Birthing a nation (while raising the roof)

There’s a temptation to think that a historic musical set centuries ago cannot possibly resonate through the ages. In truth, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton couldn’t be more timely, resonant, and energizing since it premiered on Broadway in 2015.

The issues—immigrant dreams, human aspirations, and limitations, the very crafting of a nation—feel like they’re still very much on the table today, when “democracy with a small d” seems in greater peril than ever around the world.

Do we need democracy? Hamilton might make you a believer again.

The Michael Cassel Group and GMG Productions launched this robust international cast and show at Solaire Theatre with a strong gala premiere Thursday, and Manila was ready. There was even Rachelle Ann Go, playing the beleaguered Eliza Hamilton, whose first appearance onstage elicited whoops and cheers.

Yeah, bringing Hamilton onto Manila turf seems like a long-held dream. Cassel called it a “natural” decision to have the opening in Manila, what with Filipinos’ response to Miss Saigon, The Lion King, and musical theater in general.

Speaking of Go—what a powerhouse, and a world-class voice. The UK-based West Ender had a dream of doing this role in her home country. Her Eliza Schuyler presents such a petite figure onstage next to her sisters, but with a voice that cuts through the theater. She is a standout in Helpless.

Then there’s our main man: Jason Arrow as Alexander Hamilton, aspiring immigrant during the birth of a nation, first US Treasury Secretary, and main writer of “The Federalist Papers,” a series of published essays that anticipated most (maybe not all—looking at you, Trump) pitfalls and quagmires that might beset a new country trying to shake off the shackles of a colonizer. The main question still resonates: how to stop a would-be king from taking control?

Arrow is a strong presence and belter in this rapid-fire rap libretto that was built on color-blind casting. And not only color-blind, Rajo Laurel mentioned to my wife that this show is actually very “body-positive”: Arrow’s Alexander is not quite as slender as the figure shown in Constitutional Convention paintings: he’s real life, with a dad bod.

But the main reasons Hamilton was such a smash globally and connects just as well with Filipino audiences: this is a tragedy about a guy with dreams, someone who labored at the side of George Washington, never got his “shot” as president, but contains all the ingredients of a flawed, brilliant human being in a difficult moment of history. So, you know, something of a hero. And heroes have their tragic flaws. Eliza spells it out in scene after scene, as Hamilton chooses statecraft over staying home: “Why do you write like you’re running out of time?” (Foreshadowing, y’all.)

Then there is his human weakness, giving in to a temptress and blackmailer, which he bravely mea culpas to and tries to carry on, his reputation bruised but not broken.

This brings us to Thomas Jefferson (David Park, who doubles as Marquis de Lafayette) and Aaron Burr (DeAundre’ Woods), frequent foes of Hamilton who switch sides the way pols tend to do. Having watched the original cast (on Disney+), it’s great to see Park in the role of Jefferson. The color-blind wheel of fortune spins randomly, and he brings a different energy: just as strong a voice, if not quite the same dance moves. (His Jefferson carries the weight of a taunting schoolboy, rather than a flamboyant party boy.)