Catching Hamilton Fever

I’ve decided that I want to be a theater nerd. That’s what I’ve been thinking about lately.

Let’s get one thing straight, though. Two things, actually. One: I’m not looking to appropriate any branch of nerd culture for the sake of fitting into some sort of clique. I’m no hipster. No part of me is interested in following the theater world just so I can call myself a theater lover, so maybe it’s not correct to say that I want to be a theater nerd, per se. Really all I’m saying is that I want to learn more about the world of theater and maybe watch more plays.

And secondly- and this ties into that first point- I am not an actor and I never have been. Performing on stage for large crowds carries exactly zero appeal for me and because of this, I don’t think I could ever call myself a true theater nerd. I’m shy and I like it that way.

Everyone seems to think there are two kinds of people in the world: People who like to dance and perform and put themselves out there, and people who just need to break out of their shell. Some of us just don’t want to fucking dance. If you’re a quiet person, you find that in every phase of life you’ll meet that plucky asshole who’s just desperate to beat the shyness out of you like a demon, and unlock some sort of wild side that apparently resides deep inside of us all. “Come on!” They say. “Come onnnnn,” they say again.

We spend our lives avoiding these people like the fucking gestapo. If you approach me and try to drag me onto the dance floor I’ll stick my fingers in your mouth and rub your own saliva across your face. It’s both gross and insulting.

But I’ve been listening to the cast album for Hamilton a ton lately. It has inspired me to do some internet research about the Broadway play and some other productions, and I’ve had a good time watching Youtube videos and reading Lin-Manuel Miranda’s tweets. All I’m saying is, I really want to learn more about Broadway and, most of all, I want to see more plays.

I’m lucky enough to have seen The Lion King in the West End on a family trip to London many, many years ago. That was really fun and I still remember a lot of the play to this day, which is surprising considering how long ago it was.

Then in my junior year of high school I managed to catch a performance of The 25^th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee and I remember enjoying it. Putnam Spelling Bee is a play, just to clarify. It’s a comedy, actually, and I saw it in Chicago as part of a summer youth program I took part in so that I could put it on my college applications and fool the admissions people into thinking I had interests besides playing video games and reading.

I liked it and all, but the kid seated next to me smelled like a cancerous fart and I can’t remember much else, so I gave little thought to live theatre until this whole Hamilton phenomenon began.

Half of my fascination with Hamilton has to do with its creator and lead actor, Lin-Manuel Miranda. His is the perfect Twitter account to scroll through on a shitty day when you need an excuse to smile. The man is so damn humble, cheerful, emotional and down-to-earth that you find yourself wishing you’d known the guy your whole life and still spoke with him on the phone a couple times a month. He’s a cool dude. Check out this surprise performance he put on for his wife, Vanessa, on their wedding day back in 2010.

Look, this will all pass in a few months when Hamilton Fever withers away and I find something new to become a nerd for. In all honesty, I already feel it happening a little. I’ve listened to the cast album enough times that I can rap along with most songs in my head and it’s gotten just the tiniest bit stale. Just a tad. Plus, Lin and Leslie and Daveed and Philippa and more of the original cast have already left and moved onto their next projects, and I’m just not sure that it’ll ever be the same without them. Or maybe it will. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

Anyway, when the play comes to San Francisco I’m sure I’ll end up ordering tickets online… Or putting them in my shopping cart and hovering the mouse over the Purchase button before talking myself out of it due to the price.