For Valerie!
Valerie- Greg Kihn Greg Kihn Band RocKihnRoll
We All Make Mistakes- The Sweat No More Running
Guns N' Roses Saved My Life- The Genuine Fakes s/t
First Rate- The Proof It's Safe
Loverboy- Bonnie Hayes With The Wild Combo Good Clean Fun
On The Rocks- Bash and Pop Anything Could Happen
Proto-pretty- Wondermints Proto-Pretty 7"
Waters Raging- Cotton Mather Death Of The Cool
^It's A Mistake- Men At Work It's A Mistake
Don't Mistake Love- Radio City Class of '77
Everyday I Make Another Mistake- Fast Cars Coming, Ready or Not!
Mary's Got Her Eye on Me- Smart Remarks Foreign Fields: 1982 - 1984
Leave- Regular Guys Regular Guys E.P. 7"
Love Me Like There's No Tomorrow- Rooney Washed Away
*Mistakes- Madness Mistakes
*Mistake- Artful Dodger Babes On Broadway
*Mistakes- The Lash Outs State of Excess
Oldest Oak at Brookside- John K. Samson Winter Wheat
Another School Day- The Hollywood Brats Sick On You
Get Outa My Pagoda- Chris Spedding The Very Best Of Chris Spedding
*The Same Mistakes- The Records Smashes, Crashes and Near Misses
*Same Mistake- The Pets Misdirection
*New Mistakes- The Celibate Rifles The Turgid Miasma of Existence
*New Mistake- Jellyfish Spilt Milk
All These Things- Empire Expensive Sound
No More- The Tweeds I Need That Record: The Tweeds Anthology
Irreplaceable- Popsicle Laquer
>My Mistake- Split Enz My Mistake
Great British Mistake- The Adverts Crossing The Red Sea
Forgiveness- Bob Mould Beauty and Ruin
^Power Pop Peak: #6 Billboard Hot 100 8/20/83
*SacroSet[s]: Miztake Songz
>Power Pop Prototype: 1977
My daughter Nica is a big fan of Lin-Manuel Miranda's Tony-winning first show In The Heights so we were familiar with his work when the first articles about Hamilton started appearing in the press. We followed the show's progress from it's Off Broadway run at The Public Theater and then onto Broadway, where the rest as they say is history. I bought the cast recording the week it came out in September 2015 and on a family trip to down Monterey that Thanksgiving we probably listened to it at least ten times (both discs!) Since then it's been a selection in our home at least once a week. It's been especially enjoyable hearing Nica perfect Angelica Schuyler's spitfire rap in Act 1's "Satisfied."
Market Street 12/12/16 |
We were so busy with Emma! in January and February I didn't give Hamilton much thought.
Emma! A Pop Musical |
The next day we drove down and to save on parking I asked Jaime and Nica if they wouldn't mind walking the last third of a mile. Unfortunately I didn't have
The Tenderloin |
We had timed things right, so after a leisurely dinner it was a quick walk across the street to the theater. Full disclosure I'm kind of a "if I can't see it on Broadway why bother" snob so I didn't have high expectations. That said, the Orpheum is
beautiful and a lot more spacious than most NYC theaters I've visited. In most of those Broadway houses the street doors seem to open onto the back row but the Orpheum has a huge lobby.
Jaime and I made a deal that she would sit with Nica for Act 1 then we'd swap seats for Act 2. This way I got to sit with my daughter for my favorite song in the show: "It's Quiet Uptown." After the curtain speech, hilariously delivered by King George III, the show just.... started.
DUNT-duhduhduhdunt-DUNT-DUNT
"How does a bastard, orphan, son of a whore and a Scotsman..."
Joshua Henry |
The Hamilton set is both sparse and intricate at the same time and includes a turntable that often plays with your sense of movement. Phantom of the Opera it ain't but for this production I thought it was perfect. The show is lightning fast at times then at others it slows to a crawl. I was worried that I knew the musical so well the live experience wouldn't hold anything new for me but it was thrilling from start to finish. I also realized that in recording a cast album without visual context and for the broadest possible audience they probably limit the small idiosyncrasies each actor brings to their part. For this reason the live show struck me as much funnier than I expected. Little things like the way Amber Iman delivered her "and Peggys" in "The Schuyler Sisters" was freakin' hilarious!
Solea Pfeiffer, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Amber Iman |
Rory O'Malley |
Michael Luwoye |
Hamilton Pit |
care for is how some theaters have moved the orchestra off-site to make room for more seating. The music is still being played live, but you lose something when you're not in the room with the musicians. I'm happy to say that in Hamilton SF the orchestra was front and center in the pit where they're supposed to be- in fact during "The Reynolds Pamphlet" Jefferson hands the conductor a copy of the titular missive. I love the combination or old and new technology in the pit. There were several pieces of electronic equipment at each station that I didn't recognize and every musician had their own monitor with a view of the conductor. At the same time, they were reading the music off printed pages of paper, as orchestras have been doing for hundreds of years.
I'm with you Cast, BRAVO Orchestra! |
What a pleasure to have something you've looked forward to for so long exceed your expectations. Hamilton really is a musical for the ages and I'm so grateful we got to see it together.
Click the link below to stream this week's show or to download, right click and "Save Link As"
ALL KINDSA GIRLS #158
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