If you're interested in a historian talking about the play and the person of Hamilton, here's Joanne Freeman, who has studied Hamilton for much of her career (history prof at Yale), talking about the play:

[link]

Askye, that's alarming. That would be a stiff drink when I got home.

My pleasant surprise was Phillipa Soo Eliza, who I liked MUCH more on stage then on the recording. She sings beautifully but her vocal performance on the recording is the least nuanced to me, very straightforward ingenue, but on stage her delivery was more expressive AND her facial expressions were awesome.

Her singing is so perfect that it can sound effortless. I think seeing her gives a fuller picture of everything she's doing.

I was fortunate to see the original cast. The thing I think the film can't capture is the magnetism of Christopher Jackson (Washington) and Leslie Odom Jr. (Burr). They're both a tremendous physical presence - Chris just brims with power and Leslie has this simmering frustration. When he finally got to In the Room Where it Happens it was like he'd take flight... I wish they'd shot that further back because his dancing is so much more solid than your average lead - he's holding his own with every dancer on that stage.

Daveed Digs' (Lafayette/Jefferson) Okieriete Onaodowan (Mulligan/Madison) and Renée Elise Goldsberry's performances all translate really well to the screen. I think Lin's does too - he's not a world-class singer, but his energy was the template for that role and I think it shows in the film.

Some stuff is better - you get lots of facial expressions, subtle choreography. Anthony Ramos (Laurens/Philip) is straight-up playing his love for Hamilton in both roles. Jasmine Cephas Jones (Peggy/Maria) is a lot of fun in close ups. In the finale Chris Jackson does something worth watching for: He's beaming when he sings "She tells my story..." and then his face just collapses in confusion and sorrow when she goes on to sing "I speak out against slavery" and he backs away.

I saw it from a box (which is nice and close but a bad angle and loses some upstage entrances - that's how we got the tickets, because they were obstructed view and they only sell them at the box office) and had a glorious view of Jonathan Groff (King George) and his every little twitch. His vocal control is just delicious and he stuffs so much comedy into every little syllable. I'd actually seen him in two prior musicals (Hair and Spring Awakening) and hadn't fallen in love with him but he got me as the King and now I am his forever.

askye, this sounds so stressing. The whole "pretending everything's normal" while some major things are absolutely not normal is a bit beyond me.

I suspect that going forward the standard single-camera archival video of any theatrical production will become multi-camera shoots that can be edited into something that can be streamed. Not quite the scale of Hamilton, but better than what is meant for production/touring staff to study.

I did not see Hamilton, but I saw this week this production while it was streaming via the NTL YouTube channel. [link] It was delightful, and they did a great job filming the facial expressions, moving stage, and aerial choreography.

1993 Got Milk commercial, which I just learned was directed by... Michael Bay?

[link]

And the sublime parody, with Leslie Odom:

[link]

And the sublime parody, with Leslie Odom:

Ha!

I am still setting up my media configurations here. Since I got to Otter Lake I've pretty much watched things on my computer. We do have Netflix and Hulu on the TV, but I somehow managed to not bring a HDMI cable to hook up the 'media' laptop to my tv so I have to wait until the next time I go to town, or order one, which crazy since I have a few at home. So that was a convoluted way of saying I haven't been watching much yet.

I did cancel my plane reservations and won't be going to Florida. It complicates matters as I didn't pack very much under the assumption I would be flying back and pack more thoroughly then. Also, I don't like DH driving up by himself, but I just did that so I should assume he can too. So now I have to figure out what I need him to pack for me.

Missing the wedding is neither here nor there for me. I'm sure it would be delightful, but there will be delightful social gatherings in the future. The groom will be completely understanding, and no doubt there will be streaming. DH will go as this is one of his kids and he can't not be there with him. He will be careful. He always is. He is out and about seeing doctors every day, as well as being the perpetual motion guy he is. Going to the dog park, grocery store, Lowe's, his sisters, his mother's, he never stops. Maybe so much of his hang time being spent with doctors has made him good with the precautions, maybe he breathes above the heads of the general population!

It will likely be a couple weeks before he heads north. Gives me time to make my list for him. He said he'll do a test just before he leaves again, then a week or so after he arrives. At least we are fortunate both in FL and NY to have testing easily available.

Masks, hand washing, distancing, testing, testing. We do what we can, but our business is medical. My doctors have had me connect to their systems remotely when they have issues, but if they need F2F, then DH goes. We have a new doctor starting Wednesday at one of the practices. DH will go and train him in person. I'll have to ask him if the doctor is masked when he does his dictation training. From what I have seen they are when they are in the hallways or exam rooms, but not when they are working at their desks.

I'm rambling. Back to work with me. I am organizing my kitchen. Ugh.

Ugh. Went to a friends in the country and she had a literal wheelbarrow full of fireworks. It got old pretty quick. But people were still setting them off at 1am. Went to bed around 1:30, camping in a tent in her backyard. But I was freezing cold and had to get up to pee, and then woke up again at 530am and decided to call it—if I had to get up out of the tent anyway, come on home. So now it's 7:30 and I'm home and ready to crawl into bed....

In the finale Chris Jackson does something worth watching for: He's beaming when he sings "She tells my story..." and then his face just collapses in confusion and sorrow when she goes on to sing "I speak out against slavery" and he backs away.

I read that it was Chris Jackson's idea to put in the reaction to "I speak out against slavery", because it was so hard for him to reconcile Washington being a slave owner.

I'm sure that was a tough decision, Laura, but I think it's the right one.

And, as you note, DH has access to regular testing and is being super conscientious.

I'm with you on the "ugh," meara. So tired of fireworks.

I used to enjoy them growing up, but that was a once a year thing with a sky show. Not just bombardments of noise. I think SF had something like 30 small fires to put out last night.

And, as Jen noted on FB from her ER, somebody put their eye out.

Right decision, meara!

My neighbor across the street and up the hill had a seriously impressive show last night. He was done by about 10 and shouted when he was on the last six, then again when he was done for the night. In the mountains both the sound of his fireworks, the community cheers, and his announcement that he was done were clearly heard as they echoed around the hills. There were at least two other locatins on the lake that were doing major displays, the three of them took turns for people who went out in boats to see them all. I should have, but I was lazy and just watched what I could see from the porch.

Fireworks are a lot more fun when you don't have animals or kids that are freaked out by them. I have had more than one dog who needed to be drugged in advance.

Timelies all!

Heard some fireworks going off at a distance last night, but not very loud.