by Eric Blume
Good news, as Disney is bringing a filmed version of the Broadway sensation Hamilton to movie theaters October 15, 2021, with the original cast. It will not be a fully-imagined film like this summer's other Lin-Manuel Miranda musical In the Heights. Instead, it will be a "live capture" of the stage performance, shot in the Richard Rodgers Theater before the original cast started to disband.
I was lucky enough to see this cast in the original incarnation at the Public Theater, and then again when it moved to Broadway with different actors. No disrespect to the excellent work of the actors from round two, but there is truly nothing like seeing the original cast of a show...
The principals delivered indelible performances: Lin-Manuel's commitment in the role he was born to play; Renee Elise Goldsberry's ferocity and tenderness; Daveed Davis' electrifying energy; and Jonathan Groff finding every possible inch of comedy in his small killer role. It will be thrilling to see these performances again, a wonder for everyone to experience them, and a miracle to have this monumental production preserved for eternity.
Yes, filmed versions of staged pieces are always strange to watch, and they always lose something in the translation inevitably. But every once in a while, I think this is the way to go. Visually recreating the actual historical world of Hamilton isn't necessary for what this piece of art is getting at. In fact, it works better in the stylized world set up by the original production team.
And you'll get exactly the version everyone got originally. Although In the Heights isn't artistically in the same league as Hamilton, it could work as a movie because it's a very crowd-pleasing narrative, and it's a gloriously New York story that could be enhanced by shooting practically on the streets of the city. Personally, I worry about the In the Heights movie, as I thought director Jon M. Chu's Crazy Rich Asians was subpar. But this source material is better, and the trailer looks fun.
What are your thoughts on the "live capture" film version of Hamilton? Could this be the piece that drives even haters of musicals into the movie theaters?