Heavy lift: ‘Hamilton’ 10th-year tour arrives at Wharton

When I go to the theater, I eagerly anticipate the first impression. The first word of the opening number, the first utterance that the performer makes, will either be in sync with the audience, setting the tone for the night, or, as sometimes happens, the show will just start. And then, the show has started.

This production of “Hamilton,” while very enjoyable, did not live up to the expectations that I came in with. It felt slow and low-energy from the start. Having not seen the show before, I had the feeling that I wasn’t in on the story. As people behind me gasped or laughed, not missing a beat, I felt that I was the newcomer in the company of superfans.
To be fair, this tour has a crazy high bar. The show is preceded by its groundbreaking reputation, it is the 10th anniversary run, and it comes when people need a very great deal just to offset the pain and desperation of the moment. It’s important to say that a revival is only possible because of the event that was the original show. What “Hamilton” did for musical theater is marked indelibly on the culture and was clearly evidenced by young people sitting behind me, decked out in powdered wigs, whispering “I love this song” right before every musical number.

The songs are unique, the show feels operatic, the story is winding and epic. It’s still “Hamilton,” obviously.

But for some reason, for one reviewer in particular, this time it hits different. I wanted to see if I was the only one who felt kind of “meh” about the production, so I went looking online and found Ezekiel Kweku’s January opinion column for The New York Times. He described the show as “heartbreakingly different,” stating, “Revisiting it in 2025’s irreconcilably different national climate offers some lessons on how the country could seem to move so far, so fast.” Kweku’s opinion is a great read, mostly about the political arc of the past 10 years, and not much about stagecraft.

“Hamilton” is a show unlike any other piece of theater I have ever seen. Although it wasn’t what I had anticipated, it brought the house down. Sometimes the reviewer’s opinion is in the minority. You should see it simply because it is “Hamilton”! And, toward the end, I did find myself letting go of the critic’s mind (how did Lin-Manuel Miranda even sell this show?) in favor of enjoying the character’s stories. I could not, however, get into my feelings about the fledgling country that they are fighting for. I can only wonder: What would Alexander Hamilton make of all this?