The “sitzprobe” (hey, I don’t know who names these things) is the point in the rehearsal process of a musical when the singers and the orchestra, who up to that point have been rehearsing separately, come together to hear each other for the first time.
In each Hamilton sitzprobe (there are a total of six productions right now) one of the highlights is the first time the singers/dancers get to hear the pit musicians play the dramatic dance break in the Battle of Yorktown.
This number would be a set closer/showstopper in any normal musical—in Hamilton it’s just one of the many high points in Act One.
It’s a gorgeously layered piece of orchestration, created by the beautiful and talented and incredibly amazing Alex Lacamoire, who somehow manages to do all this and win all these Tony awards with significant hearing loss.
Earlier today, in a series of definitely-for-orchestration-fans-only tweets, Lin Manuel Miranda takes us behind the scenes to watch the Puerto Rico cast react to hearing the orchestra play the Yorktown dance break for the first time. LMM says it is always his favorite part of any Hamilton sitz.
No matter how familiar you are with Hamilton from the OBC (original Broadway cast album), it is a treat to hear the layers of the orchestration pulled apart and played separately. Once you’ve heard the isolated instruments, different details jump out at you the next time you hear the whole thing put together.
It’s fun to watch the cast members reacting—some of them totally freak out like DAMN that’s even better than I thought it was!
Remember, if you are a hardcore Hamilfan and love Alex Lacamoire with a perfect love as I do, there is a version of the cast album with the vocals removed so that you can admire and analyze the orchestrations all by themselves in their Lacamoirian GLORY (or try to sing along if you dare and discover you don’t know the lyrics as well as you thought you did).
The long-awaited and highly anticipated Hamilton Puerto Rico production, features Lin-Manuel Miranda’s return to the role of Alexander Hamilton for the first time since July 9, 2015. People are coming to see this from all over the world and you don’t even want to know how much the high-end ticket packages are selling for—but it benefits a good cause: money raised from this production will support the arts and education in Puerto Rico as people are still recovering (yes, still!) from the devastation of Hurricane Maria.
Vega Alta, Vega Baja, Toa Alta, Toa Baja, Mayagüez—Yes—otra vez—YES!
The inflated prices for the international tourists also subsidize LMM’s decision to sell tickets to island residents for only one picture of the ten dollar founding father without a father ($10.00).
The Hamilton Puerto Rico production opens on Friday, January 11 for a limited run that closes Sunday January 27. Then they will go on the road (without LMM) as the sixth Hamilton company (the Broadway company, the Chicago company, the Angelica Tour, the Philip Tour, the London company, and Puerto Rico doesn’t have a tour nickname yet).