Why I appreciated Hamilton’s genius more on Disney+ than in the theatre: Nick Ahad

I’m going to do that today, but my recommendation feels like it needs wider context. This time last year, August 29 at about 2pm, I entered the theatre to see a show I had waited literally years to see.

A friend with fast fingers and faster internet connection had bagged us tickets for Hamilton. To say that I was excited is to underestimate the effort it takes to get word perfect on the first four rap songs of the musical. Which I am.

I was virtually buzzing from the second row seats my friend had booked. I wouldn’t normally sit so close to the action, but it didn’t really matter, this was Hamilton.

I emerged a few hours later discombobulated and, hard though it is to admit, disappointed. I’d been more excited to see this show than any other show in years – and I see a lot of shows. Had I set the Hamilton bar too high? Was something about which I was so excited always going to be a let down? It took almost 12 months to find an answer.

A couple of weeks ago I upgraded my phone contract and had a free subscription to Disney+ thrown in. It’s the only platform showing Hamilton and I had been tempted to sign up, but: you have to pay for it, I already fork out for Netflix and I’m a natural born Yorkshireman. At free, however, I liked the price.

I’ve finally “seen” Hamilton.(Tip: from the second row of the theatre you can’t “see” it. You need to see the full, broad canvas of the stage to fully appreciate what creator Lin Manuel-Miranda has done). When I finally saw it, I wept. And I do mean wept. During the Schuyler Sisters song a lyric goes: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, and when I meet Thomas Jefferson I’ma compel him to include women in the sequel.” It was then that I lost it.

In a year that feels like we’re finally at the next important chapter of the Civil Rights movement – and about damn time – to see a cast of colour singing those words was a punch to the gut. Then there is the artistry. Hamilton is an apotheosis of human creativity. In a year when the worst of humanity has shown its face and people are again calling for gunships to be sent to deal with desperate humans in the Channel, Hamilton is a timely reminder of what we can be capable. It’s the Sistine Chapel, the Mona Lisa, Hamilton really is – now that I have seen it properly I can confirm – an extraordinary reminder that we can be better. Would recommend.

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Thank you

James Mitchinson