Hamilton - Victoria Palace Theatre

Anyone seeing the new cast tonight?

Yep, interval now and the show is in very good hands. Jam on tonight as Hamilton. I think he may have been sick last week as I can hear a bit of a hoarse voice. Full report later.

I'm on mobile so can't embed a tweet but I asked him and he's said every Monday but didn't mention a starting date - is that out there?

Yes, how was George Washington? For me, it succeeds or fails on the quality of him (despite not being called ‘Washington’!)

I’ve been fighting a nasty case of food poisoning for the last couple of days - lovely surprise on my days off work and will not be eating at Frankie & Benny’s for the foreseeable future. Birthday plans all out of the window and my friend who was supposed to come couldn’t make it, so I really struggled to drag myself there with any enthusiasm last night.

Found a replacement with a work friend at the last minute who jumped at the offer. Her only prior knowledge of the show was me raving about it for the last year! Luckily she ended up loving it. We were Stalls Row F - I gave her the inside seat closest to centre so she could have the best view, then felt guilty when a tall dude sat in front of her. It was however for the best as the couple of girls next to me were singing along with every word. Seriously, why do people do this? At worst I’ll mouth along with some lyrics before I realise it and shut up.

Sifiso was on FIRE last night. I mean I’ve seen him on as Burr several times, but this just felt different. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up during Wait For It. It’s truly *his* role now.

Jon Robyns - Excellent. My friend whispered to me that he reminded her of Judge Rinder, which was really rather accurate. Seemed to be having loads of fun and the audience loved him. A perfect fit.

Allyson-Ava Brown - Those are some huge shoes to fill as Angelica. Didn’t quite have the same power as Rachel John but along with Jamael I could hear some hoarseness in her voice for The Schuyler Sisters, so I take it she might not be 100% well. Her overall performance on Satisfied however was excellent, plus the intensity of expression for her lines in The Reynolds Pamphlet. A lot stronger than the one time I saw Miriam Teak-Lee in the role.

Courtney-Mae Briggs - Couldn’t really tell for such a relatively small role of the main players. She didn’t have the same comic expression as Peggy, but neither did Christine Allado in her first few weeks.

Dom Hartley-Harris - Has such a strikingly similar voice to Obioma that it just seemed like a perfect fit for the role. My personal favourite moment in the show (as I keep blathering on about it) is One Last Time. That was the money moment which didn’t quite live up to the predecessor, but again first night and all. He should easily make it his own soon. He’s considerably shorter than Obi too, making the dynamic between Hamilton and Washington slightly different.

With only half the main roles and half the ensemble actually having left, it didn’t feel like too drastic a change. No idea if Jamael will continue doing Mondays - could be a one off for the occasion.

Yeah I’m pretty sure this was the swap for Monday’s show

I'll be there in two weeks to see the new cast. I believe Ash Hunter will be on as Hamilton covering Westman's holidays.

Potentially not ready to open up booking for an additional several more months but they may have wanted to have more seats on offer with the Royal Variety performance tonight.

On Royal Variety Performance on ITV now performing the opening number

I wish they had done Yorktown!

It makes sense - that number sets out completely what the musical is about. As good as Yorktown is, out of context a lot of people wouldn't have a clue what it is about.

Argh. The interactive seating plan was working fine last night, but Ticketmaster no longer allows you to select your own seats.