Watched on Disney +

For a very long time I have seen myself as a fan of musicals or music films in general. Mostly I am entertained by singing performances, be it in a Disney animated film or in a comedy. In this respect, it was always my wish to be able to see a musical on Broadway sometime. For a long time, the play by the Southpark makers "The Book of Mormon" was at the top of my list, and of course Hamilton, which I was now able to watch on Disney+.

What I noticed relatively quickly with "Hamilton": there is hardly any talking. Of course there is singing, both in speech and in normal singing, but there is not a single dialogue as we know it. This is extremely impressive considering the running time of two hours and almost 45 minutes, especially because it does not detract from the presentation of the plot. Even without comprehensive knowledge of US-American history I had no problems at all to come along. Of course you will understand the big picture a little better if you have heard of the topics before, but even so, Hamilton's life alone is entertaining enough to captivate the audience.

But this enormous achievement is useless if the story is not interesting. And even there I must say directly that I could not believe how one man could experience so much in his life. But after intensive research I had to conclude that almost nothing in the play was invented. All striking situations happened exactly the same way. I've seen a lot of musicals, but so far there hasn't been one in which I was so fascinated by the plot alone. Otherwise, musicals have always been able to convince me of the mood and the music, but a "The Fearless Vampire Killers" doesn't have an extremely exciting story.

But "Hamilton" has so much more to offer: the music is extremely good and that in several genres. Above all, the rap bits have become so entrenched in my head that I sing them over and over again. The writer, inventor and leading actor Lin-Manuel Miranda deserves the greatest praise anyway. In a private appearance at the White House he spoke of making an album out of Hamilton's life. He got a lot of laughter for that, but what has developed out of it is, due to the historical classification, the artistic presentation and also due to the wonderfully diverse cast, a total work of art, which in my opinion has never existed before.

"Hamilton" is also bursting with humour, suspense and also feeling, it's probably the first musical where I would have had to cry in the theatre itself. Some of the actors even have double roles (e.g. Daveed Diggs and Anthony Ramos), which they then play almost fluently into each other, leaving no doubt about the characters. I must explicitly praise Diggs' performance of Thomas Jefferson in particular. It's no wonder that he has also been given other roles in films and series, most recently.

Basically, I cannot mention a single negative point about "Hamilton". If you get involved, you will be drawn into a story full of intrigue, humour, emotion and a crew that is passionate about getting it all across. If you look back in years to the present day, you will always have to call Lin-Manuel Miranda's stage play one of the best, artistically and socially. In short: "Hamilton" is a masterpiece! So don't throw away your shot and watch it!