'Hamilton' – a quirky play with an angry point of view

In the past when I didn't enjoy a performance I talked about the good things I saw.

In the case of the highly lauded "Hamilton", and might I add intensely expensive by the way, currently playing at the Civic Theater in downtown San Diego through Jan. 28, there is more to say.

I didn't like it. There. I said it. I have wrestled with this (along with an intense bout of influenza) for close to a week now.

The real question is would you pay $999 for a ticket to sit in the Orchestra section of a rap, hip-hop concert? (That was the asking price of an aftermarket ticket through a secondary, online-ticket-seller to see the highly praised "Hamilton" playing here in San Diego.)

Here is what I saw and heard. Puff Daddy was cast as George Washington who was yo-yoing 50 cent playing Hamilton with RuPaul as Jefferson looking on. The entire time they seemed to yell across the stage at Aaron Burr while minions flitted about for no apparent reason. Really, I didn't get the background dancers at all.

This 2 ½ hour play is all about America seeking independence from the haughty King George III played hilariously by Rory O'Malley when he cants, "You'll be back like before when push comes to shove, I will kill your friends and family to remind you of my love." And so on and on it goes. And later he adds "...what comes next? You've been freed...oceans rise, empires fail, It's much harder when it's all your call." Pretty clever words toward the end of act one. Oh, gawd there is lots more to dig through.

While other musicals have had strife and even fight scenes to the death like "West Side Story", "Les Misérables" even "Oklahoma!", none have been played from word one with an angry point of view through to the finish.

The costumes were engaging. I didn't get the choreography. I thought the stark stage design clever for a traveling show. Good lighting. The sound seemed a bit off in the first act. In my opinion, I didn't hear a melody anywhere which constitutes a musical to me.

It was kinda like Christmas. You wait all year for it to come and then poof it's over

and one wonders, "what was all the fuss?" Actually, "Hamilton" felt like that to me.

It is quirky. It is impossible to follow the lyrics. It should come with subtitles. If it did, one could follow the rap battle because, as it is, it is unintelligible to mature hearing. And honestly, anyone young enough to understand the rhythmic pentameter of the beat probably can't afford the price of a ticket.

And there is the rub. While it is all about a young motherless immigrant rising to the heights of the American dream, this was a new dream for everyone in America at that time because everyone was an immigrant.

The staging, costumes, choreography and all the other bits that go together to make this a colossal audio-visual experience were headed up by the Tony Award winning team of Thomas Kail, director (he also directed "In The Heights"); Andy Blankenbuehler, the choreographer; Alex Lacamoire, the musical director; David Korins, the set designer, along with Paul Tazewell, the costume designer.

"Hamilton" is now playing at the Civic Theatre downtown San Diego. If you want tickets I guess you have to go online to a scalper, but I'd wait for the movie.