LogFAQs > #943049178

GodIsImaginary posted...

I agree, all the stuff with the women seemed very disconnected from the rest of the story.

They're intrinsically connected. The whole point of the story is that we only are seeing it because of Eliza. Getting swept up in the grandeur of big political maneuverings, blind to the damage he was doing on a personal level to his loved ones and former friends, is his key flaw and it gets him killed young. If you don't bring the focus back down and get into Eliza and his family life, you can't really do justice to the death of Phillip. If you don't do the death of Phillip, you don't explain why Alexander is so withdrawn from the political scene, and the circumstances of the ending make no sense, not to mention you're not really telling Hamilton's story at that point if you aren't including Eliza and Phillip. The grace of his wife preserving his legacy for him is the only reason we even get to see the show. This all leads to one of my favorite payoffs in musical theater history when Eliza sees the audience at the end, realizing she succeeded in telling his story.

Eliza is absolutely mandatory. I suppose you could argue that you could cut Satisfied and the plot wouldn't be that much different, but Alexander's relationship with Angelica is an important dynamic in his under-appreciation of Eliza and beyond that is just one of the coolest numbers in the show, so I can't fathom cutting it.

Like, man, the show would've been better if they cut all the female roles out? So, no "Take a Break" and no "Say No To This," without which there is basically no plot to Act 2? No "That Would Be Enough," which is laying the key groundwork of Hamilton's blinding obsession with his legacy as a tragic flaw? No "Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story," which wraps up the entire show and its message? That's gonna be a yikes from me.

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-Shred