Copyright 2022 Lady in the Blue Box Publishing by Rachel Beth Ahrens. All Rights Reserved. Please don't plagiarize. Please don't. Pretty, pretty please. I'm super nice, so please be nice to the nice and the (not so) nice, that's the right thing to do.
Trigger warning in effect. 14-16 years old and up. Both movies talk about serious stuff, and I'm going to talk about movies I've just seen last weekend of January 27-28, 2022.
Rating of Tick, Tick... BOOM! on Netflix: 4.85 stars out of 5... maybe make it an inch behind five stars. Lin-Manuel Miranda NEEDS an Oscar for Best Director. Nuff said. If he doesn't get an Oscar for Director, then give one to him for "Dos Oruguitas" from Encanto. Please and thank you very much.
Rating of Hamilton on Disney +: It's really hard to say out of a full five stars. I'd better back this up with a story.
____________________________________
I did it. I finally did it.
I saw a double feature double danger of Lin-Manuel Miranda movies back to back, Friday night and Saturday night the final weekend before February came. Tick, Tick... BOOM, and then Hamilton. And yes, Alexander still has a subscription to Netflix, and yes, we now have a subscription to Disney + streaming package with Hulu. Alexander doesn't like sports that much, so we still don't have ESPN, which is fine by me.
Tick, Tick BOOM is nothing short of heart stopping and for all counts AMAZING. I heavenly adore it. Literally, because we just passed Jonathan Larson's birthday. Happy 62nd birthday, Jon, wish you were here on Earth, you are immensely missed, and I am now one of your big fans, even though I never liked Rent, because too many kids in high school sang the "525,600 minutes" song WAY, WAY too many freaking times. "Seasons of Love" still makes me want to gag, apologies in advance.
Anyway, here is the great thing about Jonathan Larson. The guy was a prodigy and practically a little genius that nobody knew about until after he died, which is incredibly depressing as hell. On the other hand, he left behind a legacy that outlived him, for I found out that Rent became so popular that it ran on Broadway for 12 years after his death the day before the first preview. From what I researched, Jonathan Larson had a highly preventable sudden aortic aneurysm, because even in the 1990s, if he had gone to the hospital sooner, the doctors could have reversed it. However, I think that because of how stressful his life was, especially with the first scene of the rooftop with his best friend Michael, where Larson is smoking something with him- I think that might have led to the heart condition at 35 years old. He would have been 36 a week later on February 4, 1996, if he had lived to see his Broadway show open that year.
When he lived, he produced his first one-man show, Tick, Tick... BOOM, which is also the title of the movie, but unfortunately, it never went to the big stage, and neither did his absolute pride and joy, which I'm still confused what the plot is, the dystopian rock musical Superbia, which I think almost sounded something similar to Rocky Horror meets the dystopian sci fi movie with Kirsten Dunst living between a pair of twinned planets, in Upside Down, one of my dad's favorite science fiction concept films. Unfortunately for Larson, both musical shows were never meant to be, because Jon's agent calls him back in the movie scene where Larson plummets into failure:
The Agent: "It's not going to work..."
Larson: "So what do I do now???"
The Agent: "You start writing the next one... and the next one... and then the next one..."
And Andrew Garfield's face, the way you look at him, he goes with that excited expression of joy that he's going to put his show on the big stage... and he's instantly washed over with despair, depression, anguish, fear, and a total big pile of doom and gloom.
My god, the poor man looks like ME. A poor, starving, struggling writer, with nowhere to go but down, and he's got ZERO HOPE LEFT. Just like me.
In one interview with Lin-Manuel Miranda playing the role of the Director of the movie (yes, he did direct the film, and I'm really riding on the notion that he's definitely going to get an Academy Award nomination for being the director of his first movie ever)- Miranda said that he wasn't really on the same wavelength of his father-in-law. But upon watching that scene for the first time with the family at home, since TTB only got a very limited cities' release (They never released the movie in Baltimore County- they released it in Annapolis and Bethesda, which is an hour or two hours' drive from where I live- dammit! Dearest COVID19, I hate you.)... Miranda's father-in-law looked back at Lin-Manuel and went, "Woah! How do you do this? How can you have so much stamina to make something like this happen? You deal with failure, like this, all the time? How do you cope? How do you do it? How do you live?"
Holy shit.
Which brings us back to the musical Hamilton, which I had no choice but to see the original Broadway cast recording in 2016, courtesy of the Disney streaming service. It took a long argument at first late that night after dinner, no fighting was involved- I was very much against buying one more streaming service when Alexander told me, "My brother is borrowing someone else's password to Disney +, I'm sorry, Rachel. We would either have to buy the streaming thing ourselves, or we'd have to watch something else and just wait for someday when the stage show of Hamilton to be a LOT cheaper and affordable so we can go see it. Really sorry, my love..."
I was ready to give up. Like Jonathan Larson almost did before he created Rent.
Alexander made a very simple phone call. He asked a simple question to his mom. He got an answer. And then he pumped a fist in the air and grunted, "YES!" I wasn't sure what that meant, however, until he got off the phone.
He made a tiny monthly purchase right then and there. And we AT LAST watched Hamilton.
Get a load of my reactions, from start to finish. I call this post-traumatic-Hamilton-esque-shock-syndrome. Get ready for what actually turned me into a complete fangirl, from a dopey mopey pile of goo on the floor who's desperate for a publisher (STILL have not heard from Penguin Random House! GRR!), and still a nasty grumpy Hamilton-hating Grinch. For six, 6, stinking years, I've been like that mopey idiot who hated that blossoming musical, and unfortunately, Miranda found me and said, "Got you now..." and I was turned into a rap-history musical nerd.
This is why:
First time watching the theme song of "Alexander Hamilton", when they get to the refrain of saying his name over and over (which I absolutely loathed entirely for almost seven years to be exact):
"Actually... it's not terrible! Not bad..."
First time watching "My Shot": "Ok, that is fully awesome. I like it!"
First time watching "The Schuyler Sisters": "The Peggy part is actually hilarious! Look at this, they're dragging her everywhere! The poor thing!" XD
First time watching "Farmer Refuted": *does the salute that Arnold Rimmer does in the BBC sci fi comedy sitcom Red Dwarf* :P "I meant to do that!" And even better, Alexander joins me in doing so.
:D XD
First time watching "Right Hand Man" and later, "Helpless", just noticing the stage floor: "Son of a b*tch- The floor is moving. The FLOOR MOVES like a friggin' TURNTABLE! Like a record player! Whaaaaaaaaaaaaat!"
And the first time watching "Ten Duel Commandments": "Now the floor is seriously moving like a CLOCK. There's some serious steampunk going on here..." And with "Yorktown", Alexander goes: "All right, this is historically accurate... I really like this!" Me: "Seriously? You're into this song? I used to hate it." Alexander: "Nope. I love it, they got everything right! They were all saying 'The world turned upside down' and they were singing all the time- and you remember that meme I showed you, all the American soldiers got seriously drunk." After that, I'm gone.
First time seeing the scene after "Dear Theodosia" where Hamilton finds out about his friend John Laurens: "What the damn hell! I was not expecting that... I mean... Oh my god..." (insert frowny face)
And "Nonstop": "Woah, the staircases move too, like in Harry Potter... The whole freaking stage MOVES! This is seriously cool!"
Intermission:
I give myself about a 10-15 minute break to clear my head, play my "All Things Considered Hamilton..." playlist a little bit before Act 2, and also head to the bathroom. I can't stop smiling the entire time. It's that level of euphoria that I'm actually in here. And I have no clue what I'm in for next. It's honestly weird, because I remember how the soundtrack recording ends, I've prepared myself well for Act 2... And yet....
"What'd I Miss" is so suave, I definitely have a strong crush on Daveed Diggs right now.
"Cabinet Battle(s)", I'm seriously in dire straits, laughing my butt off because Jefferson is an ass, and Hamilton is fully awesome in beating him in every single debate. (Damn straight, y'all!)
"Take A Break"- "Oh my god, Angelica's got a PARASOL! There ARE parasols in this musical, just like my crochet designs for my costume! Great! Fantastic! I got this, I can do this!"
"Say No to This"- "Ok, a little disturbing... Kind of like Chicago, but I know this is not going to end well... Poor Eliza..."
"The Room Where it Happened"- "YES. Aaron Burr is definitely a Dr. Facilier/ Shadow Man voice similar to that of Princess and the Frog. It's really freaking good. I can't believe Leslie Odom Jr. has that much energy and stamina. This is cool."
"Schuyler Defeated"- "Yes! Eliza is wearing the blue and white dress I crocheted! She IS wearing Regency Era style dresses here, I love this..." :D
I'm laughing through "Washington on Your Side", and I told Alexander that in "One Last Time", I found the EXACT paragraph from President Washington's final address that he wrote out to Alexander Hamilton- the paragraph is IN the middle of the song, Miranda transcribed the whole thing word for word in the song, which starts, "Though in view of my Administration, I am consciously in residual error..."
"Adams Administration" has a 1776 Broadway Musical reference, too, the whole "Sit Down, John", followed by the F word. I- I- Damn.
"Burn" hits home, and I'm stoic throughout. Poor Eliza. Then my first burst into sadness happened TWICE in the second act- Right at the tail end of "Stay Alive Reprise", where Philip Hamilton dies, which is an actual historical fact that both Philip and Alexander Hamilton die by gun duels on the same grounds in New Jersey, coming full circle for father and son-
When Eliza screams when she realizes her son is dead- I burst into heavy sobs. Alexander is holding me and crying with me. I recover in "It's Quiet Uptown" while I also tell Alexander that Hamilton did reconcile with Eliza when George Washington gave them a letter along with a package of silver place settings as a gift, telling them both to recover their marriage. And that's how Eliza forgave Hamilton, and they saved their marriage, long before their eldest son Philip died on the dueling ground.
By the time of "Election of 1800", I'm actually laughing again when I find that James Madison is crying into his handkerchief, and Jefferson breaks the fourth wall, saying, "Can we get back to politics! Yo..." Classic.
And I am seriously laughing my butt off when I see the ensemble moving the plot along with the letters between Hamilton and Aaron Burr before the big duel. The whole, "30 items of disagreements" and Burr going, "Sweet Jesus!" followed by one of the ensemble members flying like a ballerina to give him the last two papers and playing around, messing with Burr- PRICELESS LAUGHTER. I'm gone. That woman has sass, I love her!!! And as for Aaron Burr, he's more than pissed off. Loving it.
-This girl right here, she takes the cake! I love her!!!!
By this point, I've been keeping my eye on the bullet the entire time, there is literally a woman in the ensemble cast who's known as simply "The Bullet". She's all over the final battle of the Revolutionary War, she's in the first duel with John Laurens and Charles Lee, then she's back when Philip dies, and finally, the final duel between Hamilton and Burr. She's also the leading lady telling Philip Hamilton where he can find George Eacker, who is the man who kills him. The ensemble really is a moving piece to the show, and they don't have to have lines, they are essentially cast members where they all have to develop their own characters the entire time. Principle roles are not always important, even though they are essential, the ensemble is narrating the story too. Imagine how I felt in high school having little to zero lines in every show I've been in until college- versus the time I saw Hamilton for the first time.
Totally. New. Concept.
The ensemble is actually my favorite part for the first time in my life! Sadly, I wish I could have been able to think of that in high school, and it still makes me very, very upset.
And finally, the final time I cried was when Alexander Hamilton dies on screen and on stage. Both times where Philip and Alexander Hamilton are shot and killed, it seriously caught me off guard. I prepared for this months and months ahead of time, but the first time I watched it, I went to pieces and I was in complete misery.
By the time Eliza gives her final epilogue of how she lived 50 more years and told her husband's story for him, I can finally breathe easy. And in place of Alexander Hamilton, I can actually see Lin-Manuel Miranda breaking character, plain as day. He's not laughing as he breaks character there, he's actually smiling and waving at Eliza, and he takes her hand, and then Eliza, the character, not the actress Philippa Soo, Eliza is breaking the fourth wall here- she sees the audience for the first time. She's stunned. The whole theatre is a sold out crowd too. That means, Eliza finally knows what it means to have her husband's story told to an audience of 10,000 people in New York, and she is flabbergasted.
I think I have my work cut out for me and I have a lot of work to do over the next several weeks.
I think I love the show....
(Hamilton fans: What did you say?)
Am... Am I a fan right now? Do I just come out and say it in front of my closest friends and everyone in public?
(Hamilton fans: Say it! SAY IT!) :D
And just like poor Steve Trevor, under the power of the Lasso of Truth-
OK! I'M A HAMILTON FAN!!! I'm sorry!
I'm a Hamilton fan... I'm a Hamilton fan...
Oh crap.
I mean, even King George III is funny as hell! He reminds me so much of Arnold Rimmer, and I had no idea Johnathan Groff could be such a loser on the stage! Damn!
What is the matter with me? Even my boyfriend likes this show, and he's gotten into the obsession with the same musical...
What have I done?
TO BE CONTINUED IN THE CONCLUSION OF LONG LIVE THE KING OF BROADWAY...
-From my favorite Nickelodeon show Barbarian and the Troll, where we witness who Alvin the Demon is. This is pretty cool for a red herring at the end of a two part episode.
