‘I know every word’: ‘Hamilton’ superfans rejoice as musical settles into Toronto run

When it comes to “Hamilton,” Toronto fans of the show have had to wait for it.

The smash musical — as luminous on tour in 2023 as it’s ever been on Broadway — played Toronto a meagre few weeks in 2020 before closing early due to the pandemic. Since then, “Hamilton” has visited cities across the country, but it took until last week to get an extended run of the show in Toronto.

The “And Peggy” leg of the North American tour will be in town until Aug. 20 and for ardent fans of the show — “Hamilton” aficionados with sweeping collections of merchandise, signed memorabilia and more — it’s not a moment too soon.

Jenna Bondy, a Dollarama employee in Amherstburg, Ont., might be Ontario’s most enthusiastic “Hamilton” fan. She started working at the dollar store on Dec. 14, or “Alexander and Elizabeth Hamilton’s wedding day,” she rattled off without missing a beat.

Thanks to social media, Bondy has interacted with show creator Lin-Manuel Miranda more than a few times and once she even received a personalized letter in the mail from him. Though she saw “Hamilton” live in Detroit in 2022, she’ll be back in the room where it happens later in the Mirvish run.

For Bondy, it’s the lyrics that have kept her coming back to “Hamilton” over the years.

“Those lyrics prove how much of a genius Lin is,” she said. “They’re complex, but they’re easy to digest. You can understand what’s going on.”

Bondy has never met Miranda face to face, but the connection she feels to both him and his work is profound. Miranda is at the epicentre of the “Hamilton” fandom and, as such, he’s carved out parasocial relationships with fans all over the world.

Miranda’s online presence has diminished over the years — he’s mostly abandoned Twitter in favour of Instagram — but that hasn’t stopped fans from admiring his work from afar.

Over the years, Bondy has spoken with Miranda over social media and she’s relished every interaction: happy birthday messages, liked tweets. Miranda’s father follows her on Twitter, one of the ultimate achievements in “Hamilton” fandom.

She’ll see the show in Toronto in late May. Unsurprisingly, she couldn’t be more excited.

Veronica Chung is a public relations specialist in Toronto who fell in love with “Hamilton,” like many, during the pandemic.

“Lin-Manuel Miranda does really well with bringing the immigrant story to life and weaving it in. I cried buckets watching ‘In the Heights’ and here, too: he just does it so well,” she said. She first watched the filmed version of the show on Disney Plus with friends and from then on looked forward to seeing it live when it returned to Toronto.

“It’s such a disservice to just stop at Disney Plus,” she said. “You have to see it in theatres.”

Chung finally saw “Hamilton” live on March 1 and immediately reported back with her thoughts.

“It was everything I wanted,” she said. “I forgot how powerful the story was.”

Alexis Graham, too, an Oakville resident, was late to catch the “Hamilton” train. But that doesn’t make her any less of a fan.

“My friends were all obsessed with it in 2016 and 2017,” she remembered. “I made fun of them a little. But last year, I got obsessed too … I’ve watched it on Disney Plus over 40 times.

“I know every word. My family is so annoyed,” she said, laughing.

That was a common theme amongst “Hamilton” fans: many of the musical’s most fanatical supporters reported they have irritated their families by playing the cast recording and Disney Plus film on repeat.

For some families, “Hamilton” has been a point of contention. Not so for the Chishti family.

Asad Chishti, a self-described “printer and publisher of books,” has loved “Hamilton” for years.

So has his twin sister, Tuba.

So have their younger twin siblings, Afzal and Ryan.

Asad first encountered “Hamilton” while enrolled in an international school in Saudi Arabia as a teenager — he wasn’t an immediate fan. But then, upon moving to Whitehorse, Yukon, he discovered the Disney Plus film. Then came the opportunity to see the show live in Vancouver.

“I haven’t really stopped listening to the songs since August 2020,” he said.

The context of the pandemic especially influenced his perception of the musical.

“It was remarkable to look at Alexander Hamilton and his accomplishments through this lens of productivity, which is something we were talking about a lot in 2020,” Asad said. “This is the story of an immigrant, someone from the Latinx community, who’s essentially working himself to death … Lin-Manuel Miranda’s portrayal of this moment, during this moment of the pandemic, felt incredibly profound to me.”

“The key thing for me is that it’s based on a true story,” said Afzal. “The show is such a great way to experience the history … there’s just something about live performance.

“‘Hamilton’ is a beautiful piece of art I will go see as many times as I can. There’s no reason I’d ever say no to seeing it again,” he said.

Tuba is a residence life manager at Humber College and, like her siblings, has found tremendous meaning in “Hamilton” and its enduring legacy as one of the most important works of musical theatre of all time.

“Taylor Swift and Lin-Manuel Miranda are some of the best writers of our time,” she said.

“When it comes to ‘Hamilton,’ I didn’t realize you could tell these kinds of stories that were older, but with the colouring of the moment. American history is so much more interesting than I might have expected. I didn’t learn much about American history growing up here, or India or Saudi Arabia.”

“Hamilton” quickly became a bonding experience for the Chishti family.

“We watched it together,” said Tuba. “And I can’t wait to see it again, and sing along to every single song and lose myself. I know I’m going to cry.”

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