Hamilton (Lewis) at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival

Hamilton (Lewis)
Hamilton (Lewis) at The Edinburgh Fringe Festival

Hamilton (Lewis) is the story of the F1 driver Lewis Hamilton. Apparently when the West End transfer of Hamilton was announced there was some confusion on twitter as to why there was a musical about a driver. The makers of this musical took this idea and ran with it. Told in the style of Hamilton it is a parody of one of the most popular shows in the West End.

Hamilton (Lewis)

The crucial thing about this show is a prior knowledge of the show Hamilton, even if it is simply being familiar with the soundtrack as there are a lot of jokes that will go over the head of someone who isn’t a fan. Knowledge of F1 is less vital although will help!  That is of course to be expected from the title and my love of Hamilton (the musical) enhanced my enjoyment.

We were warned from the start not to expect too much rap and consequently a few songs didn’t have much resemblances to the source material. Many of the references to Hamilton also weren’t particularly clever but they didn’t always need to be to parody the show.  Whilst some of the music and even costumes was parodied I would have liked a little more focus on the dance style of Hamilton, as it is so iconic. Unlike many stages at the Edinburgh Fringe it was big enough and the cast, when they were given an opportunity to move certainty looked like they were up for the challenge. The moments between the music sometimes dragged and it was when they were parodying the music that the show was at its best with some funny lyric changes.

The cast were well suited to the show, in particular Liberty Buckland who took on the role of Lewis’ ex-girlfriend Nicole Scherzinger. Not only did she bear an uncanny resemblance to the pop star but had many of her mannerisms and speaking voice down to a t. Letitia Hector plays Lewis Hamilton, yes she is a woman, did it detract from the show – not at all. In fact I enjoyed the gender swop of the role and made the comment about the lack of female drivers in F1 even more ironic. Playing Alonso, Hamilton’s one time team mate and rival was Louis Mackrodt. He was a brilliant exaggeration of the man himself and a character I loved to hate. Completing the quartet on stage was Jamie Barwood as Ron Dennis. He took on a chunk of the rapping and I was delighted to be able to hear all of the words within the rap.

Hamilton (Lewis) is one for the Hamilton fans or even the F1 fans (or even the rare breed of the F1 musical theatre loving people) and whilst there could be even more references towards the show it parodies and some polish on the book it. Overall Hamilton (Lewis) is a fun parody which should more then get you off the starting blocks for an enjoyable night in Edinburgh.

 

Hamilton (Lewis) is on at the Assembly George Square Studios – One until 26th August at 21:30 – 22:30.  Find out more about Hamilton (Lewis) on their Edinburgh Fringe webpage.

If you like this review you might like my reviews of Bare, The Worst Little Warehouse in London and Buried.

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