Hamilton (2020) (1 Viewer)

[Colin Jacobson]

You'll get to see it live eventually. It will be back on the road as soon as it is safe to be.

It'll be interesting to see when "Hamilton" stops being the "hot ticket".

It has to happen eventually - nothing stays in super-demand forever!

I think the show's 2nd run at DC's Kennedy Center that was supposed to happen this summer was a softer ticket than its original 2018 run, but I'm not positive about that...

 

[Sam Posten]

‎Twenty Thousand Hertz: Hamilton Remix on Apple Podcasts

‎Show Twenty Thousand Hertz, Ep Hamilton Remix - Jul 8, 2020

podcasts.apple.com

 

[cinemiracle]

Any reason why they used hand held mikes on the stage-seemed very out of place for the period? The also seen facial mikes protruding down some faces were another distraction for me .

 

[Greg.K]

Any reason why they used hand held mikes on the stage-seemed very out of place for the period? The also seen facial mikes protruding down some faces were another distraction for me .

No, it's well documented that George Washington used a hand-held mike to MC the first cabinet rap battles.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Any reason why they used hand held mikes on the stage-seemed very out of place for the period?

Seriously? The whole show is full of things that are out of place for the period, including, you know, people singing; modern musical styles like rap; musical and lyrical references to other works that didn't exist until hundreds of years after the time period presented in the show; people of color playing characters who were really white; and Hamilton calling John Adams a "fat motherfucker." But what you're concerned about is the use of handheld mikes?

All of this stuff is just part of how the piece works. The use of modern sensibilities and devices to tell a story about the way things used to be is literally baked into the concept of the show itself. You either go with it or you don't. If you are willing to go with it, I don't see why the use of handheld mikes in a rap battle is so much more difficult of a leap to overcome than all the rest of it.

The also seen facial mikes protruding down some faces were another distraction for me .

This is because the show was recorded (mostly) in front of a live audience and actors always have mikes on in large Broadway houses. If you sit close enough to the stage, you can see them; if you're sitting farther back, you don't. To edit this out would be silly and not representative of the actual experience. This is not a movie. This is the stage show on film. If you want a Lin-Manuel Miranda musical movie, wait for In the Heights next year.

 

[bujaki]

Just for the record, once upon a time B'way actors did NOT require mikes when performing. Later, when mikes were, alas, introduced, they were skillfully hidden so as not to shatter the illusion of the performance. The practice of having mikes protruding off actors' faces began when singers in arena-style concerts started using them. I loathe the sight of those mikes.

 

[TonyD]

I have wondered why they don’t attempt to hide them better.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I have wondered why they don’t attempt to hide them better.

Because most people are used to them now.

 

[Greg.K]

Because most people are used to them now.

High school performances even use those now.

 

[TJPC]

Don't forget, when you are seeing actors at a distance in a live performance, you can't really see the microphones. I remember seeing actresses in a play who had wigs with a band that came down about an inch over their foreheads. When we watched from our seats they looked normal. When they had a "meet the actors" in the lobby after, they looked like a geek.

 

[cinemiracle]

It'll be interesting to see when "Hamilton" stops being the "hot ticket".

It has to happen eventually - nothing stays in super-demand forever!

I think the show's 2nd run at DC's Kennedy Center that was supposed to happen this summer was a softer ticket than its original 2018 run, but I'm not positive about that...

What about THE MOUSETRAP which has been running continuously in London for 68 years and shows no sign of finishing?

 

[cinemiracle]

Because most people are used to them now.

I will not and never will get used to seeing a facial mike on stage in a theatre.I refuse to sit a theatre and endure them. I have performed on stage in large theatres numerous times and nobody ever wore a mike or needed to. It is all about being trained on how to project one's voice. To-day's actors are not trained in voice projection it seems. Mikes are an incredible distraction to have to endure. Same is having to sit on the side of the theatre and and have the voices emanating from the speakers on the walls rather than coming from the stage. All the great singers could sing over an orchestra and still be heard throughout the theatre and without any hidden mikes. Voice projection is essential .A pity that some Directors allow them without caring about the audiences. Come on all you lazy actors-learn how to project your voices.

 

[cinemiracle]

High school performances even use those now.
[/QUOTE

That is no excuse.

 

[Jake Lipson]

It'll be interesting to see when "Hamilton" stops being the "hot ticket".

What about THE MOUSETRAP which has been running continuously in London for 68 years and shows no sign of finishing?

I can't and don't mean to speak for him, but I don't think Colin was saying that Hamilton will actually close soon. I'm sure it will continue to run for years to come (once the coronavirus is vaccinated away.). Just that over time it becomes easier to get tickets to older shows as newer ones take turns in the spotlight. As another example, The Phantom of the Opera has been running in New York for 31 years (until the coronavirus shutdown) and isn't going anywhere, but it's still an easier ticket to get now than it was when it opened.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

What about THE MOUSETRAP which has been running continuously in London for 68 years and shows no sign of finishing?

What about it?

 

[Colin Jacobson]

I can't and don't mean to speak for him, but I don't think Colin was saying that Hamilton will actually close soon. I'm sure it will continue to run for years to come (once the coronavirus is vaccinated away.). Just that over time it becomes easier to get tickets to older shows as newer ones take turns in the spotlight. As another example, The Phantom of the Opera has been running in New York for 31 years (until the coronavirus shutdown) and isn't going anywhere, but it's still an easier ticket to get now than it was when it opened.

Yeah, precisely. I referred to the notion that "Hamilton" would eventually stop being such a "hot ticket".

It's inevitable. No show can be super-in-demand forever, and at some point, "Hamilton" will become Just Another Long-Running B'way Show.

I'm just curious to wonder when that'll happen!

 

[TJPC]

Think of all the jokes in the early 50s about how hard it was to get tickets for “South Pacific”.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I will not and never will get used to seeing a facial mike on stage in a theatre.I refuse to sit a theatre and endure them. I have performed on stage in large theatres numerous times and nobody ever wore a mike or needed to. It is all about being trained on how to project one's voice. To-day's actors are not trained in voice projection it seems. Mikes are an incredible distraction to have to endure. Same is having to sit on the side of the theatre and and have the voices emanating from the speakers on the walls rather than coming from the stage. All the great singers could sing over an orchestra and still be heard throughout the theatre and without any hidden mikes. Voice projection is essential .A pity that some Directors allow them without caring about the audiences. Come on all you lazy actors-learn how to project your voices.

Well, I guess you're not most people.

 

[bujaki]

Speaking of SOUTH PACIFIC, Mary Martin never used mikes during the B'way run. Ethel Merman never used mikes (never needed them with those pipes). I agree with Cinemiracle. Actors were trained to project their voices and not rely on body mikes. I dislike hearing voices coming out of huge speakers placed somewhere in the theater and not coming out of the actors' faces on stage. It's really difficult to pinpoint where the voice comes from, particularly in crowded scenes. Even if the actor is center stage, you hear the voice coming out of the speakers left or right of the audience. It's very disconcerting.
Now, if you are used to the big arena-style super musicals, I guess that's OK and I'm just out of synch with the times.
The hand mikes in HAMILTON didn't bother me because that was part of the conceit; the face mikes did. That's me. Hide the mike in a wig or a body pack. This is theater, not a bloody concert.

 

[Greg.K]

Doesn't bother me in the slightest. I don't even notice them after a while. To each their own.