Alexander Hamilton on our doorstep

I was lucky enough to see Hamilton on Broadway 6 years ago, and today I went again with the family to see the touring production at the Van Wezel Theater in Sarasota, and it did not disappoint.

I was told before my first viewing that it was a show you’d have to see a number of times as with each visit you make new discoveries. In fact I have a mate who has watched it a couple of dozen times, and he might only just be able to tell the complete Alexander Hamilton story.

Throughout the almost three hours, the show truly never stops. Operatic with a mix of rap, hip-hop, R&B and gospel all with a Broadway style, it is like no other musical.

Alexander Hamilton up until its debut on Broadway in 2015, was best known as a face on a $10 American bill. However Lin-Manuel Miranda wanted to tell the story of Hamilton, who was an orphaned immigrant from the Caribbean island of Nevis turned American Founding Father. Miranda believed that Hamilton never received the attention he deserved for setting the new Republic on its path to democracy after the Revolutionary War.

Based on Ron Chernow’s biography, the fast moving musical is a warts-and-all look at Hamilton’s rise after being orphaned. He was an aide to General George Washington, helped to lead a victorious campaign in the all-important battle of Yorktown and eventually became the nation’s first Secretary of the Treasury.

The cast at the Van Wezel is led by Blaine Alden Krauss, who grew up locally in St. Petersburg. He was good but so was Carvens Lissaint, who played Washington and Jared Howlton, who was Thomas Jefferson. King George III is a crowd favourite and Paul Louis Lessard is playing him on the road.

After many years of being in Bermuda when live performances were mostly does by your kids or the occasional visiting entertainer, it was really nice to spend an afternoon with the family watching something as fabulous at Hamilton just a few miles from our house.