Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by tunenut (A) on July 06, 2020 at 10:02:33

In Reply to: RE: Hamilton on Disney+ posted by jedrider on July 05, 2020 at 22:49:12

I saw Hamilton In Los Angeles, a rare (for me) professional musical theater experience. Pretty much loved it. It's such an odd duck, a musical version of American history with lots of rapping. But the music is engaging and memorable, the story is interesting (I read the whole Chernow book after seeing it) and the whole Broadway song and dance spectacle is fun.

So of course I've been watching and rewatching the TV movie version. I can't help but do a mental comparison to a stage play. What a very different animal. With one point of view, the playgoer chooses what to look at, so each person sees a different subset of the multiple activities on stage through most of the scenes. In the movie, editing focuses all viewers on the same actions through the whole thing. Close ups reveal faces in a way that I could not see from a more distant stage seat. And yet, it is in some sense a less rich experience because all these choices are made for me. But in any case, I still pretty much love this movie version. And I'm not a huge fan of musicals in general.