Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Hamilton’ on Disney+, A Beautifully-Shot Archive of The Best Musical of the Decade

After five years of being accessible only to those who could afford a pricey Broadway ticket, the filmed stage show of Hamilton is now available to anyone with a Disney+ account. Directed by Thomas Kail (also the director of the musical), this is Lin-Manuel Miranda‘s acclaimed hip-hop musical about the founding fathers was with close-ups, dolly shots, and crane shots. Even for those lucky enough to snag tickets with the original cast, it will be like seeing the show for the very first time.

HAMILTON: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: Even those living under a rock heard about Hamilton when it debuted on Broadway in 2015. Inspired by the 2004 biography Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow, Miranda took it upon himself to rewrite the legacy of one of the most overlooked founding fathers of America, who, before this musical, most people knew as “that one guy who died in a duel with Aaron Burr.” Now anyone who saw the show or listened to the cast recording knows Hamilton as the fiery revolutionary, the prolific right-hand man of George Washington, the fierce defender of the U.S. Constitution, and the adversary of Thomas Jefferson.

None of the above topics may sound particularly well-suited to a sung-through hip-hop musical, but Miranda rewrote that, too, by recasting the stuffy white founding fathers and their wives as people color, including himself as Hamilton, Phillipa Soo as Eliza Hamilton, Leslie Odom Jr. as Aaron Burr, Daveed Diggs as Thomas Jefferson, and Christopher Jackson as George Washington. The musical was an instant sensation, winning 11 Tony and becoming the highest-charted cast recording since 1963. Miranda and Kail filmed the show over the course of three days in June 2016, with nearly all of the original cast. Originally intended to release in theaters next October, they decided to move up the release in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.  In these bleak times for our country, Hamilton is one of the few beacons of patriotism left.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: There’s nothing quite like Hamilton, is there? That said, Miranda has worked many of his musical influences into this epic of Hamilton’s life and death. You’ll definitely notice the vibes of King Herod from Jesus Christ Superstar more with the close-ups on Jonathan Groff’s face. And the quality reminds me of the 2008 film Rent: Filmed Live on Broadway, another of Miranda’s favorites, which was praised at the time for its high-quality video and cinematography.

Performance Worth Watching: The entire cast’s stellar performances are highlighted with these wonderful close-ups, but none so much as Miranda himself. Reviews of the stage show often pegged Miranda’s performance as a weak link: He’s a musical and storytelling genius, obviously, but his singing voice is no Leslie Odom Jr, the clear stand-out when it comes to vocals. But this filmed version reveals that Miranda’s eyes sparkle with mirth as he listens to a loyalist, and well with tears as he sings about meeting his son after Yorktown. Despite the haters, and despite the vocal limitations, Miranda is a fantastic actor who earned his spot on that stage.

Memorable Dialogue: Even if I wrote day and night like I was running out of time, I wouldn’t be able to cover every instance of “memorable dialogue” in Hamilton. I’ll settle for the one that sums up the show: “Who lives, who dies, who tells your story?”

Sex and Skin: Jasmine Cephas Jones’s voice is very sensual as Maria Reynolds in “Say No to This,” but on stage it doesn’t go beyond a kiss.

Our Take: Even crappy bootlegs of Hamilton are worth watching. The music, storytelling, and performances are that good. But this is no crappy bootleg. This is a high-quality, professionally shot, masterfully edited and mixed film, and it is very, very good. Miranda, not unlike a certain legacy-obsessed founding father, knew the importance of archiving when he shot this in 2016, and he’s done it. The Miranda legacy is secure. In many ways, it’s better than a live show. You get a front-row seat. You see every micro-expression, every quivering lip, every bead of sweat. I caught things I totally missed when I saw it live—seriously, did we know that Hamilton cries during “Yorktown?!”—from my far-away, too-expensive seat. Kail takes care to cut to the wide shots when necessary to appreciate the intricate choreography and staging. The ensemble had been performing for a year when this was filmed, and you’ll appreciate that well-polished complexity even more.

At the same time, watching the filmed stage show of Hamilton made me long for live theater with an intensity that surprised me. Because it is not the same. I’m so glad it exists, but it is not the same. The ambient audience noises of people turning to their neighbor to excitedly discuss what they just saw during the intermission (only 60 seconds long on the Disney+ version) filled me with despair. The energy the live audience brings to Hamilton is a crucial ingredient; one that could never be replicated any other way. Broadway has announced it will remain closed for the remainder of 2020, and that’s a devastating loss for the theater community. Hamilton on film is a gift to help us wait out what we’ve lost, as well as for those who never got a chance to have it in the first place. But it can’t replace it.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Even if you were lucky enough to see Hamilton with the original cast on Broadway, watching this film will be like watching it for the first time. And if you didn’t get to see it, it brings as close as you can get to being in the room where it happened.

Watch Hamilton on Disney+