comparison to Jonathan Groff, Joel was more animated and actually appeared in more scenes including The Reynolds Pamphlet, which I found to be a different, interesting, change but I liked both actors performances equally overall. I particularly enjoyed the specific line in What Comes Next? when King George says “Awesome, wow!”, in a mocking American accent. Joel Montague added to this by making a ✌️ v hand gesture.
Secondly I’ll address Alexander, played by Alex Sawyer. He had a rather infectious, charming smile and bright eyes. In the first act I think Sawyer was a perfect fit for the younger Hamilton, he played the character very relaxed, and I think this really worked for act 1.
However, Cindia felt that for a lead his performance was a little weak. An in the second act I’d be inclined to agree. Especially his performance in The World Was Wide Enough. I think he slightly underperformed for this second act, as he just didn’t bring the impression of an older, wiser Hamilton.
At this time I’ll briefly mention Lin Manuel’s performance as Alexander Hamilton. I really felt he was stronger than Sawyer as he played Hamilton in a more sincere, more appropriate, way. I also felt that he had the right ✨ vibe ✨ to play the younger Alexander from before the war as well as the older post-war Hamilton.
Okieriete Onaodowan and Daveed Diggs’ chemistry is something that will always be hard to live up to, but I’m pleased to say that Lemuel Knights and Jordan Castle both had amazing chemistry. Lemeul Knights as Lafayette/Jefferson played Jefferson in a more snarky, and slightly petulant, way, which brought an entirely new dimension the the character. I notably remember a moment in The Election of 1800 when Jefferson says “Burr, when you see Hamilton, thank him for the endorsement”, Knights wipes a tear from Burr’s (Jay Perry) face, which I thought was very fitting as this is a turning point in Burr’s distain for Hamilton (The Election of 1800 is followed directly by Burr’s challenge in Your Obedient Servant)
There were some notable (interesting) changes between the Original Broadway Cast and the West End production. I mention them simply because, to me, it was interesting to take notice of certain differences, although none of these were at all significant details.
In Your Obedient Servant when Burr states “Then stand Alexander / Weehawken, dawn / Guns, drawn” instead in the West End production Burr says ‘Jersey’ instead of ‘Weehawken’. I can only imagine that this is because it was presumed that audiences in the UK would not understand that Weehawken was a town across the Hudson in Jersey. In, what I imagine is the same vein, in Take a Break Hamilton says “vice president isn’t a real job anyway” as opposed to “John Adams doesn’t have a real job anyway”. I assume this is again for the benefit of British audiences who may not be implicitly aware that Adams served as the 1st vice president.
There were also a few more costume changes for the ensemble cast, which did add something, especially since, especially for Hamilton the ensemble is such an important part of the production. As well as this some stage directions were different– one that comes to mind is in Burn Eliza is on stage right in the original recorded production, where as in the West End production she is on stage left.
Further to mentioning the ensemble’s clothes, it is very much worth mentioning certain members of the ensemble that played named characters. Whoever it was that played Philip Schuyler/James Reynolds (potentially Jairus McClanahan or Aaron Lee Lambert?) was particularly notable to me both because I appreciated his performance although I think, perhaps, somewhat because he bore an uncanny resemblance to Preston Burke (Isaiah Washington) from Grey’s Anatomy 😭.
Besides this I don’t have any other significant opinions on other members of the cast, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have anything else to say. Christopher Jackson as Washington may be, in my opinion at least, one of if not the strongest singers in the original Broadway cast, and so Thomas Vernal had rather large shoes to fill– and I wasn’t expecting to enjoy his performance as much as I did. In fact Cindia (for whom, it should be noted, was experiencing Hamilton, in any form, for the first time) commented on the strength of his singing without prior discussion. Of course, spending any time with Cindia is a delight but, in terms of forming my opinion on this West End performance, it was especially helpful to see it with her– because of the unique perspective her not having seen the recorded version brings.
I would say this concludes my opinions on the West End performance of Hamilton, and I hope this was at least somewhat insightful to the few who will read it (Cindia and my mother exclusively, I imagine).
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