I’m Not Throwing Away My Shot

In July 2017, I happened to be at my computer when an e-mail came through that said additional Hamilton tickets for Chicago had just been released. I thought, what the heck? I’ll see what was out there. In under 5 minutes, I had 2 very good face value seats for November 2017. Now to find someone to go with me! I did not have to look any further than my friend Alison, who was excited to see the show also. Now, we played the waiting November.

As I sat down to watch the show, I had no expectations. I had heard the buzz about the show, knew it was about Alexander Hamilton, but that was about it. Going to college 30 minutes outside of NYC and having Broadway in my “backyard” made my expectations high. Within the first 10 minutes of the show, I knew I was witnessing something unique!

Hamilton blew me away. Lin-Manual Miranda is a genius and I want him as my friend! He shook up the traditional musical, showed the passion and the drive of Hamilton and I actually learned a lot of history! I was hooked!

Come Christmas, the Original Cast soundtrack was top on my list. I immediately started playing it in the car, only to realize that there are a lot of questionable words that my 7-year old was hearing. After reminding her that she should not say said words, we were off to the races listening to the soundtrack on repeat. I would say by Valentine’s Day, my daughter new the lyrics verbatim to at least half of the songs on the 46-song soundtrack (Did I mention, it is a long play? No, because it doesn’t feel like it!)

With the enthusiasm of my daughter and the grumblings of my husband for not going with me the first time, I decided to surprise them over Father’s Day with a weekend in Chicago and tickets to Hamilton. We had better seats this time, at a pretty “reasonable” price and for 2 hours and 45 minutes my daughter was engaged, signing softly with the characters and so excited! My husband enjoyed it also, but my daughter LOVED it! As we left the theater, we saw the stage door and said, why not? Well, it probably was one of the best ideas ever! Sophia got meet the actors that played Angelica, Eliza and Samuel Seabury. They were so magnanimous and took pictures with her, spent time talking to her and signed her playbill. She was in HEAVEN! She had seen multiple theatrical events before this, but I think her LOVE for the theater was born this day!

Since I am not one to do something halfway, and she is following in my footsteps, she proceeded to read the book, “Who is Alexander Hamilton?” and regal us with her knowledge of him and she put on “performances” of the songs to anyone who would watch!

When we had decided that our 2018 Mommy-Daughter trip would be to NYC in December, I knew I had to tie Alexander Hamilton into it! While we were in the city for the Christmas festivities, we did make time to go downtown to Trinity Church to see where Alexander Hamilton, Eliza Hamilton and Hercules Mulligan were buried. It might have been one of the coolest trips to a cemetery ever (if you don’t count Mindy and my adventure to Colonel Sanders grave!) When we head back to NYC next, we will definitely be continuing her love of Alexander Hamilton with additional sites.

If you haven’t seen Hamilton, go! It is not your average show. it is coming to Detroit in 2 months and I am trying to decide whether to go again here or head back to Chicago as it a more permanent cast. Who know what the future will hold, but I’m excited to “be in the room where it happened!”