How lucky we are to be alive right now!!

Rewind to summer 2015 where I stumbled upon a YouTube trailer for an off-Broadway Show “coming soon to Broadway” from the creator of In the Heights, Lin Manuel Miranda. The show was called Hamilton, and the history geek and rap fan in me salivated as I watched a clip of Not Throwing Away My Shot. I immediately showed the clip to my son, Grant and promised I would take him to see the show in New York as soon as it opened.

The sticker shock this middle school teacher got when she saw the ticket prices ($250.00 were the cheapest seats) took the wind out of our sails, and we decided to settle for seeing the show later when the hype died down and the show began touring.

Fast forward to 2018 and Hamilton has extended its reach to the Fabulous Fox Theatre in Atlanta. I was one of the lucky thousands who waited online in a virtual waiting room on May 3rd and scored tickets. In the last row. Audience right. And so what? I HAD HAMILTON TICKETS!!

The seats were actually very good an unobstructed. I’ve been told there’s not a bad seat in the Fox Theater, and it’s true. I rarely used the Sharper Image Binoculars my husband bought on Black Friday for $2.00 at Target to glimpse facials as there was so much action on stage, I didn’t want to focus on just one part.

Having every song and line memorized, I was pleasantly surprised to find that this cast brought a fresh perspective to the show and it has truly evolved into something even more spectacular in the past 3 years. I found myself laughing out loud (those who know me, know I laugh very loud) at lyrics I’ve heard repeatedly now that I’ve seen them in context on stage.

Key-noteworthy performances this time are based on those that I thought brought something new and different to their roles in comparison to the original cast. First off, I must say the entire cast was top-notch: vocals were outrageous, dancing was flawless, and every cast member has worked hard to get where they are in their craft. Georgia native Chris De’Sean Lee made our state proud as the Marquis de Layfayette/Thomas Jefferson. His sense of comedic timing and the nuanced Atlanta-isms he added to the performance let us know he really knew his audience. The fact that he’s just completed his Junior Year of college blew us all away! Peter Matthew Smith as King George was side-splitting hilarious and his vocals were killer. Peter is a family man who says his greatest accomplishments are convincing his wife to marry him and bringing their daughter into the world. Julia K. Harriman as Eliza Hamilton shared her beautiful voice with us in her astounding touring debut.  Honorable mentions go to  Nicholas Christopher as Aaron Burr, Carvens Lissaint as George Washington, Austin Scott as Alexander Hamilton, Ruben Carbajal as John Lawrence/Philip Hamilton, and Sabrina Sloan as Angelica Schuyler.

While I expected to see the show with Grant, he was scheduled to work, and selflessly gave up his ticket to our good friend and talented actor, Roman Banks. As a result, I’ve been entering the lottery every day since so Grant can have his shot!

Hamilton will be playing at the Fox Theater, ATL until June 10th. There are a very few seats left for each show and range in price from $299.00 to $645.00. Or you can enter the Hamilton lottery online or on the app for a chance to win 2 $10.00 tickets.

–Jody Key – managing editor – speakeysie@gmail.com – 470-330-1499

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