In the room

Like many in and around Edinburgh over the next couple of months, I've been "in the room" to see Hamilton. I was certainly curious to see it, and it's an impressive production, although like hazelh who saw the matinee today as well (amazing energy) I thought some of the singing was shrill and forced. I'd found the singing I'd listened to in the Hamilton score (presumably the original cast under studio not theatre conditions) on Spotify to be much more melodic.

As I said, an impressive production, excellent levels of energy, a decent narrative and - I found - a stand out performance by whoever was playing Eliza Hamilton (Elizabeth Schuyler). But I wouldn't go back - I note that quite a few people I know have already seen it twice! It is a wee bit overhyped, and only worth - IMHO - some of that hype.

Anyway, it was great to be there with a few book group pals, and we will probably be comparing as many Hamilton notes as book notes over the next few times we meet! Stiff knees when I came out of the theatre after Hamilton, but some naproxen seems to have helped with that.

Definitely tiring to be out on a school night (although a 14 bus came along conveniently, so I was home by 11), especially as I'd not felt grand earlier on. The nausea and wheezing of last week has returned. I declined to be filmed for an induction video, but at least my meetings were interesting and went well. A meeting about a journal that we are bringing to Edinburgh with my fellow editors in another School. Lunch with my former PhD student RZ who has just discovered that she's actually been a professor since last May (don't ask; monumental institutional incompetence that makes UoE look positively wonderful in comparison). The lunch started with the fascinating backstory of the article RZ is finishing at the moment, which involved interviewing the surviving adopted daughter of a very famous labour lawyer who was a refugee from Nazi Germany. A very long and dull meeting in the afternoon, but at least I was sitting in the comfort of my office and could move around at will. But hybrid meetings are always a struggle when you are the online crew, unless they are very small scale. And great news about a close colleague's success with what is (for us) a large grant. She's such an inspiration because she sticks to her guns, academically, making the rest of us feel like ambulance chasers when we shift around topics looking for something interesting to pursue....