Clever spoof, but for Hamilton fans only
Spamilton (Menier Chocolate Factory) Verdict: Niche offering
DEVOTEES of Hamilton, the hit American musical playing at London’s Victoria Palace Theatre, now have a parody show to savour. Spamilton calls itself ‘a satiric parasite’.
Seven actors and one pianist run through 80 minutes of songs which gently take the rise not only out of Hamilton, but also of musicals generally.
The result is an evening of faintly forced drollery which will amuse musical-theatre fanatics but may leave others feeling they have seen enough of the joke after 15 minutes.
Much of the satire is aimed at Lin-Manuel Miranda, creator and star of the Broadway production of Hamilton, about one of America’s founding fathers. He is teased for his alleged selfimportance and his mission to update American musicals with his multi-ethnic rap show and its distinctive dance routines.
These are duly sent up, as are Hamilton’s costumes of tight trousers, boots and long hair.
Spamilton’s own creator, Gerard Alessandrini, displays a pretty neat hand for rhymed hiphop lyrics. ‘ He saw Little Mermaid/he thought of suicide/it made him feel blue inside,’ goes one of the early songs about the creative stodginess of mainstream New York musicals.
There is a parade of jokes and melodic nods to the likes of Les Miserables, Mamma Mia!, Kinky Boots, Matilda and The Sound Of Music. Andrew Lloyd Webber keeps being mentioned. The Lion King and The King And I are spoofed in one swipe as The Lion King And I.
Yes, it is all quite clever, in a college-revue sort of way, and it is done with admirable energy.
The best song, by some distance, is a riff on Hamilton’s The Room Where It Happens. This becomes Barbra Streisand and others singing I Wanna Be in The Film When It Happens.
Given that Hamilton itself left me pretty unmoved, I don’t mind it being mocked.
Maybe they could have gone in a little harder. But it might have worked best as one skit in a wider and more varied comedy evening.