By Elizabeth Buckingham
Stage fights, bright lights, and a dazzling chorus: Shea’s Performing Arts Center is back in business! This season of shows showcases many genres of theater that anyone, even someone that isn’t particularly interested in musicals or plays, would find amusing. Most recently, the hit Broadway show Hamilton came live to the stages of Shea’s for the second time.
First premiering on tour at Shea’s theater during the 2018-2019 season and receiving great success, Hamilton was meant to come back during the 2020-2021 season. But unfortunately due to the Covid-19 pandemic, all shows nationwide were shut down. During that tough time, no one knew if Hamilton would ever make its way back to Buffalo stages again. However, Broadway didn’t go down without a fight, and it was announced that the show would indeed be making its second appearance running from December 14th through January 2nd on tour, visiting our very own theater. Only a mere twenty minutes away, Alexander Hamilton’s story came to life through the acting, vocals, and visuals of the amazing cast and crew.
Hamilton follows the story of Alexander Hamiltion and all the bridges he had to face throughout his lifespan in the form of rap songs mixed in with some hip-hop musical themes. Each song in the musical, while enjoyable, gives the viewer a glimpse into the major life events from an outside perspective. Through the lens of Aaron Burr watching Hamilton excel further and further into life and pushing his luck, it allows us viewers to form our own opinions on every character. Rather than making a clear, set in stone view point on each person who came and went in Hamiltion’s life, we as the audience get the chance to decide who we think had the biggest impact on Alexander Hamilton and his unfortunate ending. We see in the musical Hamilton’s tenacious nature may have been the cause of his demise.
I had the opportunity to see Hamilton twice at Shea’s this year, and I also saw two different actors play Alexander Hamilton and Elizabeth Schuyler. I thought the performances of both actors for each role were absolutely fantastic. For Alexander Hamiltion, each brought their own spark to the characters, and it was interesting to see the two different ways that they presented Hamilton to the audience. On opening night, Hamilton, who on that night was played by Blaine Alden Krauss, acted more eccentric and eager to succeed while Hamilton the second time, played by Pierre Jean Gonzales, was more calculating and sure of himself. Each played and performed the same character, but it was really cool to see both ways that they portrayed him to the audience. Also on opening night, Eliza Schuyler was played by Meecah, whom students at East had the opportunity to meet! Seeing her play Eliza on stage was really fun to see knowing that friends of mine talked with her about her experiences in the musical theater world.
Another large bit of the production of Hamilton is the crew behind the scenes of making this performance happen. Without them, none of the shows that we all know and love would have been possible. I know from experience how hard it is to manage an entire musical, let alone changing theaters every other month and redoing the entire process. The crew of Hamilton deserve credit where credit is due. When I asked my friend what she thought of the show, she said, “The cast was insanely talented and incredible, and that goes for the set too. The rotating stage really worked itself into conveying the story. It showed different and cool ways of using the entire stage to its potential.”
Overall, if you ever get the chance to see Hamilton live on stage, whether it be here if it comes again, or somewhere else, remember how much dedication the cast and crew have towards making the show amazing for the audience. The shows here at Shea’s definitely blew me away, and the diverse cast really broke the boundaries of how well a show could be. There are still many more musicals and plays coming to Shea’s Performing Arts Center this season, including Oklahoma!, Ain’t Too Proud, To Kill A Mockingbird, and Anastasia, so if you have the chance to go stop by and see one, it will definitely be worth your while.
