Hamilton (2025)
Directed by Thomas Kail
Presenting the tale of American founding father Alexander Hamilton, this filmed version of the original Broadway smash hit is the story of America then, told by America now.
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Clearly Kail was trying to find a visual equivalent to the energy that one might experience from seeing it live and it is obviously preferable to simply plunking one or two static cameras in front of the stage for the duration (as anyone who saw the woeful filmed version of the Kevin Kline-Linda Ronstadt revival of “The Pirates of Penzance” can attest) but a little more restraint in this area might have made it a little more effective in the long run.
It reminded me of such expert concert films as Jonathan Demme's Stop Making Sense and Martin Scorsese's The Last Waltz.
Thomas Kail, who directed both the Broadway musical and the film, uses techniques pioneered by Jonathan Demme in Stop Making Sense, cutting together footage captured over three nights of shows at the Richard Rogers Theatre in June 2016.
It reminded me of such expert concert films as Jonathan Demme's Stop Making Sense and Martin Scorsese's The Last Waltz.
Theater fans who mourn that so many Broadway shows are retreads of the oldies; “South Pacific,” “Fiddler on the Roof,” “West Side Story,” “My Fair Lady,” “The Music Man,” will cheer that “Hamilton” is thoroughly original.
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Theater fans who mourn that so many Broadway shows are retreads of the oldies; “South Pacific,” “Fiddler on the Roof,” “West Side Story,” “My Fair Lady,” “The Music Man,” will cheer that “Hamilton” is thoroughly original.
Theater fans who mourn that so many Broadway shows are retreads of the oldies; “South Pacific,” “Fiddler on the Roof,” “West Side Story,” “My Fair Lady,” “The Music Man,” will cheer that “Hamilton” is thoroughly original.
It should be stressed right at the start that the film version of the extraordinarily successful Broadway musical “Hamilton” that is premiering this weekend amidst enormous hype is not a traditional, fully realized screen adaptation along the lines of “West Side Story” or, God help us, “Cats.”
Kail, who is slated to direct a new version of Fiddler on the Roof , harnesses the energy and life that pours out of the performers, moving his cameras through the onstage characters and angling things to best capture the beat and flow of the music and drama.
Theater fans who mourn that so many Broadway shows are retreads of the oldies; “South Pacific,” “Fiddler on the Roof,” “West Side Story,” “My Fair Lady,” “The Music Man,” will cheer that “Hamilton” is thoroughly original.
It’s easy to craft inspirational songs about revolutionary fervor — just look at Les Misérables.
Like "Les Miserables" before it, pretty much all of the "dialogue" is delivered via various styles of singing (some standard Broadway-style such as "Aaron Burr, Sir" that sounds straight out of "Rent," others with more of a rap and hip-hop style) and the songs are nothing short of great, from the title tune to "My Shot," "Helpless," "What'd I Miss" and more.
When Les Miserables headed to the screen, it used fairly extensive location shots.
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More than ten years ago, longtime best friends Daveed Diggs (“black-ish,” “Wonder,” Tony-winner for “Hamilton”) and spoken word poet/academic Rafael Casal began working on “Blindspotting,” inspired by their experience growing up in the uneasily gentrifying Oakland, California area long before either became successful.
It’s distinctly in touch with 2019; characters quote Hamilton and the family argues over politics and kids being put in cages by the president.