Hercules (Paper Mill Playhouse) (2023)

We weren't able to get tickets to the one-week run at the Delacorte Theater back in 2019, but now Hercules is back at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, NJ. It's a quaint town about an hour from Manhattan driving, though NJT also goes there for future reference. 

I realize that I've never actually seen the movie Hercules, though we probably have it somewhere on VHS. I kind of know the broad strokes just because it's Hercules. Plot wise, the beginning is kind of slow. It's a lot of exposition. I found myself resting my eyes a bit. And we don't even meet teenage Hercules nor Meg nor Phil until pretty far into the show. I think it's actually one of Alan Menken's best soundtracks. I like the gospel-y, motown-y touches. It of course has no business in ancient Greece, nor do the Roman jokes, but it's super catchy, even Hades's songs. I Won't Say (I'm in Love) needs to be higher up the Disney rankings. The first time I heard that song was when Ariana Grande did the ABC sing-a-long during the pandemic and slayed all the parts herself. It's a great song, but unfortunately Isabelle McCalla's singing voice as Meg was a little thin. Alan Menken also wrote some new music for the stage, and To Be Human, sung by Hercules at the climax of the show is totally wrong. All the music had been so upbeat and fun, and at the climax for some reason he wrote a downbeat song. I liked Bradley Gibson as Hercules. He kind of hams up the acting, in a way that could be annoying but screams Disney musical. The costumes and the sets were delightful. The muses really steal the show. I lost count at how many costume changes they had, but every outfit was fabulous. The puppets are also really cool, I wish we got to see more of them. The titans are pretty far back on the stage, but they really should be center stage to showcase their artistry.
 

Hamilton (Broadway) (2015)

I finally got to see the sensation that is Broadway and it is really that good. One thing that struck me was how fast it is. I feel like the tempo is faster than in the cast recording. Keep in mind these are songs that have very complex lyrics and rhythmic patterns that are already very fast. It is literally non-stop, the songs flow into each other, and there are no dialogue parts between songs. The talking is in the song. You have to concentrate really hard to appreciate the genius of the writing. The songs are brilliant (I don't need to tell you how brilliant the show overall is). There are so many double meanings in the lyrics, some of which are not obvious the first time around. The internal rhymes and repeated words (Aaron Burr, sir) are so well done. The themes, musical and otherwise, recur to great effect. And the counterpoint is amazing. I was pretty familiar with the soundtrack but there were some songs that have a different meaning when seeing it staged. I think Satisfied is the best example. The song has totally different meaning in the show than just listening to the music. The set is simple so as not to distract. The lighting is excellent. The cast was obviously not the original, but James Monroe Iglehart is playing Lafayette/Jefferson. He is great, he looks like he's having so much fun. We got an understudy Hamilton and the whole cast seemed really happy for him. He's the only one that his own bow. But he's not the sole lead. If you really think about it, he's a co-lead with Burr, and even with Eliza. These are all meaty roles. Their story lines are all complete. They each have something profound to say about history. That's what you get from an excellent historian like Ron Chernow. He really understood these characters and it shows in how richly developed they are.