Spamilton Tickets

About Gerard Alessandrini

Gerard Alessandrini is well-known in the theater family for his parodist productions. His 2009 production of Forbidden Broadway displayed parodies of Broadway hits such as Spring Awakening, South Pacific and Young Frankenstein. It received great acclaim amongst the theater community and became understood as signature Alessandrini. Alessandrini has chameleon-like quality, where he can fully dwell in the stylistic features of other plays and recreate them.

Why ‘Spamilton’?

According to Alessandrini, Hamilton is everywhere; the internet, the streets, art, classrooms, weddings. Despite being a play about a specific moment in history, it is somehow applicable to every single social or personal context present today. It is almost like we are being spammed by Hamilton, hence the title ‘Spamilton’.

The title could be taken the other way round as well. Spam mail tends to usually be a tease, just as Spamilton is to Hamilton. So, really, the Alessandrini is poking as much fun as his own production, as he is on the source work as well.

About Spamilton

Spamilton came about after Alessandrini noticed how Hamilton had taken the world by storm. Although a great admirer of the original and its creative team, Alessandrini could not help but notice certain stylistic and cultural shortcomings within the play. He picked up on these, finding them humorous, and began penning a musical.

Before he knew it, he began researching into Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton’s creator, and began weaving the story behind his theatrical journey. Before Alessandrini knew it, what he had thought to be a jab at one of the greatest musicals ever made instead became homage to it, its creator and community. As the closing number of Spamilton puts it;

“Raise a glass to the best of us,
Encouraging the rest of us
Search for your glory wrong or right
Write your own musical tonight
And that’s the story of tonight”

—‘The Story of Tonight’, Spamilton

However, this theatrical piece endeavors to pay tribute to Broadway itself— with special appearances by (fake) Stephen Sondheim, and spin offs of other great musicals as well.

Critical Acclaim

Upon its release, Spamilton has created a great degree of buzz as it has tickled audiences for the past few months now. Alessandrini’s impeccable treatment of Miranda’s raps, rewriting them to suit his purpose, is greatly commendable. This rewriting of Hamilton’s hit numbers serves two purposes: one, it makes fun of the characterization and two; it recreates the original play’s narrative to fit Alessandrini’s creative purposes.

The opening number, “Alexander Hamilton”, for example, is tweaked to revolve around Miranda’s early life, as opposed to Hamilton’s. This analogy has particularly been lauded by critics because Miranda and his character Hamilton are often considered parallels outside the realms of Spamilton as well.

Has Lin-Manuel Miranda watched it?

Miranda has indeed watched the play along with Hamilton’s composer and director, Alex Lacamoire and Tommy Kail. In a famously documented account “Watching Lin-Manuel Miranda Watch Spamilton” Miranda’s admiration and delight at this production is fairly apparent. According to Alessandrini, Miranda has talked to him and highly praised his efforts. He has also provided a few notes, on Alessandrini’s request, which the genius parodist has incorporated into the play.

Why should you watch Spamilton?

Usually parodies seem to fall short of the artistic brilliance of the pieces they aim to parody. In Alessandrini’s case, he has maintained every component within the original. He has made use of what Hamilton provides to weave his own narrative around it. Spamilton is hilarious, touching and consistently brilliant and Spamilton tickets are running out fast. It’s time to get your hands on them now.