Yes, the tickets to see “Hamilton”– the on tour group, not even with Lin-Manuel Miranda starring– are upwards of $300 each. And the play won’t be back in San Francisco until 2019. The choices are to fly somewhere the play is showing, wait until 2019 or be contented with reading Ron Chernow’s “Hamilton,” and listening to the soundtrack, which is the entire audio of the play.
In that frame of mind, I completed reading every word of Chernow’s 738 page treatise that details the 49 years of Hamilton’s life. I was intrigued by Alexander Hamilton”s life from his early years in the West Indies, through his design of a capitalistic liberal democratic government, and his eventual demise defending his good name. All 738 pages kept me interested.
“Alexander Hamilton was surely the father of our American government,” Chernow wrote. “He had promoted a forward-looking agenda of a modern nation-state with a market economy and an affirmative view of central government.”
I have also been listening to the soundtrack. I am still not satisfied. It didn’t help when I heard from Sue Clearfield that the audience of “Hamilton” was abuzz with excitement when she attended the performance. She related that people were singing along with the cast. When I heard that my New York theater maven, Debi, thought “Hamilton” was the best play she had ever seen on Broadway, I knew I was in trouble. Honore McIlhaton added to the group that she had been thrilled by seeing “Hamilton.” I knew I was not going to be satisfied until I was in that audience somewhere.
I wondered why the experience of reading the book and listening to the sound track did not suffice in experiencing Miranda’s exposition. Then I remembered seeing Miranda’s “In the Heights” on Broadway. It’s a story of Hispanic transplants in a Washington Heights neighborhood in New York. It was the story of their loves their losses and their absorption into the American way of life. I was transported to that community during that Tony-winning musical. I believe that theater experience started me on my current obsession.

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The Washington Post in its Sept. 18 article, “This Is Your Brain On Art,” helped me clarify why sitting in that audience watching “Hamilton” is so important to me. It isn’t that I am entirely mad.
The article speaks to a new field called neuroaesthetics and probes the relationship between art and the brain. Some of the conclusions are as follows:
“We love to be entertained in a crowd.
We love to share emotions with others.
Watching a concert, play, opera is a neural rush.
We love a story. Learning about another’s experience from a safe space, without really being involved is very satisfying.
We feel the movements of others in some small way in our bodies.
Elements of live performance have your billions of brain cells interacting with billions of other brain cells. These cells yoke together with inescapable force.”

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I will not be satisfied until I am in that audience sharing brain cells, singing my heart out and appreciating the brilliance of Chernow’s book, the brilliance of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical, and especially the acknowledgement of our greatest founding father, Alexander Hamilton. Does anyone have tickets for sale?

Ellen Blaufarb is a Marriage Family Therapist who is as mad as a hatter.

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