On Saturday 18th October 2025 I achieve the second of three ‘bucket list’ attendances. The first took place when I got to see the Blue Man Group while in Las Vegas at the end of 2024. The second was that after 10 years of waiting… I got to see Hamilton – An American Musical. Why has it been so long in coming? Well for a start trying to get a seat has been a real challenge, make no mistake that this is a popular musical, but before 2025 it hadn’t had a UK Tour, meaning it was only available to see (for me) in London. The UK Tour visited Liverpool, but was sold out in minutes and I.. really wanted to see it in the West End, so I didn’t make too much of an effort to see it when it was Local. I also resisted watching the live recording on Disney+. In fact, the only thing I had done is seen various videos online and of course listened to the Official Cast Recording soundtrack a couple of hundred times or so!
But then an opportunity came up to see Hamilton at the Victoria Palace Theatre in London’s West End Theatreland.
I felt that this was more or less to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.. Not so much to see the show (as I would love to return again at some point), but a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see this for the first time, in person. So… my seat.. I made a decision after looking at prices, that I didn’t want to be sat towards one side of the theatre, in an end-of-row seat. I wanted something central but you by now should know me and my physical limitations of leg room etc. With that in mind, I booked something special… A box, a Royal Box. Royal Box D which is on the left of the theatre. The special thing about the boxes is that they are private.. Well if you get two tickets at least. You can move your chairs, so you can maximise your view from the box.
I bought two tickets, so this could be a unique experience for me. But it wasn’t till late on that I knew for sure that I would have company or not. Originally it wasn’t about this for me, it was about seeing Hamilton in a special way. But in the end I was fortunate to have had company to see this outstanding performance. The view from the box did not disappoint whatsoever. The immediate left of the stage is what is missing from this view, but nothing essential was missed on the stage in this location. Below is a photo of the view from this box.
Building up to the performance, my excitement was growing. First of all, just look at that grid of lights above the stage.. Wow that’s a packed grid! Then the usual kind of lamps down both sides of the stage and more on the audience side of the stage too. Then around the 1st circle balcony was another set of lamps, some moving, some fixed alongside two black and white monitors that allow the cast on the stage to see the motions, movements and guidance from the shows conductor who can be seen in the above image, sitting in his place with his head sticking out just at the front of the stage. What we don’t see is that underneath the stage there is a 10-piece band who play the shows music live! The conductor, plays the piano and offers instructions to the band below and to the actors on the stage as well. Hamilton is a long runtime show. It is 1 hour 45 minutes in each half punctuated by a short 15 minute interval – that is a lot of music and a lot of cues to manage, all of which is done so by the Assistant Stage Manager who operates just off stage to the left or right. – Anyway, enough on the geeking out!
The theatre itself is a classical venue that was refurbished completely prior to the start of the Hamilton run making its debut back in December 2017. Above is a photograph of the main seating block of the Victoria Palace Theatre. The general seating block looks to have adequate leg room, but I am still glad that I had booked my box. So the view was amazing, but what about the Performance?
The Performance was simply put – outstanding, fantastic, fabulous, mind-blowingly good, lived up to every expectation that I had. In my past, way before x40 was even a concept, I was taken to see a musical with my aunt. It was Fame. – After Hamilton, has been the only other time that theatre has moved me, and it simply has. I cannot get it out of my head, not that I want to. Hamilton draws you in, with the history and drama of the story anyway, but then the attraction of this presentation of it.. Simply perfection, performed.
The ensemble & swings in the performance were stunning. Perhaps not perfect, but they covered any imperfections with dedicated grace and style. Some notable performers if I had to name them would have been Natasha Wilde (ensemble), Lily Laight (ensemble), Nicolais-Andre Kerry (swing), Olivia Kate Holding (swing), Yuki Abe (swing), then of course the leads and supports King George was played by Daniel Boys who has such a strong voice and the ability to play a part far older than his own range. Of course the Schuyler Sisters; Emily-Mae (Angelica), Bente Mulan (Eliza) and Jasmine Jai Yung Shen (Peggy & Maria Reynolds). The divisive Aaron Burr played excellently by Jay Perry, Jonathan Andrew Hume as George Washington and of course the extremely talented Alex Sawyer as Alexander Hamilton.
The stage design for Hamilton was functional with elevated walkways around the sides and rear of the stage. Props were brought on and off by the cast and ensemble as required with expert timing and precision. On stage left there was a few staircases that allowed access from the floor to the elevated platforms. It seems that at least one of these staircases is movable, as it was moved but only once during the whole performance. During this move it was only used the one time too, I didn’t really see the point of this, but it did add emphasis to the scene it was used within. The overall stage direction was outstanding, I’d love to give you the name of who performed this role, but would be either EJ Saunders or Sarah Lyndon, but I would only be guessing as to who it was. Whoever it was, it was world-class.
Lighting for Hamilton was created by Ryan O’Gara and Warren Letton. There was a large grid flown directly over the stage with many static lamps on. There was a row of moving towards the front. The rest of the theatre makes use of the first and second balcony as well as the sides of the stage for the rest of the lighting grid. A mixture of traditional and newer lamps were used through as well as lighting on the stage itself, integrated into the floor of the stage. Individual props that provided light to individual scenes as well as real file during the scene / number “Burn”. (See some of the photographs earlier to see some of this setup). The other thing to mention about the stage itself is that the main section of it is made of two individual turntables, meaning that at any time they can rotate at different speeds or even in different directions. This allows for some unique staging opportunities that could not be achieved with a static stage. This dual rotating stage was taken from the original Broadway production and was mirrored in the West End and the recent UK Tour. The rotation helps to create staging opportunities that allow for a cinematic flow and is often used as part of the choreography. For example, at the start of the “Satisfied” number, the stage rotates backwards to indicate the ‘Rewinding’ of time. I don’t want to say more about that, I want you to go see it yourself.
The Victoria Theatre itself is a classic London venue owned and operated by Delfont Mackintosh and was restored for the 21st century in 2017 to coincide with the european premiere of the Pulitzer Prize winning production of Hamilton. Built back in 1910 the Victoria Theatre has a fantastic and successful history of hosting extremely popular performances in the past including Billy Elliot, Kiss Me Kate and earlier Annie which itself ran for an outstanding 4,344 performances!
In summary.. I feel like I’ve not covered how this performance made me feel quite enough and I can see myself writing about it much more in the future, but for this review, I am glad to get this out. Hamilton – Go see it, you won’t be disappointed. Don’t like musicals? – Go anyway, you will be converted afterwards, guaranteed. THIS is the kind of show that brings non-theatre-goers in to the theatre.