Review: Hamilton at the Liverpool Empire *****

There are some words which tend to get overused these days. Icon is one, and phenomenon is arguably another.

Yet perhaps if anything in recent times deserves that epithet, it’s Lin-Manuel Miranda’s revolutionary musical Hamilton.

Ten years after it burst on to the Broadway stage, with Miranda in the title role, the show has been seen by many millions of people worldwide, has won practically ever accolade going – up to and including a Pulitzer, and its bestselling soundtrack, with its mixture of rap, hip-hop, r ‘n’ b and showtunes, has a large and devoted fanbase.

Liverpool missed out on the first UK tour. But that’s as much Hamilton’s loss as the city’s because as this current month-long residency at the Empire proves, not only is there an evidently huge (and vocal) audience for Miranda’s audacious blockbuster, but it looks – and sounds - fantastic on the theatre’s huge stage too.

As someone said to me, it feels like a proper West End spectacle.

And with many of us now priced off London-bound trains and out of London’s theatres, the decision to bring a really top-quality touring production to people’s doorsteps is very welcome.

Miranda’s sung/rapped through work is an exhilarating history lesson, albeit one which explores the past with a fair bit of historical storytelling latitude!

Above: Louis Maskell as George III. Top: Alexander Hamilton (Marley Fenton) and Aaron Burr (Billy Nevers). Photos by Danny Kaan.

Alexander Hamilton's is a classic example of the immigrant success story. Born to an unmarried couple on the Caribbean island of Nevis, and orphaned at a young age, in the early 1770s he ended up in Manhattan courtesy of a scholarship to what would later become Columbia University.

Plunging into the febrile stand off between Britain - represented here by Louis Maskell's magnificent crowd-pleaser George III - and her North American Colonies, he's afforded George Washington's patronage and later becomes one of the main forces in the construction of a new, independent America.

Miranda’s ambitious if impetuous young politician and pamphleteer isn’t afraid to voice his strong opinions, which he does frequently and at length. He may be penniless, but he's rich in self-belief and ends up marrying into one of the pre-eminent and most influential families in New York - the Schuylers.

And while he's a flawed hero (blunt-speaking, often intransigent and, disappointingly, he can't keep it in his breeches - with personal and professional ramifications), with age comes a measure of pragmatism and wisdom.

Conversely, cautious, softly spoken fellow revolutionary Aaron Burr is in many ways a modern figure – rather than positioning himself as a conviction politician, he aims to get ahead without fixing his colours firmly to any particular mast.

Above: Akmed Junior Khemalai as George Washington. Photo by Danny Kaan.

Mild-mannered or not, Burr (Billy Nevers) becomes increasingly frustrated at losing out to his friend-turned-rival with – plot spoiler – ultimately devastating consequences.

Fenton has a huge responsibility as the titular Hamilton, but he wears it lightly on his youthful shoulders and convincingly morphs from eager teenage firebrand to mature statesman over the course of the musicals’ 2hr 45min running time.

Meanwhile Nevers is the owner of a wonderfully sweet and soulful singing voice which he deploys to great effect in Burr’s many numbers, from the opening Alexander Hamilton to The World Was Wide Enough in the final minutes.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, an ermine-clad Maskell claims the biggest audience reaction of the evening, his George III receiving a roaring welcome before he’s even sung the first note of the anthemic You’ll Be Back – the irresistible, if menacing, musical articulation of every violently coercive relationship ever.

But it’s a close-run thing in a crowded field of notable performances - among them Ashley J Daniels as Thomas Jefferson, a spirited Casey Al-Shaqsy as Eliza Hamilton and Sylvie Stenson, understudying the role of the bright and witty Angelica Schuyler on press night.

Above: The Schuyler sisters. Photo by Danny Kaan.

The show’s propulsive, tightly choreographed scenes unfold on David Korins’ two-storey wood and brickwork set – beautifully lit, with the large and impressive ensemble, buoyed by the live orchestra, bringing real clarity to the musical storytelling.

Incidentally, if anyone is interested in any Liverpool links to the Hamilton story, here are a couple of varying tenuousness.

One of his fellow Founding Fathers (and regular correspondent) was Liverpool-born Robert Morris, dubbed the ‘financier of the Revolution’ who, it’s said, was first offered the first Secretary of the Treasury role by Washington but turned it down and instead suggested Hamilton.

And in 1840, when the third American Consul to Liverpool arrived in the Mersey on Cunard's RMS Britannia to take up his role in the port, it turned out to be New Yorker Philip Schuyler, Hamilton’s nephew by marriage.

Back here in 2025, the Empire is the ‘room where it happens’ until June 7. Firm fan or first timer, you won’t want to miss it.