The smash hit Broadway musical makes its West End debut in the newly refurbished Victoria Palace Theatre. Love London Love Culture rounds up all of the reviews…
Please Mind the Blog: ***** “A top-class transfer of an all-American musical, spreading Alexander Hamilton’s story ever further – you won’t want to miss your shot to be in the room where it happens!”
Musical Theatre Musings: ***** “Opening night of Hamilton however proved that the show is more than just hype – it has style, substance and staying power. Above all this, a show set in America’s history books is relevant to the UK today.”
Rewrite This Story: ***** “Hamilton is truly groundbreaking, it challenges the status-quo, brings a freshness to the West End and breaks conformity by casting people of colour and challenging racial tensions. The show embodies representation in every way and is a spectacle to behold.”
There Ought to be Clowns: “Jamael Westman bursts onto the scene and into our hearts as a hugely charismatic Hamilton and Terera graduates to that (co-)leading man status with a supremely confident grace as a too-easily-emotionally-bruised Aaron Burr.”
The Guardian: ***** ” this is a show that, in Thomas Kail’s production and in Andy Blankenbuehler’s choreography, moves with intoxicating speed and combines historical sweep with attention to detail.”
The Stage: ***** “Even on paper, it’s a piece of great intricacy, astonishing in the way phrases repeat and either intensify as the show goes on, or are put into new contexts to give them new and more resonant meanings. Every melody and lyric that Miranda introduces has purpose beyond its initial meaning.”
The Telegraph: ***** “The cheer that goes up in the gloriously renovated Victoria Palace theatre when Jamael Westman steps forward, solemn, serene and self-possessed, introducing us to the hero of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical phenomenon – the most talked-about musical of the century – is like the rapture of a crowd of believers meeting their awaited saviour.”
Time Out: ***** “Whether or not ‘Hamilton’ is the best musical of our generation – it clearly is, but whatever – it’s been a hit for the only reason anything is a hit: because it is a great work of entertainment.”
The Metro: **** “Miranda has worked tirelessly on the characterisation so there isn’t any supporting roles which feel underwritten.”
The Independent: ***** “Miranda’s synthesis of the historical material is phenomenal, as is his supple control of the diverse musical idioms.”
Variety: “In Jamael Westman, London has itself a fine Hamilton to fill Miranda’s sizeable shoes.”
Radio Times: ***** “Lin-Manuel Miranda, choreographer Andy Blankenbuehler and director Thomas Kail have forged theatrical alchemy with Hamilton and served up a show that lives up to every expectation.”
The FT: ***** “Kail’s staging has tremendous momentum, assisted by Andy Blankenbuehler’s exuberant choreography. But what surprises most is the show’s streak of delicate lyricism.”
The Daily Mail: *** “Apart from the lyrics, Hamilton is no revolution. But if you wait until the promotional frenzy has abated and if you lower your expectations to those for a normal West End show, you should enjoy it well enough.”
The Times: ***** “This musical is history in the remaking.”
WhatsOnStage: ***** ” By the time the show had finished, I wanted to do the same thing – rewind to the very start and watch it all again.”
London Theatre1: ***** “Hamilton is an extraordinary show with a diverse and talented company. I was encouraged and exhilarated by this slick, energetic and relentlessly compelling musical.”
Exeunt Magazine: “Hamilton is constantly aware of what it is doing, and of the ways it flips the script to allow immigrants to not just take centre stage, but tell their own story as well as the story of those who have come before.”
London Theatre.co.uk: ***** “This show may be about history, but it also makes history itself: not just in the freshness and vivacity of its rap-based score that could come from the charts today, but also in the colour-blind diversity of its cast.”
Evening Standard: ***** “With its fresh take on the politics of opportunism Hamilton feels sharply topical, but it’s also the best kind of history lesson.”
Hamilton is currently booking at the Victoria Palace Theatre until the 30th June 2018. For more information and to book tickets visit: http://hamiltonmusical.com/london/