Professor Popinjay's Compendium of Perspicacity

A Non-review by Professor Popinjay

Opened on Broadway (2015)

Made available to watch on Disney+ (2020)

I watched the first part of Hamilton on a date. It was great! Lin-Manuel Miranda’s lyrics are amazing. It’s no surprise to learn he wrote lyrics for Moana (2016), Vivo (2022), and Encanto (2021). I have yet to see “In the Heights” (2021) but I’m definitely excited to get to it.

I’m not super into rap music but I appreciate a lot of it in the same way I appreciate Professional Wrestling. I don’t usually watch/listen to it as a genuine form of entertainment but I know it takes a lot of hard work to perform/create so it has my respect.

I really appreciate the lack of affectation of movement I frequently see in stage musicals. The actors in Hamilton sing but don’t act like they’re singing. No one is doing jazz hands in this; a fact for which I am grateful. The stage production of “Newsies” is another story, however. 

I thought it was funny how the backup dancers and chorus were essentially in their underwear which by today’s standards is considered fully dressed; OVER dressed actually. And yet my mother was still scandalized by their attire.

No, I did not have my mother along on a date. She’s not there cutting up my food for me and helping me make good choices. We watched some clips at a different time to show her what it was about. That’s all, I swear. I didn’t start bringing my mom to everything until much later into the relationship.

I’m ashamed to say, probably my favorite part of Hamilton were the songs done by King George, the only white guy in the show. I’m sorry, he was just so funny. He’s so hilariously arrogant and pissed-off that we’re seceding from his kingdom. It’s great.

When King George orders, literally orders, “EVERYBODY!” to sing with him, comedy gold! He says it menacingly in low tones in the version on Disney+. In the soundtrack recording he says it in a condescendingly jovial manner. Each way is very different but the implication is the same. Basically, “Sing along or be executed!”

The whole thing is a bit long though, which I’m not complaining about per sé. But I was dating, as I’ve stated before, a school teacher. I don’t know if this is a hard fast rule for all teachers but this one tends to pass out at about 8:00. I don’t know how many times we’ve been at a restaurant, at a movie, or on a rollercoaster at precisely 7:59 and next thing I know I’m carrying my completely sober but totally unconscious lady friend to her apartment, putting her to bed, setting her alarm and coffee machine, feeding her cat, preparing her lunch and lesson plan for the next day, and then standing guard outside her door because I didn’t have a key to the deadbolt.

Okay, so none of that ever happened. But it is true to this day, we don’t get through even the shortest of films in a single sitting. It’s kind of hilarious. We’ve been watching Dune (2021) over the course of several years now and still haven’t finished it.

We had to have another date to finish Hamilton. Let me just say, “Oof!” The second half of Hamilton is rough. It goes into the details of his multiple affairs and I just found it very uncomfortable. I wished we were back rapping about politics. The second half is less fun and made for an awkward date night. My lady friend agreed and we had to watch an episode of Galavant afterward to get back into a “happy date night” mood. She even stayed awake for it.

Never go to bed angry… or right after finishing Hamilton.

All in all though, it is an amazing and important piece (Hamilton), and everyone involved is playing their “A” game. I do recommend it, just maybe not for date night.