Denver Life: Going to See Hamilton
Unless you’ve been living in a cave, you’ve probably heard about the hit Broadway show “Hamilton” that swept through Denver in a flurry of Broadway tour madness. In fact, a year before Hamilton was due to arrive in town, the Denver Center for Performing Arts made it possible for subscribers to get tickets based on their theater subscription. I didn’t do that. In fact, I left it to chance because I had no idea what I would be doing a year from the time they started advertising the fact that the show would be in town. Fortune smiled on me!
Going to the DCPA
Recently it was revealed that spending on arts and culture in Denver surpasses spending on anything else. This doesn’t surprise me. We’re not hicks just waiting for cool things to happen. We’re actively courting cool sh$t to come to town and actually making a point of enjoying the theater, art shows, and whatever else we can think of.
The DCPA is fun because it feels like there is no barrier to accessibility. Don’t have fancy clothes? No worries, just go. I’ll admit that I would love to see more people dressing up (am old-school ) but, if dressing up is keeping you from going to the theater-just be clean and smell good and enjoy yourself.
Hamilton
Ok, somehow Alexander Hamilton’s story became this epically interesting tale of intrigue, romance, and shadiness. Before I went to the show I’d only heard two of the songs and had a vague idea of what would happen. In fact, I was concerned that it was all going to be a bunch of hype.
It wasn’t.
And, as the show went on I found myself absolutely enthralled and caught up in the story of Hamilton, George Washington, and the rest. It was almost like watching the Maury Povich show “You are the father of…the United States…”
The music was incredible, the casting was amazing, and the story was based on real events.
There were problems such as the fact that demand far outweighed the availability of tickets. I had friends who were number 20,000+ on the epic waitlist. And, the tickets weren’t cheap. Cheaper than New York, but they weren’t cheap.
Finally, the show breezed in and out of town so fast it made my head spin. We needed more time. One thing is for certain, it’s obvious that the show will be back. Book of Mormon has swung through three times (it’s stopping through again this June).
The Queen City was a happy and willing host for the thousands of guests from surrounding states such as: Wyoming, Utah, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and New Mexico who visit on long weekends to take in the sights of Denver.
So, did Hamilton live up to the hype? Yep, it sure did! The beginning of the show was a little slow for me (and I had to adjust to the musicality of the show). Once that happened I was transported into America’s founding fathers’ history.
I can’t wait to see it again and I do hope that people who missed the show the first time will get a chance to check out the show.