2 bad years and Hamilton

September 2019 I contracted Necrotizing Fasciitis (Flesh Eating Disease). Life as I knew it was different. My Doctor worked hard to save my life and more importantly, my arm. That first year and a half were the worst of my life. Pain and fear gripped me, and even 3 years later I still deal with this. Much of my life is spent at Doctors amd studying MRSA as I still get more minor infections. 2020 the world came to a stop. Covid 19 quickly became a pandemic and social distancing became the norm. My adult daughter moved in and the year became the new "worst of my life". Dealing with an addict with no break took what remaining confidence and happiness as I watched her destroy my house, herself, and me. It took me a very long time to believe her when she showed me how cruel and toxic she was. When I finally got her out of my house she left behind almost $2k in damages and I had to make the choice to never give her the ability to do this to me again. None of my friends or family believe me yet but in life, everyone has a breakinh point and while I won't get into what mine was, it was probably one of the most cruel things a person can do. 2021 I started working from home and spent quite a bit of time working on my mental health. One day I put the Hamilton soundtrack in the background. I started doing it every shift, back to back. Art is an escape. It also did not hurt that I crushed pretty hard on the films Eliza and Lafyette. Next thing I know I had watched or listened to the soundtrack over 150 times when I found out they were playing in Jacksonville Fl. Just a hour away. In early September we (mine, Angels, and Jimmy) got tickets for our Birthdays plus Kyle. Our tickets were for October 15th. It felt like forever away. I continued to watch or listen to Hamilton daily. To me, Hamilton is my times greatest piece of art produced. It is my single most favorite piece of art of all time. Watching or listening to it often will bring me to tears. Act 2 physically and emotionally damages me every single time until the last song. We were seeing the "Phillip" cast and while not bad seats, they were not great either but I didn't care. HAMILTON! We got in the Theater about 45 minutes early. By the time we got to our seats I could not stop bouncing. Seeing the set brought me such excitment I was worried I would be to overwhelmed to enjoy it fully. The lights dimmed and King George (Neil Haskell) did his announcement and that was the 2nd flutter of the evening. The opening songs to musicals always set the tone. "Alexander Hamilton" is the opening song and the first one I had memorized. This cast nailed it. I remember thinking how astonished I was. As I am writing this I realize if I go song by song, ill never finish so I will go by cast. My favorite in this production was George Washington who was played by Marcus Choi. I am almost positive I have never felt so moved in my life as when he was singing. We were in 2nd Orchestra and when he finished "Right Hand Man" I gave a standing ovation all by myself and bruised my hands. This was also the first time I cried during the live performance, but not the last. When Choi did "History Has Its Eyes On You" the emotion was so deep I realized I was holding my breath. At the end when Choi sang "she tells my story" was the most beautiful line I have ever heard. My two favorite characters played on the 2016 version is Peggy / Maria. The quirky Peggy and the absolute stunning sexually tense "Say No To This" as Maria just makes for good television. I honestly did not think anyone could do this character justice. Paige Smallwood was perfectly cast. Jasmine Cephas Jones has such a high range that in the 2016 that there is a note that the audio doesn't do justice and I was so excited to hear it in person. Even if it was not Jasmine. Paige was hilarous as Peggy and her Maria was perfect.