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arts entertainmentPerforming Arts

Hamilton is returning to North Texas and there are still (some) tickets left

A new national touring cast is coming to Fort Worth in 2020 following last spring’s Dallas run.

Did you miss Hamilton the first time it toured through North Texas? Do you need to see it again, with a new cast? Following its monthlong run in Dallas last spring, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s blockbuster musical returns to the region next June for 24 shows at Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth.

Tickets for the shows went on sale last Friday, and there are still some left. They range in cost from $129 to $499. The limit is nine per household. Closer to the June 9 - 28 dates of the show’s run, a lottery will be held to deal 40 tickets, priced at $10 each, to each performance.

Haven’t caught the Hamilton bug yet? Here’s what all the fuss it about:

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Clever and inspiring, Hamilton follows the Founding Fathers as they agitate and fight for the creation of the American republic. Miranda’s decision to cast mostly African-Americans and to use rap music to tell the story contributed to making the musical a Broadway sensation.

Since premiering in 2015, the show has spun off ongoing productions that are running concurrently in London, San Francisco and Chicago. Two separate casts are touring the show across the U.S. Dallas audiences at the Music Hall at Fair Park saw the “Philip Cast,” starring Joseph Morales as Alexander Hamilton.

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Joseph Morales, foreground, played Alexander Hamilton in the national touring production of...
Joseph Morales, foreground, played Alexander Hamilton in the national touring production of Lin-Manuel Miranda's blockbuster musical "Hamilton" presented by Dallas Summer Musicals last spring.(Joan Marcus)

In Fort Worth, Edred Utomi will play Alexander Hamilton in the “Angelica Cast.” Utomi, who calls his character “Ham,” is the son of Nigerian immigrants. He has a degree in theater from the University of San Diego and performed in the region before moving to New York. He also was a standby in the Angelica Cast before landing the title role.

Hamilton set a record for most Tony nominations with 16 but fell short of most wins with 11. Miranda won for best score and book but lost the best actor award to Leslie Odom Jr., who portrayed Hamilton's rival, Aaron Burr, opposite him. It also picked up the Pulitzer Prize for drama and the Grammy for best musical theater album.

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Tapping a wide range of musical styles, from traditional theater song derived from jazz and other early 20th century sources to rhythm-and-blues, 1960s pop and rap, composer-lyricist-book writer Miranda makes several specific references to his musical inspirations, from Gilbert and Sullivan (George Washington introducing himself as "the model of a modern major general") to the Notorious B.I.G. (the song "Ten Duel Commandments" echoing Biggie's "Ten Crack Commandments”).

He even tied characters to certain musical genres to reflect their personalities, such as assigning King George older styles to sing. But hip-hop is central, including songs named after characters in which they tell their side of the story. Rap was invented in the mid-1970s in the outer boroughs of New York City by Jamaican immigrants who “toasted” — a.k.a. boasted — about themselves.

Andy Blankenbuehler, who won the Tony for his Hamilton choreography, has a Dallas connection. The Cincinnati native attended Southern Methodist University in the late 1980s as a freshman but left during his sophomore year for a job with Disney in Tokyo. Soon he was in New York and the rest is history.

Lin-Manuel Miranda, far right, wrote the musical "Hamilton" and played the title character...
Lin-Manuel Miranda, far right, wrote the musical "Hamilton" and played the title character in the original Broadway production.(Joan Marcus)

Largely based on Ron Chernow’s 2004 biography, Hamilton began as a mixtape that Miranda thought about turning into a concept album, not a stage show. Coming off the success of his first musical, In the Heights, he first unveiled opening number “Alexander Hamilton,” for Barack and Michelle Obama at a May 2009 White House poetry jam.

PBS premiered a song-filled documentary, Hamilton's America, in 2016. (It’s no longer available but a few clips remain online.) Your best chance to hear the music if you can't see the live show is the soundtrack album overseen by Questlove and Black Thought of the Roots, or the subsequent mixtape featuring remixes, outtakes and performances by artists such as Alicia Keys and Burleson's Kelly Clarkson.

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Even though one of Miranda’s last Broadway performances in the title role was reportedly filmed three years ago, a theatrical release is not expected before 2020 as a bidding war for the rights is underway.

Seats to the Fort Worth shows are also available through brokers, but presenter Performing Arts Fort Worth warns buyers to be cautious. There’s no guarantee that the tickets are genuine, and Bass Hall won’t replace them if they’re lost or stolen, nor will it issue a refund if your performance is cancelled.

CORRECTION, 5 p.m. Nov 21: A previous version of this story stated incorrectly that Edred Utomi is an untrained actor. Utomi has a degree in theater from the University of San Diego. He also was a standby in the play’s Angelica Cast, not the Philip Cast.

Details

Hamilton runs June 9 - 28 at Bass Performance Hall, 525 Commerce St. Fort Worth. Tickets available at basshall.com. From $129 to $499.