Hamilton Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		5.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		4.0
Overall		5.0

Hamilton Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 15, 2026

It may be dated and in some ways controversially un-PC to contemporary sensibilities, but for anyone wanting a fascinating "backstage" look at the world (and business) of the Great White Way, there may be no better place to start than with William Goldman's 1969 book The Season. Another "little" example of Goldman's writing released in 1969, namely his screenplay for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, may have shifted the spotlight off of the book at the time with the possible exception of theater loving bibliophiles, but The Season is rife with information (and maybe a soupçon of snarky gossip and even the slight whiff of homophobia) about the 1967-68 year on Broadway, a season that was famous for not producing even one undeniable hit musical. Well, there was one, but it had started its life in October 1967 at Joseph Papp's vaunted Public Theater, officially an "off Broadway" venue, before matriculating to the "legitimately" Broadway Biltmore Theater in April 1968, where it continued to run for over four years (that is definitely a "hit"). That show was of course Hair, a musical which in more than one way reinvented the Broadway Musical (at least as it had been known up until then). Suffice it to say Goldman was not a fan, and in fact spent considerable newsprint disparaging the production on a number of levels. Almost a half century after Hair ended up taking the world by storm, another Public Theater offering became a sensation, and like its Papp forebear, it, too, made the move to an official Broadway house, where in fact it is still running as of the writing of this review. It's hard to know what Goldman might have thought about Hamilton, as its anarchic and revisionist tendencies might seem on their face to appeal to someone of Goldman's general sensibility, but some of those aforementioned un-PC elements observable in The Season may hint at the fact that Goldman would have been just as displeased with the "color blind" casting and especially the "non traditional" (in a Broadway sense) score the musical offers as he was with certain elements of the staging of Hair (notably the literally "in your face" nudity) and that show's now iconic rock score.

In at least a couple of salient ways, then, as alluded to above it's actually fairly easy to draw some tethers between Hair and Hamilton, though I'd personally argue vis a vis the MacDermot - Ragni - Rado musical that what may have seemed positively, well, revolutionary at the time may frankly not have been, at least to the degree perceived circa 1967-68. The New York theater scene in general and Broadway in particular had slowly but surely been contemporizing scores to incorporate at least hints of a pop or rock feeling, if in a maybe more "family friendly" ambience, as early as Mr. Wonderful and Bye Bye Birdie, not to mention off Broadway's Viet Rock, the very show that inspired Hair. And so, yes, there's no debating the fact that the score to Hair was a "giant leap for Mankind" (to paraphrase a famous 1969 quote), but arguably within certain already nascent stylistic trends. And, yes, the nudity and other "youth culture" aspects of Hair were at the time relatively sui generis, but Hamilton may still ultimately take the "Burr" position in any posited duel between the two properties, including for at least one reason that I suspect even a curmudgeon of Goldman's propensities might agree with.

That would be the undeniable historical context that Hamilton overtly offers, as evidenced by Lin-Manuel Miranda's now famous comment that his creation is "America then, as told by America now." Hair, for all its innovation, was squarely of its time period (perhaps at least one reason why the Forman film adaptation from several years later didn't tend to click with audiences), presenting that "epoch" in all its glory (?), but really arguably without any "objective" perspective. In fact it may have been the very subjectivity of Hair that appealed to younger audiences especially. That is dramatically (in every sense of the word) different in Hamilton, in terms of the almost inherent "hindsight" Miranda's (libretto) writing offers as well as the aforementioned provocative casting choices. Both of those elements, perhaps even more than the amazingly diverse and often unexpected score, may be what give the piece its most visceral impact.

Hamilton Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Hamilton is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Disney / Buena Vista with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. I'm sure many fans have already seen this streaming on Disney+, and while I gave the edge to the 4K disc in terms of its quality versus streaming the "downgrade" here to 1080 and SDR may at least partially offset some of the, um, pluses of Disney's stream offering Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos. Still, taken on its own merits this is a great looking 1080 presentation with nicely precise looking fine detail on the beautifully crafted costumes and minimal props and sets. In the damning with faint (or at least weird) praise category, this 1080 presentation may lessen the reaction of there being a bit too much fine detail in terms of Jonathan Groff's now infamous tendency to spit as romps through the role of George III when stacked up against the 4K version. The palette is often quite lustrous, if subtle, but appropriately reds, whites and blues (prominently featured in the production design, of course) all resonate beautifully, and some of the more pastel tones on the women's dresses are quite striking. Black levels are very deep, and in fact there may be some passing crush here and there as shadows subsume unlit portions of the stage.

Hamilton Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Hamilton on 4K had a Dolby Atmos track for the main presentation and a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track for the Sing Along Version, and as I noted in the review of the 4K release, the Atmos track may make itself most "known" courtesy of the at times overwhelming spill of audience noise, something that of course is still present here, but largely relegated to the background rather than hovering midair. The track offers superb fidelity and very nice directionality as people move to and fro on the stage. Supporting orchestration is fluid sounding and the low end is especially invigorating. Optional subtitles in several languages are available.

Hamilton Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Disc One

• Spark into a Flame (HD; 16:00) features Miranda reminiscing about the beginnings of the project and its eventual evolution.


• Reuniting the Revolution (HD; 10:09) features the original Broadway cast in more reminiscences.

Disc Two

• Sing Along Version (HD; 2:40:18) offers "bouncing ball" (actually star) versions of the songs.

This does not include a digital copy, but packaging features a slipcover. The 4K edition offers considerably more luxe packaging.

Hamilton Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

At least insofar as we're already in 2026 and Hamilton is showing no signs of abating, it's probably a given that this project is aging better than Hair ever did. Even if you've seen Hamilton before, the incredibly rapid fire assault of Miranda's wordplay certainly deserves repeated attention. It's really rather interesting in terms of Broadway history, which has obviously changed in manifest ways since Goldman's reportage (notably in the prevalence of corporate interests like Disney itself), that Hamilton was released to the general public as a filmed stage performance, one (admittedly due to the intervention of a certain pandemic) initially as a streaming option probably offered specifically to drive new subscribers to Disney+. This 4K disc offers solid technical merits and some appealing on disc supplements, along with the like it or leave it Sing Along version, but adding to the allure is some really handsome packaging and fun non disc swag. Highly recommended.