Latest / The BSB Podcast / 'Hamilton' Music and Stagecraft | The BSB Podcast

Transcript

'Hamilton' Music and Stagecraft | The BSB Podcast · The BSB Podcast

• 0:00
  Welcome back theater lovers to another episode of the BSB Podcast.
• 0:03
  Today we're traveling back to revolutionary war times to continue our exploration of the Hamilton's North American touring production.
• 0:09
  However, before we roshambo with this discussion, like, follow and subscribe to BSB.insider.
• 0:14
  on all social media platforms to stay up to date on theater here in Michigan and New York City, as well as news and reviews from all facets of entertainment.
• 0:22
  Spoiler warning, if you're wanting to avoid spoilers of the touring production of Hamilton, you have one last time to pause this video and come back once you've experienced
• 0:29
  the eye of the hurricane.
• 0:32
  RJ, last episode we had a great conversation about legacy, and the legacy of why did I see the show seven times?
• 0:38
  Which is because it's a classic.
• 0:39
  People love Hamilton.
• 0:40
  There's just something that speaks to the...
• 0:43
  people of all walks of life, whether you are a theater lover, whether you are a casual theater lover, whether you don't like theater at all, there seems to be kind of like a
• 0:52
  Book of Mormon-esque appeal to the show where it it brings so many people in.
• 0:58
  You know, we're telling the story of Alexander Hamilton, a founding father of the Revolutionary War in America, not of the war, sorry guys.
• 1:06
  He fought in the war, but he was one of the founding fathers of America, and he started the banks, he really helped shape
• 1:12
  the world that we're living in.
• 1:15
  And there's just, it's just a massive mass appeal of the show.
• 1:19
  And one of the, think you were mentioning RJ in the last episode was that one of the biggest appeals is that it's music that you don't see traditionally on Broadway, which
• 1:27
  really does just pull audiences in.
• 1:32
  Why do you think it's, why, why do you think it's because it's new and it's different or it's because it's just something that is so novel to Broadway?
• 1:41
  Yeah, mean the irony is that like it wasn't particularly new to Broadway, right?
• 1:45
  Like actually Lin-Manuel had written things previously such as In the Heights, which did relatively well.
• 1:54
  uh It was still kind of a similar format, right?
• 1:58
  Of kind of like a hip hoppy Latinx um spin on musical theater.
• 2:07
  However, I think that that was
• 2:09
  almost too niche for mainstream Broadway.
• 2:14
  And so the reason that Hamilton takes off is because unfortunately, it's presented in a way that seems like it's.
• 2:24
  digestible for anyone.
• 2:26
  um
• 2:28
  And I mean, really the musical theater kids and musical theater nerds just like latched on.
• 2:36
  it was, it's impressive musically.
• 2:40
  And so I mean, how many times have we heard or at least gosh, like when I was in the vocal scene, how many times
• 2:51
  Did I hear the songs from Hamilton's song competitions over and over and over?
• 2:56
  And it didn't matter.
• 2:57
  mean, at that point, actually, that's when Hamilton was newer.
• 3:00
  So of course it makes sense, but also it felt impressive.
• 3:04
  Like to sing from Hamilton felt really hard.
• 3:09
  And it is musically it's like, it's got its own unique challenges.
• 3:16
  And I think that was part of the appeal too, was like,
• 3:19
  Wait, what do you mean that you're singing at this speed, at this like timbre, at this like part of your voice?
• 3:29
  it was just different.
• 3:30
  It wasn't typical.
• 3:31
  I think it's almost like a modern day.
• 3:35
  Like I think of like Sondheim or something where like people, like you remember a particular name for a particular kind of musical.
• 3:46
  And so I feel like Hamilton and Lin-Manuel, he's created this other genre that people are just like, oh, like you did a piece from Hamilton.
• 3:56
  That's impressive.
• 3:59
  I mean, yeah, because it's a very hip hop-y, it's a very R &B at times.
• 4:03
  is, you know, I feel like a lot of traditional Broadway is belty, you know?
• 4:08
  You want those big showy numbers, like there's some fast numbers, but you want the numbers that are just like showstoppers.
• 4:14
  And everything about Hamilton, every song about Hamilton feels like a showstopper in some way, but because it's so different.
• 4:19
  Like I think of like, um I love, you know, satisfied.
• 4:25
  I love, you know,
• 4:27
  my shot.
• 4:27
  Like there's all these really big songs, but they're all so unique.
• 4:30
  It almost feels like every character has a very unique way of singing that adds something unique to the show, that adds something unique to even just the album.
• 4:39
  Cause I think that we even have to start there is that like this was a concept at first, you know, and it became a show and he performed these songs for president Obama before it
• 4:48
  was even a show.
• 4:50
  And there was a whole life to them already.
• 4:53
  And so then to bring it to stage, it already had this kind of identity.
• 4:58
  And again, every person, know, Angelica Schuyler has a different way of singing than Eliza, who has a different way of singing than Alexander.
• 5:05
  And every song has those riffs and those uniqueness that makes it like, OK, you can kind of tell that this is a song that Alexander is going to sing in comparatively to like um
• 5:14
  Hercules Mulligan, you know?
• 5:17
  Yeah, Lin does an incredible, I mean, he's a musical genius, but he does an incredible job at
• 5:25
  creating sound around a character.
• 5:28
  And what I mean by that is like, like you just mentioned, like you can hear a certain tone or hear where a song is going and be like, that's associated with Hamilton.
• 5:38
  That's associated with Eliza.
• 5:40
  And then the callbacks or even like the foreshadowing right from right off the get, we get like multiple reprises, but they aren't called reprises because we're getting
• 5:53
  bits and pieces of uh like Act Two and Act One and vice versa.
• 5:59
  um And people love that.
• 6:02
  Like even like when I studied music, like the easiest way to make people remember something is to have those, that kind of ornamentation because people love the idea of
• 6:17
  kind of knowing what's going to come next.
• 6:19
  And that's what happens when you associate.
• 6:23
  a particular kind of sound with a particular character.
• 6:27
  Um, because it's, it's, it's ultimately a huge part of their identity, obviously, especially in a, in a musical, but especially in this one where it is, it's that hip hop,
• 6:40
  um, you know, whether we call it rap, I mean, it is, some parts are definitely rap, but just the speed at which
• 6:50
  you are spitting words out was also unprecedented.
• 6:54
  Like I can't think of another show, maybe like Pirates of Penzance.
• 7:00
  Like there's like one off uh songs that I can think of in musical history, but never I don't think because there's been a show where the whole show, I mean I'm curious what the
• 7:14
  average tempo of this show is because it's
• 7:17
  It's even with all the ballots, it's still incredibly high.
• 7:21
  you know, before I jump into the tempo, because we're gonna come back to that.
• 7:24
  But there is one part that always I love, we talk about like the callbacks, but also like the foreshadowing.
• 7:31
  And it's the moment that Angelica comes back after um Alexander wrote the Reynolds Pamphlet.
• 7:39
  And it has the mix of satisfied, but then it also has the beats to burn, the beginning part of burn, like the...
• 7:50
  Arpeggio I would you know and like when they blend that together being like she came back and she it's her call but it's also leading into like what's happening with and Eliza is
• 8:03
  such a cool moment and it's such a standout moment of like the how he blended those two things and just like a simple like melody could go from one character to another and it
• 8:14
  builds that emotion like it's following an emotion
• 8:17
  that you're supposed to be feeling.
• 8:19
  And like that's, that is the brilliance of Hamilton.
• 8:23
  Yeah, I mean, and I just, of course, looked it up like 144.
• 8:30
  The average pace is 144 words per minute.
• 8:35
  With, oh, 220,000 words into roughly this ultimately three hour runtime.
• 8:43
  Um,
• 8:44
  Holy, my God.
• 8:46
  Like, you...
• 8:50
  There's so much to be said, right?
• 8:52
  Like, we hear so much from the characters, but like you just mentioned, tonally, that's where we understand where those pairings happen with the music and the characters.
• 9:06
  And that's what people walk away with.
• 9:10
  Like, for sure, I do not know.
• 9:12
  Granted, there are some Hamilton fans that...
• 9:15
  do know every single word to every single song.
• 9:16
  um I am not one of them.
• 9:19
  um But I do know the general kind of vibe, so to say, of the songs that every character sings.
• 9:28
  And so that is, I would say, what the draw is.
• 9:33
  um
• 9:35
  And again, it's just hella impressive.
• 9:38
  think one of the songs that I used to hear kids sing the most is actually the rap that Lafayette does just because it is literally rap and because it was so cool.
• 9:51
  that's the kind of ironic part of all this.
• 9:53
  Like theater kids are not known to be cool, right?
• 9:56
  They're the nerds.
• 9:57
  They are like the geeks and they are the band kids and the choir kids and the theater kids.
• 10:05
  But by no means are they like the like cool rapping kid.
• 10:09
  But all of a sudden you have thousands of theater kids who can now rap.
• 10:14
  I'm thinking Guns and Ships my God, every single, when I was music directing a few years back, every single kid felt the need to learn that song because they were so cool when
• 10:30
  they sang it.
• 10:32
  And it's just, it's crossing.
• 10:34
  a line and this show does a lot of that in every which way, not only character wise, but casting wise, crossing lines that previously you just like didn't cross.
• 10:46
  And again, one of the things that makes it unique as a show in itself.
• 10:52
  And what is interesting about the show too, I think that we have to just, you don't always see a show nowadays that is all singing.
• 11:01
  Like this is two hours and 30 minutes, almost three hours of the every there, is there spoken word at all in the show that's not sung?
• 11:10
  If it is, I can't even think of what those words are.
• 11:13
  The whole show is sung.
• 11:15
  from start to finish, which doesn't feel like, which I get there are some shows that they still do that.
• 11:21
  But I feel like there's a lot of shows that has a song has dialogue has song has dialogue.
• 11:24
  This one is from start to finish.
• 11:26
  You were singing and across every book.
• 11:28
  It covers every genre of kind of music.
• 11:30
  ah Well, I shouldn't say every genre, a lot of genres of music ah to give it, but like it's from start to finish, just like a masterclass.
• 11:40
  Yeah.
• 11:40
  And I mean, we were talking about the tempo that this tour kind of took, fluctuated a little bit.
• 11:51
  Um, which, mean, I think this was only show two or show number two, night number two of this, um, stint in Detroit.
• 11:59
  So there's always going to be a little bit of fluctuation and kind of getting to know your director and your orchestra and your cast.
• 12:06
  uh
• 12:08
  But I mean, if you were to take this show at a normal speed, it would take six hours.
• 12:15
  If you were to take this show at the average musical theater speed, it would take six hours.
• 12:20
  Because like you said, it is all music.
• 12:22
  is, there might be some talking in regards to talking in rhythm, but you're still doing it at some type of pitch.
• 12:35
  And that's, think the difference, like even when there are speaking pieces, there's always music beneath you and or you're always rhythmically speaking at a pitch.
• 12:48
  so I don't think there probably isn't, if you were to look at a script or libretto, I don't think there is just a line.
• 12:57
  It's probably all on a staff, which yeah, I don't know of.
• 13:03
  most even like operas.
• 13:06
  like, I don't even, I was trying to think like Phantom of the Opera, but there's talking in that.
• 13:11
  I, yeah, it's very unique.
• 13:15
  I mean, I think in like old school, if we go back to like Sondheim, like you did Sweeny Todd, there's dialogue in that.
• 13:22
  Not a lot, but it's a lot of singing, but like there's still points where you have a break.
• 13:27
  Like, like you give your vocal, like you can have vocal rest for a moment.
• 13:31
  Where from Hamilton, like you said, it almost reminds me of a way of like old school Johnny Cash, where sometimes he would talk the words, but like they were still like,
• 13:38
  except rhythmic, they were still having notes to them.
• 13:40
  And there were a few performances like that.
• 13:42
  Like I feel like this was something that we saw with Washington a lot in our performance was he was kind of talking rhythmically.
• 13:49
  But you still have to like have this rhythm.
• 13:51
  You still have to have this flow, which just means that from start to finish, the show is just high intensities, singing slash talking rhythmically, which is insane.
• 14:03
  It's absolutely insane, which is again, the brilliance of Hamilton.
• 14:07
  Yeah, it always, reminds me of that line actually from another musical, Music Man, where he's teaching them how to sing, but, but when they say they don't sing and he just says,
• 14:18
  you know, singing is just slow talking at a particular pitch.
• 14:23
  And that's the case with this, but just fast, right?
• 14:26
  Like singing is a fast talking at a particular pitch.
• 14:32
  or sometimes slow, but yeah, it's.
• 14:37
  I cannot imagine being in this cast and doing the show twice a day.
• 14:44
  that I, I'm like, aren't you all dead?
• 14:48
  Like vocally, like, especially when, know, lately there's been all this controversy around stage roaring and like the, you know, how, actors do and what actors don't like, dude, if
• 15:00
  I was in a two and a half hour show where I literally am on stage the entire time.
• 15:05
  And the only time I'm off stage is maybe for a costume change, but I'm still singing.
• 15:09
  Absolutely not.
• 15:11
  Like, thank you all for coming.
• 15:12
  Thank you so much.
• 15:13
  But like, I have to make sure that my voice is ready for the next performance in like an hour and a half.
• 15:19
  So I will not be doing stage door.
• 15:24
  Especially then the night show is going till 11 o'clock.
• 15:27
  Off to bed.
• 15:28
  Yeah, yeah.
• 15:29
  I mean, let's be honest.
• 15:30
  uh When this show does eventually go to uh a community theater, RJ will be playing the king.
• 15:36
  So he will be stage-doring for that for everybody.
• 15:38
  So congratulations.
• 15:40
  You will get to shake the hands of King George.
• 15:42
  Uhhh...
• 15:43
  true.
• 15:44
  You know it's true.
• 15:45
  No, he is a tenor for sure.
• 15:48
  I am not anywhere close to his range.
• 15:52
  Um, so I do have to say that on that note of the music, I do have to say that I did have some favorites.
• 16:00
  always have favorites to the show.
• 16:02
  Um, the former refuted always one of my favorite, but I was really impressed with the King songs.
• 16:08
  Um, I, again, this goes back to part one, the King was phenomenal.
• 16:12
  He was great.
• 16:12
  Um, I think the one that surprised me the most that I don't...
• 16:21
  Always.
• 16:22
  I don't always love, and this is gonna upset a lot of people, I don't always love Dear Theodosia.
• 16:29
  It's just not one of my favorite songs.
• 16:30
  I won't turn this on on the radio, you I liked this one.
• 16:35
  I do have to say that I think it was interesting because usually there's a little more contrast between the voices of Aaron Burr and Hamilton, but this did almost feel like a
• 16:43
  lullaby.
• 16:44
  And I think that goes back to some of these songs that we saw, especially in Act One, were slowed down a little bit.
• 16:48
  And that one felt a little bit more...
• 16:52
  just a little slower and a little more melodic.
• 16:54
  And so I did like that.
• 16:55
  I don't usually love dear Theodosia.
• 16:58
  Wow, I can't even say the name.
• 16:59
  Dear Theodosia.
• 17:01
  Dear Theodosia.
• 17:02
  Wow.
• 17:02
  ah Thank you for being here, everybody.
• 17:05
  I'm done now.
• 17:06
  ah But I did love that one.
• 17:10
  And one that I do love that was I thought was even better was Your Obedient Servant.
• 17:13
  I don't know what it was about it that felt so different.
• 17:16
  But I loved their take of the
• 17:18
  passive aggressive anger towards each other of that one that just felt there was a brilliance to that that I absolutely loved.
• 17:26
  those were my two ones besides like Burn I love Burn.
• 17:29
  This Burn was even better because of she was so angry and I loved that and we talked about that in the first one.
• 17:33
  But yeah, those are some of the highlights for me.
• 17:36
  But what about you?
• 17:37
  What really stood out to you about the music of the show?
• 17:40
  I mean, we know that I'm a ballad guy.
• 17:43
  We know that I'm a sap.
• 17:44
  um
• 17:46
  It's quiet uptown.
• 17:47
  It's quiet uptown, just rips you up.
• 17:53
  I forgot.
• 17:55
  All transparency.
• 17:56
  Like I just, haven't listened to Hamilton in a while, probably since the last time that I saw it or worked it, I should say.
• 18:05
  And let's be real.
• 18:08
  When you work a show literally 75 times, I did not stand inside the house for 75 shows.
• 18:16
  most of the time, like I was in and out frequently.
• 18:19
  And then like for sure act two, like I'm outside in the hallway.
• 18:25
  However, for that song, I always came back inside and it is like the end of the show, I woof like I, it was so well done.
• 18:38
  And I think because of the contrast, again, that we talked about in part one with Eliza being
• 18:44
  being actually angry.
• 18:45
  um So then to see the sadness and to know, like we've all been there with different things, right?
• 18:53
  Like we know that anger kind of actually stems from sadness.
• 18:58
  And so to have both of those emotions feel so true.
• 19:01
  um And again, Lily just, I mean, she killed it.
• 19:06
  She killed it.
• 19:08
  The sob um when he dies.
• 19:14
  ripped through my soul.
• 19:16
  yeah, they like turned her mic off, I think, for it.
• 19:20
  And so for some reason that made it feel even more real because it was like a wail Like it was a real, it wasn't like a stifled because she was wearing a microphone.
• 19:31
  It was just like.
• 19:33
  when that pain hits you, this is the external thing that happens.
• 19:37
  And I think we've probably, most of us have experienced that level of pain before.
• 19:42
  ah And then obviously, knowing that she had just gone through.
• 19:47
  ah
• 19:48
  Everything else.
• 19:50
  Um, so yeah, quiet uptown.
• 19:55
  Um, I mean, really from that on to the end of the show is, is pretty great, but the choreography for me too, I know we're talking about music, but like there are two things
• 20:10
  that are just so tightly aligned that it, it shines special emphasis on so many of
• 20:19
  the musical pieces because it's just done in such an intelligent way.
• 20:25
  So yeah, mean, vocally, again, I I loved King George, like we mentioned in part one.
• 20:33
  So I did love his pieces, even though usually they're not my favorite.
• 20:37
  So that's different for me this time, but yeah, really anything with honestly anything with the Schuyler sisters in general just slaps, but.
• 20:47
  I do want to go back to Stay Alive reprise real quick because I always sob, I always cry.
• 20:52
  Guys, I'm a crier if you don't know this by now, RJ can attest.
• 20:55
  ah As one of our guests at last night, she said I was sobbing, which is a little extreme, but like I have been known to cry and or sometimes I sob.
• 21:04
  ah You've been ex-
• 21:06
  I wouldn't, I've seen you sob, but you were, it was a steady, it was a sniffle.
• 21:11
  There's like a quiet cry, then a sniffle, then a sob.
• 21:17
  We were sniffle level.
• 21:20
  yeah, I've been, I've been next to RJ when I've been sobbing before.
• 21:24
  the outsiders will always get me for some reason.
• 21:27
  Um, but during stay alive, what always hits me emotionally right before the wail the wail always gets me too.
• 21:35
  And really quick actually about the wail the last time I had seen it in Detroit, I was actually up in the balcony and they also turned off her mic then for the actress that was
• 21:46
  doing it.
• 21:47
  And it was just such.
• 21:49
  painful gut wrenching that it hurts so bad that that, I agree with you, that right there can make or break that scene.
• 21:56
  But the part that always gets me for some reason is when she starts to count in French, like they used to do with the piano, because she's like trying to have like that moment of
• 22:05
  normalcy while he's dying to like to keep him alive.
• 22:09
  And he slowly starts to fade out.
• 22:10
  It's actually giving me chills right now.
• 22:13
  You can't see it, but I'm covered in chills.
• 22:15
  That always does it for me.
• 22:16
  Like that, that just like little, that little moment of her trying to like keep her son alive.
• 22:20
  ah
• 22:22
  It always hits me emotionally to the point, then when you go into it's quiet uptown I'm already in an emotional wreck.
• 22:27
  I'm already having emotions because it's just such a beautiful, it's a callback again.
• 22:31
  That beautiful moment of like, last time you saw us do this, we were happy.
• 22:34
  You were young.
• 22:35
  We were doing it together.
• 22:36
  You admitted you finally like always changed the melody on me.
• 22:40
  And then you're not there anymore.
• 22:41
  And like, I'm not a parent.
• 22:43
  But you can just feel that pain in that moment.
• 22:46
  And it's, I think it's just so beautiful how it's done.
• 22:49
  Yeah, the callback to the piano.
• 22:51
  And I think too that the drastic difference, because the last time that we look and hear about the piano, like it is kind of funny, right?
• 23:01
  Like it's just like he's changing it, ha ha ha.
• 23:04
  um He's rapping to his dad.
• 23:07
  He wants to be like his dad.
• 23:08
  um And then in her characterization of like, I'm gonna like, even though I know that my son is dying.
• 23:17
  I'm going to distract it, try to distract him in any way possible, basically.
• 23:23
  yeah, I'm not a parent either, but it absolutely reminds me of like how I've seen my parents, like when I was in pain or, or my siblings or, or their parents, right?
• 23:33
  Like what they do to kind of alleviate the pain, not from themselves, but for the other person.
• 23:43
  it just, shines through, um, and actually
• 23:46
  I mean, that of course gets me because it's death.
• 23:49
  It kind of reminds me of the moment in Les Mis, right?
• 23:52
  Where little fall of rain and they are singing with each other.
• 23:57
  um But quiet uptown, the moment that gets me is actually the pause before the word forgiveness.
• 24:07
  When she slips her hand into his and then she starts to write down that.
• 24:14
  Like I'm fine.
• 24:15
  I'm fine.
• 24:15
  I'm fine.
• 24:16
  I mean obviously like stay alive just happened, but I'm fine I'm fine.
• 24:20
  I'm fine and but then forgiveness because we've all I think been in a situation where forgiveness is so hard and Obviously to lose a child to go through marriage spats em And
• 24:36
  then finally be like and the lyrics are just so good right like can you imagine
• 24:42
  forgiveness at this moment where he probably doesn't deserve it.
• 24:48
  It's taking every part of every inch of her to forgive him.
• 24:52
  But somehow it happens.
• 24:55
  That I'm just like, because we also don't I don't think that's something that happens in real life.
• 25:00
  I don't I don't think that it or at least not as frequently.
• 25:04
  And it's just so eloquently done um on the stage and in such a quiet moment that again.
• 25:11
  The musical brilliance.
• 25:14
  Yeah, and one other song I think that leads up to that I'm just going to throw in there too is I always love the finale, who lives, who dies, who tells her story, because it's
• 25:21
  also that emotional too.
• 25:23
  She's forgiven him to the point where she's open to...
• 25:28
  She wants to be a part of his story again.
• 25:30
  She doesn't want...
• 25:31
  She actually does love him enough that she wants to make this impact in his...
• 25:36
  Kind of like his name, kind of for him.
• 25:38
  um
• 25:39
  And the part that always gets me, I'm getting chills again.
• 25:42
  Woo, this is a moment.
• 25:44
  But when she, no matter who sings it, it's always such, it hits me so hard every time.
• 25:49
  But when she says, I can't wait to see you again, and she pauses, like, it's like this, she tells you everything that she's done for 50 years in his name.
• 25:59
  And then there's just like that moment where she actually is happy and she loves him.
• 26:02
  I can't wait to see you again.
• 26:03
  It's only a matter of time.
• 26:04
  It's just so beautiful.
• 26:06
  And I think that there's no other way to end that.
• 26:08
  And then when she's walking and you kind of, she sees him.
• 26:12
  Like, you know, like they always say, like when you're kind of dying, you see your loved ones who have passed welcoming you there.
• 26:16
  So like, I think that again, when you talk about the choreography, which you're right, it's so connected.
• 26:21
  Hamilton is such a well-oiled machine.
• 26:24
  Every piece is so perfect.
• 26:26
  Like that moment, like she can't wait to see him.
• 26:30
  And then she, she sees him and then she like, she lets go.
• 26:34
  I just can't like, that's just a moment that I can't ever just like, it'll stay in my mind forever.
• 26:38
  It will stay in my mind forever.
• 26:41
  Cause there's just such a brilliant piece to that.
• 26:43
  And every song and every movement is so well connected.
• 26:48
  Like, I'm sorry, I'm going to talk about this for choreography wise.
• 26:51
  I'm sorry, I'm on the soap box for a moment, but helpless into satisfied Like when you're watching the movements happen as like, Angelica's distracted while she's thinking of her
• 26:59
  story and like, she's still doing the movements of like dancing with her sisters and stuff like that.
• 27:03
  taking the letters, but there's a different emotion to it.
• 27:06
  And there's almost like a it's almost like when you're like, kind of sometimes you feel like you're watching yourself outside your body.
• 27:12
  Like that is a brilliant choreography.
• 27:14
  And like, I think that's just again, the brilliance of the show.
• 27:18
  There's so much the dancing is so important to the music and they're so connected that you can't really think of one without the other.
• 27:24
  And it's all so fleshed out.
• 27:27
  No wonder why this keeps running.
• 27:28
  Why people keep seeing it, why it can recoup its money.
• 27:31
  20,000 times over and it fills theaters because it is every time you see that show there's something even more brilliant to see because there's so much to see because it's so
• 27:42
  interconnected.
• 27:43
  Well, yeah, yeah.
• 27:45
  mean, it's constantly that battle of like, who am I paying attention to?
• 27:49
  What am I looking at?
• 27:50
  I mean, there's rarely a time that there is not more than one person on that stage.
• 27:57
  And everyone, it's so intentional.
• 28:01
  Every piece of the set, every lighting cue, like the crew, like a shout out to the crew because...
• 28:09
  Correct.
• 28:10
  Every single like and I think of you know, the most obvious lighting queue moment is during King George's uh turning blue, right?
• 28:18
  But like just think like and I remember last night thinking like holy crud um You just have to be so on like you literally you can't be a millisecond off and it was so perfectly
• 28:32
  timed and yes We have the technology today that can make all of this happen.
• 28:37
  But I mean I was just as we
• 28:39
  were going out, I was looking kind of at their sound and lighting setup.
• 28:42
  And it is, it's probably one of the biggest setups I've seen.
• 28:48
  uh Probably comparable to like Wicked, again, totally makes sense.
• 28:53
  And you have, you you have your sound board, which of course has like two to three monitors.
• 28:59
  And I'm pretty sure the lighting board had like five.
• 29:03
  And I'm just, I'm like,
• 29:07
  These people are the unsung heroes of musical theater and I don't think we give them enough credit.
• 29:12
  uh And I know like usually they're in that spot because they don't want the credit, right?
• 29:17
  They don't want the limelight, but uh this doesn't, I mean, again, you have a turntable, you have a gazillion light cues, a gazillion sound cues.
• 29:29
  And by the way, people most times, like if someone on stage isn't talking or if they don't have a scripted line,
• 29:36
  Their mic is getting shut off.
• 29:37
  Like just because they're on stage doesn't mean that their mic is on.
• 29:42
  So think about how many people are on the stage at one time, but how many of them are talking and how many of them aren't or, and at what volume and the mixes.
• 29:52
  And it's just, yeah, it's a well-oiled machine.
• 29:56
  It's been running for a decade.
• 29:58
  It's going to run for at least another decade.
• 30:01
  Um, and it's, it's a master class in musical theater.
• 30:06
  on not just the acting and singing, but every, costumings, the choreography, the lights, the sound, the props, like every part of it.
• 30:19
  But I do want to before we run out of time here, it's just like even the set, like I think we talked about this when we came in and you're like, that's against the back wall.
• 30:26
  And like we talked like they build this entire set and it's not like a an elaborate set and that like it has a lot of moving pieces or that there's a lot of props.
• 30:35
  They do carry a lot of things off, but it's a brilliance because it's like it feels like 1776.
• 30:42
  There's a lot of wood.
• 30:43
  There's a lot of rope.
• 30:44
  There's a whole wall that they build in the back that they erect, you know.
• 30:47
  There's all of these things that feel so time specific and it's mostly on the peripherals of the stage that is, it's just, I don't, I don't even know.
• 30:58
  It's just like, it's per, it's perfect.
• 31:00
  Like I don't want, I don't ever want to say a show is perfect, but there's a lot of perfection that has gone into making Hamilton perfect.
• 31:09
  There's a lot of, like it's, it's, it's precise.
• 31:11
  I should say maybe that's the right.
• 31:14
  Well, and I'm trying to think, and I could be totally off on this, but I'm trying to think of another show that's built that way set wise, because I feel like it was one of the
• 31:24
  first that built a set that stays.
• 31:28
  Minimal changes aside from props and something most recently that we saw Operation Mincemeat built exactly the same way.
• 31:37
  You have your four walls, three walls, and people bring shit on and off, but it's minimal.
• 31:43
  Um, because again, you're focused on the choreography.
• 31:47
  You're focused on the characters and the music.
• 31:52
  and I'm thinking even an in-between of that, like Hades town, same thing.
• 31:57
  Three walls, not a lot coming on and off, come from away.
• 32:00
  Three walls, not a lot coming on and off.
• 32:03
  So it's, it is definitely this like more modern musical thing that's happening, but it does make me wonder if
• 32:10
  If Hamilton kind of set a new precedent for, Hey, you don't need 7,000 pieces coming on and off.
• 32:20
  You just need a solid ultimately backdrop and you're good.
• 32:27
  And the thing about it is, is when I think about like comparatively, not comparing it to Sus, but comparing it to Sus, it's like, Sus has a lot of locations and they have a lot of
• 32:34
  pieces or like back or drops or, know, or pieces that transfer you this one.
• 32:39
  This same setting was used for the Capitol that was used for the war room that was used for Hamilton's house.
• 32:47
  Like, cause like what was transporting you was the people and the music and the choreography.
• 32:54
  Or like, when you talk about choreography, the bullet, you know what I mean?
• 32:56
  Like a person representing a bullet across the stage and who's always kind of touching the people who are dying.
• 33:01
  And like, there's so much going on that like you really didn't need a big elaborate set.
• 33:06
  Like I feel like actually if there was a big set, it would distract from the story.
• 33:10
  But it probably did set a precedent, because I'm thinking like, let's look at like Sunset Boulevard that came in and swept the Tonys, but there's not a set going on.
• 33:20
  There's pieces here and there, but there's not a set.
• 33:24
  Yeah, think it's definitely, I think it was definitely a trendsetter and maybe I'm wrong.
• 33:28
  Maybe there's a show before that that actually said it, but I think it was one of the, it's definitely one of the bigger shows that made it obvious that you don't need, you
• 33:39
  don't need screens either.
• 33:41
  That's the other part of this.
• 33:42
  This is a screenless show, um which, but still feels 3D, which I think a lot of shows are struggling with right now.
• 33:53
  Um, but again, even shows on Broadway right now, I'm thinking of two strangers.
• 33:59
  Minimalist set, nothing, literally nothing comes on and off.
• 34:03
  They have a turntable.
• 34:04
  Um, this also, I think set the precedent for turntables.
• 34:09
  I mean, again, the shows that I just mentioned all have turntables.
• 34:12
  I didn't even think about that until just now.
• 34:14
  Um, they all have turntables.
• 34:17
  Hadestown Come From Away, Two Strangers.
• 34:21
  Um.
• 34:23
  Yeah, it's really at.
• 34:26
  there's a lot of turntables now like even probably shows that we haven't seen but like we've seen & Juliet and they didn't tour with a turntable but it has one in Broadway like
• 34:35
  there's a lot of shows that the turntable became like a norm of like you can do this you can have this
• 34:42
  Yeah, but when Hamilton came out, it was like, whoa, like, not that anyone hadn't thought of it before.
• 34:50
  They probably had, but they never utilized it to the degree that Hamilton does.
• 34:55
  Correct.
• 34:57
  Absolutely.
• 34:58
  So with that being said then, RJ, having seen it 75,000 times as an usher, and now you got to finally sit down, relax, and enjoy the show, did you like it?
• 35:09
  Did you love it?
• 35:10
  Do you want more?
• 35:11
  Do you want to see it again?
• 35:13
  Would you see it again?
• 35:14
  Like what?
• 35:14
  Give me your thoughts.
• 35:15
  Give me your final verdict.
• 35:17
  Um
• 35:18
  he ummed people.
• 35:21
  I mean, it's such a bizarre thing to enjoy, to really enjoy a show and just kind of be uncertain if I need to see it again.
• 35:30
  Like I for sure will because it's just, it's gonna continue touring.
• 35:34
  I think it's something I don't feel the need to actively seek out because I have literally seen it three quarters of a hundred times.
• 35:43
  ah
• 35:45
  But I feel that way similarly to Wicked too.
• 35:47
  I've got it memorized, right?
• 35:49
  I've seen it just as many times.
• 35:51
  um But there's always something new.
• 35:54
  You're always looking at it from a different angle.
• 35:57
  And as a musical theater nerd and someone who went into musical direction, now I'm not even looking at the state.
• 36:06
  I'm not even looking at the characters.
• 36:08
  I'm looking at what's happened off stage.
• 36:10
  I'm looking at what's happening with the lights.
• 36:12
  I'm looking at the conductor.
• 36:14
  Like there are things that like most people are going for the show.
• 36:17
  um I might be going for everything else.
• 36:23
  So yes, I will for sure be seeing it again.
• 36:26
  I just probably won't actively be trying to see it.
• 36:31
  So what he's saying is when we go to New York, we're not going to be buying tickets to see Hamilton.
• 36:35
  But like there is an appeal to going.
• 36:38
  And obviously there's an appeal of going because people keep going.
• 36:40
  People keep showing up.
• 36:42
  I do think that having seen it seven times um again, yeah, I probably wouldn't actively see it again, um which is weird because when you look at shows like Six, You Know Me, I
• 36:53
  would always go see Six.
• 36:54
  Death Becomes Her.
• 36:55
  I'm going to be so fucking obnoxious when it's here.
• 36:57
  I'm going to see it 12 times.
• 36:59
  But like Hamilton's one of the ones that like
• 37:01
  I'm satisfied seeing it one time every time it comes through town.
• 37:04
  You know what I mean?
• 37:05
  Like I, it's enjoyable every time to see it.
• 37:08
  It's enjoyable to go in to enjoy it, but it's not one that I'm like, Oh RJ, let's go see it three days in a row.
• 37:14
  Because it's, it's not that type of show for me anymore, but it's definitely worth the art to see it when it rolls through town.
• 37:23
  And that concludes part two of our Hamilton discussion, but stay tuned for future episodes of the BSB podcast.
• 37:30
  Let us know what your favorite song is though in the comments.
• 37:32
  We would love to hear what your favorite song is.
• 37:33
  If you've seen the tour in production, did you like some of the changes that they made?
• 37:37
  Let us know.
• 37:38
  Thanks again for joining us here on our box seats until next curtain call.