Lin-Manuel Miranda is Alexander Hamilton and Phillipa Soo is Eliza Hamilton in the filmed version. Photo: Disney+ via AP
On Friday, Disney+ debuts the six-camera live capture of "Hamilton" — with tickets quite a bit easier to come by than for the Broadway hit.
The state of play: "The Revolution, Now Televised," The Wall Street Journal headlines its review. The PG-13 film (2 hours, 40 minutes) was shot in summer 2016 over two performances with the original cast, and comes complete with an intermission. (AP)
Variety says the feature is "edited like the world's longest Super Bowl halftime spectacular":
- Director Thomas Kail, who also directed the show on Broadway, "intermixes Steadicams and cranes with fixed cameras, ricocheting the audience from one side of the stage to the other."
Reviews have begun popping:
- A.O. Scott in the N.Y. Times: "[T]here aren't any good old days. We can't go back to 1789 or 2016 or any other year to escape from the failures that plague us now. This four-year-old performance of 'Hamilton,' viewed without nostalgia, feels more vital, more challenging then ever."
- "Its central questions — 'Who lives, who dies, who tells your story?' — are staring us in the face. Its lyrics are an archive of encouragement and rebuke."