Hamilton > Spamilton

In all of my excitement over BroadwayCon, I forgot to talk about what we saw in New York when we weren't geeking out at the convention.  Instead of seeing a big show - though we saw one of those too, and it was awful! - we chose to go a little off-Broadway and see Spamilton.  That's right, not Hamilton, but Spamilton.  Hamilton is such a huge hit that it's spawned a rip-off musical - complete with original songs and special guest stars - that people pay real money for (not Hamilton level money but big nonetheless.)

The show itself was hilarious!  The creatives behind it were super smart and took the music that already existed and just changed all the words.  They included songs about the show, about other shows and even about Lin Manuel Miranda himself.  Knowing Lin actually saw this show, I'm shocked that he wasn't more angry about some of the things he said about him.  But aside from that, everything else was laugh out loud funny.

Of course, everything surrounding the show was less than funny.  What we learned when we arrived was that the show is actually above a restaurant.  This teeny tiny room that already contained a full stage, maybe held 100 people. All of these people were crowded around tables, like a dinner theater. Of course, since we bought the cheap seats, we were thrown together with a couple in a banquette.  We were a bit smooshed but I could handle it. However, I'm sure the couple was super excited to have us crowding them on their date night.

Then there was the drink minimum.  Everyone had to order at least 2 drinks.  Now, other venues I've been to have said this, but never enforced it.  In this case, it was strictly enforced, so much so that we had to order both of our drinks at the same time. There were no margaritas on the tiny menu so my 2 drinks were bottles of water - at $7 each.  My 2 friends ordered some sort of Cosmos that were quite strong based on their giggling afterwards.  For 3 of us our bill was $95.  Seriously?!  It would have been cheaper and more comfortable to see a Broadway show!

But if you're a Hamilton fan that can't seem to get tickets, and you don't mind drinking 2 drinks quite quickly, I'd highly recommend it!