Unit 4

Hamilton cast Q&A 17/10/18

On 17th October the Hamilton west end cast came into our college to do a talk/ q&a with everyone in the performing arts department. 3 members of the cast and the producer came in; Rachel Ann Go, who plays Eliza Hamilton, Curtis Angus, who played George Eacker and Giles Terera, who played Aaron Burr. The 3 performers and the producer discussed the shows story, how it was made, the history behind the show, the audition process and then took any questions we had about training and their day-day routine of being in a west end show. I found the talk very useful and informative, as I had already seen the show twice, it helped me see behind the scenes of what I had already seen and understand the process of preparing for a professional production. I also found the information given about colleges and confidence helpful, as I feel that this is a crucial part of becoming a successful performer. They showed us a clip of the cast performing at the Olivier awards to give us an insight of the style and opening of the show:

Already having seen the show, I already knew the story and the characters within it. The story/ history behind the original Broadway hit musical written by Lin Manuel Miranda is the story of Alexander Hamilton, George Washington’s right hand man and one of the founding fathers.

The musical follows his love life, family, relationships, war, his death and his role within American. 

history. The musical tells the story through rap inspired by the 2004 biography ‘Alexander Hamilton’, which Lin Manuel Miranda read whilst on holiday and then decided to write the Hamilton mixtapes about. From these mixtapes, Manuel Miranda went on to develop the musical and turn it into the hit we know. 

We learnt about the skills required to be in a professional west end production. The performers discussed their busy schedules and how they manage taking care of themselves and relax, while still working hard and having enough energy to perform 2 shows a day. They also discussed their skills they have and were trained in at college. Rachel Ann Go revealed that she had never been trained in musical theatre at college and started out in pop music in the Philippines and auditioned for Miss Saigon and ended up getting into the west end after the production. Both Curtis Angus and Giles Terera had been trained in musical theatre. They discussed being a triple threat and how necessary it is to able to do all three skills: singing, acting and dancing. They highlighted how important it is to be able to do all three at once. This is something I know I need to work on, as I found from out groups performance we had done the week before, that I get out of breath or miss steps. They gave us tips on how to have more confidence when doing all three skills at once; believe in yourself and have confidence in each move you do even if it is wrong. We learnt about how important the rehearsal process is and how important working in a team is, especially is a mistake is made. We learnt this from our performance, we worked well as a team to help those who got confused or made a mistake. 

This talk with the Hamilton cast was very interesting and further motivated me to reach my goal of becoming a professional west end performer. I will apply the tips they gave us to auditions and my classes, in order to make myself a more confident performer and have more self belief. 

Hamilton Performance

1.

In the performance of Hamilton various techniques and skills were used to tell the story of Hamilton’s life and his experiences. Having already seen the production twice prior to this, I was able to pick up on some of the more complex techniques and skills, which are not immediately obvious to most audience members watching the show for the first time. Some of the techniques included: Rap, spoken word (monologue), abstract dance and multi rolling. These were used to tell the story of war, love and death in Hamilton’s life. The productions narrative and its characters were portrayed very effectively through these techniques and correctly reflected the historical context of the story, as well as modernising it for a young audience. Rap is used through the whole production so that the music is current and relatable to a younger audience. As well as the rap making the show more appealing to a younger audience, it also sets Hamilton apart from any other production, as the use of rap in musical theatre is limited. This makes Hamilton stand out from other more pedestrian musicals, only containing ballads and chorus numbers. They also used humour and line that related to current affairs in the media now to make the audience laugh or link what they were saying the what is happening in the world today. With regards to the use of spoken word/ monologue, only one is used in the whole production which makes this part of the show a key moment. Hamilton performs this monologue seconds before death. The whole theatre and stage is in silence as he passionately performs the monologue expressing his last thoughts. As this is the only piece of dialogue in the show it highlights how important the writer of the musical, Lin Manuel Miranda, believes Hamilton’s death is. In my opinion, the ensemble in the production complete it. They make each moment more dramatic and action packed with their sharp, synchronised movements. The dance they perform shows: battle, death, and other key themes from within the show. As a group of performers the ensembles dance and movement sections are a key story telling technique for the production. Multi rolling is a difficult skill to master and in the show many characters changed between acts 1 & 2, these actors made each character they played have certain characteristics that the other didn’t have, making them completely different so that the story made perfect sense to an audience that didn’t necessarily know that story of Hamilton and could have found this concept confusing. The actress who played Peggy and Mariah Reynolds, played these 2 opposite characters with the same amount of passion and authenticity but yet completely differently. This highlighted to the audience that they were 2 different people within the story, which helped explain it more effectively.

2.

All the performers in the show were successful in their portrayal of the characters and their performance. However there definitely were stand out performances. Personally I think Giles Terera, who played Burr, was incredible. He clearly showed Burrs change in relationship with Hamilton from act 1 to act 2. He also rapped and sang every word with expression and for me stole the show with his use of story telling and characterisation. Furthermore, I also think that Rachel John, who played Angelica Schuyler, stood out as a strong female character. Her lines containing undertones of feminism and power to women stood out in the songs. She had a powerful, soulful voice which stood out from the other female actresses, who had softer voices. She embodied her character and expressed their feeling through her voice, using dynamics to show how she was feeling. Overall the whole cast work seamlessly as a team to make a slick story and impressive show. 

3.

The audience was all young people from colleges and schools, so the modernised style and lines were revived really well by the audience. Some comical lines regarding current affairs caused the audience to cheer, for example when Hamilton and Laftfyet rap the line: “immigrants: we get the job done”, the audience cheered loudly to express our opinion on the matter. Moments like this during the performance allowed there to be a connection between the performers on stage and the audience and made us feel more involved. Although the fourth wall was rarely broken, when it was it created a relationship between us as the audience and the characters. The actor who played King George was brilliant at breaking the fourth wall as he directed certain lines at specific audience members. This made his performance more comical and real, as we felt as though he really was talking to us. Ultimately the relationship between the cast and the audience was strong, due to the performers involvement with the audience. 

Final presenataion

I object Unit 4 Final presentation: