Byline: Martha Heimberg
Families, couples and groups of teenagers and seniors of all colors and mask-styles rose to their feet and cheered for the sexy, athletic, super-charged actors and dancers on the opening night of Hamilton at the Music Hall at Fair Park.
No surprise? Well, Lin Manuel-Miranda’s 11-time tony Award-winning musical has been this way before, and sometimes that means an audience will pass on the touring production and just listen again to the original cast album. But clearly, Dallas was hungry for the live, in-person experience of seeing the brilliant mega-hit show, packed with hip-hop and R&B songs that have entered into the vocabulary of what America means to its citizens and the world. “My Shot” and “Wait for It” carry such weight easily.
Throughout the show, the audience clapped and shouted following the powerful solos and terrific ensemble pieces energized by Andy Blankenbuehler’s dazzling choreography.
Dallas Summer Musicals deserves a round of applause for bringing this first-rate touring production to the Music Hall. The show, directed by Thomas Kail, with music direction by Alex Lacamoire, is the best Hamilton I’ve seen in person. The 22-member cast is truly the most diverse, funny, touching, hard-working, sweaty and superbly talented collection of performers I’ve seen on any stage in a long, long time. Clearly, the cast is charged by the consciousness-changing score and lyrics of Hamilton.
Everybody is good, but some performances are especially compelling. Edred Utomi’s Hamilton is a man driven not only by a sense of justice, but a powerful undercurrent of love for his wife, his eldest son, and the men and women drawn to him. He truly grows and changes as we watch from the smart, ambitious right-hand man to Washington, to a much more complex human being whose tearful grief over the death of his son deepens and changes his vision of the future for himself and his country.
Stephanie Umoh’s Angelica Schuyler, both sensual and commanding as the sister-in-law who loves Hamilton and her sister Eliza with honor and fervor — and she delivers her big songs with a true mezza voice that fills the hall.
Paul Oakley Stovall gives us a courageous and deliberate George Washington – but also a man with a natural gift for seeing the true character of the people surrounding him in the years leading up to and following the revolution. He is aware of Burr’s destructive envy of Hamilton, and his wise words to our hero are sung with warmth and a strong baritone in “History Has Its Eyes on You”.
Peter Matthew Smith is a hilarious and crowd-pleasing King George, mincing across the stage singing “You’ll Be Back,” and drawing a roaring singalong from the audience when he gets to the Da da da dat da chorus.
You just gotta go. Take DART! But do go early if you drive and enjoy a walk around the park. There’s ample parking, but the lines are long for turning into the grounds.
The run-time for Hamilton at Music Hall is 2 hours and 45 minutes with an intermission. Shows will be running through this Sunday, December 5. For times and tickets, visit dallassummermusicals.org.