‘Hamilton’ is back in Toronto and it really is that good

Hamilton

Book, music and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda. Directed by Thomas Kail. Through Aug. 20 at the Princess of Wales Theatre, 300 King St. W. mirvish.com or 1-800-461-3333

If you can believe it, it’s been nearly a decade since “Hamilton” opened on Broadway.

The smash musical debuted to near-instant acclaim in 2015 and swiftly after blossomed into a global phenomenon. What started as a summer reading project for Lin-Manuel Miranda soon metastasized into the most important piece of theatre in the 21st century — arguably, since the birth of the American musical.

While Miranda was no unknown prior to “Hamilton” — he already had Emmy, Grammy and Tony Awards, the latter two for his musical “In the Heights” — his rapped-through musical about America’s earliest politicians brought Miranda and his work squarely into the public eye, well beyond the gaze of New York’s theatre district.

“Hamilton,” adapted from Ron Chernow’s biography of Alexander Hamilton, redefined Broadway — and the complex mythology of the early United States — by centring actors of colour in white roles, those of the founding fathers. The Broadway run holds the record for the most Tony nominations of all time, 16, and the musical won Miranda a Pulitzer Prize in 2016.

In short, yes, Miranda’s work on “Hamilton” really is that good. (He wasn’t bad onstage in the title role, either, as seen in the Disney Plus filmed version of the show, released in 2020 at the height of the pandemic shutdown.)

But writing something remarkable is only half the battle. What’s far more exciting is how the show has survived and even evolved since Miranda’s departure from the Broadway cast.

Eight years out from its Broadway opening, and three since its abridged Toronto run in 2020, the “Hamilton” tour finally has an extended stop on King Street West. The “And Peggy” cast of the North American tour — there are three touring casts in total — is a formidable one, deftly led by DeAundre’ Woods as Hamilton, Donald Webber Jr. as rival Aaron Burr and Morgan Anita Wood as wife Eliza.

Woods’ Hamilton displays a slower, more menacing burn than Miranda’s, imbued with simultaneous ambition and insecurity and, in the few instances where he sings instead of raps, the glimmer of his vocal tone perfectly balances the bite of Hamilton’s acerbic personality.

Webber Jr. has mastered the art of the vengeful glower and his dance skills are second to none; “The Room Where It Happens” has never been anything but a highlight of “Hamilton” and that hasn’t changed on Webber Jr.’s watch. When he and Woods harmonize, both emotionally and musically, in the pretty and painful “Dear Theodosia,” time seems to stop. It’s a mesmerizing duet about parenthood and mortality, and it’s as powerful as ever.

Wood leads the trio of Schuyler sisters with grace, verve and inimitable warmth. She’s a natural Eliza, able to balance the lovelorn “Helpless” with the angry, heartsick “Burn.”

Marja Harmon’s Angelica brings the house down in “Satisfied,” and again in the song’s brief reprise within “The Reynolds Pamphlet.” One wishes Miranda hadn’t cut Angelica’s second-act song, “Congratulations,” when polishing the final version of the show. Harmon has the high notes and emotional depth for it.

Milika Cherée nails the double-cast Peggy/Maria Reynolds track, effectively foreshadowing what’s to come but never overplaying her calculated observation from the sidelines.

The camaraderie of “Hamilton’s” Act 1 group of friends — his corps de besties, if you will — remains the necessarily lighthearted antidote to Act 2’s political weight. Brandon Louis Armstrong rocks the requisite swagger for Hercules Mulligan as well as the smarm of James Madison; Paris Nix has mastered the Marquis de Lafayette’s French accent and Thomas Jefferson’s francophile sass; Andy Tofa brings a subtle strength to the idealistic John Laurens and prideful Philip. Across the pond, Manuel Stark Santos is the ultimate King George — appropriately nasal and evidently Lennon-inspired — and back home in Virginia, Darnell Abraham is a valiant, note-perfect George Washington.

It’s likely a large percentage of the Toronto audience for “Hamilton” has seen the movie of the show, or at the very least heard the songs. Some might feel seeing the show with a touring cast is a waste — why spend money on it you can watch for free in your living room?

Because from Day 1, “Hamilton” has been imagined for a live audience. And no level of digital recording can capture the feeling of watching Hamilton admit to a torrid affair for a mayorally challenged Toronto audience. No film can account for the breaths an actor might take between words, thus changing the rhythm of the songs and instilling them with something new and more personal. No soundtrack can approximate David Korins’ set in all its glory or Howell Binkley’s ingenious lighting.

“Hamilton” is ultimately a show about legacy: about humble beginnings, sure, but more sweepingly about the uncertainty of what comes next. Lin-Manuel Miranda set a theatrical revolution into motion when he wrote a musical placing America’s most marginalized citizens at the epicentre of the country’s political spawn.

But that revolution has morphed into something more inspiring: “Hamilton” is a living, breathing, breathtaking creature all its own, one woven into the everyday fabric of popular culture.

Broadway has slowly, painstakingly broached more universally representative casting, as well as more musically diverse composition; after “Hamilton,” it’s had no choice. We’re just now starting to see the long-term payoff of the legacy of “Hamilton” and the show’s stunning North American tour will ensure the conversation doesn’t stop.

Look at where you are, “Hamilton.” Look at where you started.

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