A Super Tuesday is guaranteed when you get to visit the theatre mid-week, but the press night of Hamilton in Edinburgh coinciding with the biggest day of the forthcoming US election so far brought extra resonance to the show.
The phenomenon from Lin-Manuel Miranda retells the otherwise largely forgotten story of the first US Secretary of the Treasury. Hamilton is steeped in musical theatre tradition, revitalised by hip-hop and deceptively simple staging. The choreography, costumes and set are clinically efficient and effective.
Frequently lauded as the most significant production of the century, that only stays true if its resonance and relevance endures and renews. The performance in Edinburgh, the first time Hamilton has gone on the road in the UK, confirms that to be the case.
The nine-week run in the capital is practically sold out so be ready to beg, steal, borrow or barter for a ticket. Of course, it’s a homecoming of sorts. The founding father had a Scottish father and no doubt the audience could make a claim that some of Hamilton’s canny determination and indefatigable rebelliousness derives from local roots. Maybe too some of his arrogance and self-sabotaging tendencies.
There may be a flawless pro-shot version with the original Broadway cast readily available, but the young and hungry (but not scrappy) touring cast are bursting with urgent energy.
Shaq Taylor is so convincing as a youthful Alexander Hamilton at 19, you initially wonder if he can carry the character through the next three decades of his life, but the transformation over the subsequent two and a half hours is remarkable. Taylor leans into the character’s defiant impulsiveness, with a charm that brings you along with him, even as Alexander succumbs to the more complicated side of his nature.
