Hamilton Coming to Arkansas
Broadway Musical, Hamilton, comes to Little Rock’s Robinson Center. There is a lot of excitement surrounding the production, and some Bryant High School students are going. Hamilton is a well known musical and many people have different views and opinions on the production.
Courtesy of Playbill
March 2, 2022
The Broadway musical, Hamilton, is coming to Little Rock, Arkansas.
Hamilton is based on Ron Chernow’s biography of founding father Alexander Hamilton and impacts on culture, politics, and education. The musical is directed by Thomas Kail, choreographed by Andy Blankenbuehler, music and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda, and musical supervision and orchestrations by Alex Lacamoire.
There are Broadway fans in Arkansas, some being in Bryant High School.
Bryant High School carries multiple theatre fans and hosts classes for them to learn the ins and outs of putting out a production. Junior, Austyn Wood, is a part of one of these classes, theatre, and is a huge fan of Hamilton.
Wood has been a fan ever since his sister discovered Hamilton from her school’s theatre class and introduced it to him.
“ My favorite aspect of Hamilton is the music and history,” Wood said. “ I think I relate to the character Angelica because my mother says that I’m self-sacrificing and put others’ needs before my own like her.”
Wood loves everything about Hamilton, and on Christmas his family decided to surprise him and his siblings with tickets to see the production on Feb.10th.
“After everyone was done opening their gifts my siblings and I were told to stand up in front of everyone, and then were handed boxes filled with Hamilton merch,” Wood said.“Sure enough in the last box, I pulled out the little piece of confirmation paper that said we had tickets to see Hamilton!”
Wood had an amazing experience seeing the production.
“They didn’t copy anything from previous scenes in the choreography so it was really cool to see all of the different things that they did with it,” Wood said. “The music was so much better in person than just listening to it from the playlist or on Disney+.”
Wood’s favorite character from the production was Phillip, the eldest child of Alexander Hamilton, and the first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, and Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton.
“ It’s just so funny to see an adult play a child!” Wood said. “ My favorite song is definitely burn. When Eliza is burning the notes from Alexander. It’s so cool that in that scene they used real fire on stage.”
Wood’s theatre director, Jeremy Clay, is also a huge fan of the musical. Although he did not see the most recent performance, he has seen the production in the past and has his thoughts.
“Hamilton is so smartly constructed and challenging to its audience,” Clay said.“ It’s storytelling about American History in an extremely palatable format.”
Clay saw the production two years ago at the Orpheum in Memphis, and thinks the musical has put more of an emphasis on musical theatre.
“The sustained narrative isn’t new, but its intelligent use of hip-hop and rap has brought new fans to musical theatre,” Clay said.“ My favorite aspect of the musical was that Lin-Manuel Miranda, the play’s creator and cast member, demanded people of color be placed in all the main characters. Now people of color can see themselves as our founding fathers and perhaps strive for leadership and achievement.”
Clay thinks he relates to the characters because they are presented as historical heroes.
“I think Hamilton and Burr are my favorites because they are not portrayed as perfect characters; they make mistakes and pay dearly for them,” Clay said. “ As a parent, my favorite song is their duet, Dear Theodosia, because the focus is their hopes for their children.”
The production will be at the Robinson’s Center in Little Rock, AR from Feb. 8th to Feb. 20th. Little Rock has extended the mask update for city owned buildings through April 2022. All people attending the performance will need to wear a mask actively inside uless consuming food or drink.
Hamilton does contain strong language and non-graphic adult situations. The recommended age is 10 and up. People are able to get tickets in advance through the box office, CelebrityAttractions.com or Ticketmaster.com. Prices will range from $49-$149 with a select number of premium seats available from $249 for all performances.
https://www.littlerock.com/little-rock-events/2022/02/08/default-calendar/hamilton
