One of the great traditions of Hamilton thus far has been the ritual of the Order of the Garter, in which the divinely appointed actors who have played King George III welcome the heirs to the throne with a special—and heretofore unseen—coronation ceremony. (Or, by the royal edict of Jonathan Groff, “coro-knee-tion” ceremony, presumably because it involves placing a garter on the royal knee.) As Hamilton’s first King George III, Brian D’Arcy James, explained:
When I left the show I wanted to do something special, so I created a ritual, which I hope will continue through the length of this production, and any other production that occurs. It’s called the Order of Garter, and it’s done if there’s a new king that comes into the show. As Hamilton fans will note, all kings wore garters around their calves, and it was the order of their familial lines. I wrote up this sketch where all of the characters named George in the show would come in and be present for the ascension of the new king and the passing of the garter. It’s all set to a song called “Electric Bird” by Sia. You have to do it like a groom placing a garter on a bride’s thigh. Chris Jackson came up with this—he said, “You should be King George the Third the First, and Jonathan will be King George the Third the Second, and it will go on and on.” We did it with Jonathan, and then to my great, great happiness, they did it when Jonathan left, and Andrew took over. It’s awesome! It’s another way of saying, “I was here.”
Now there is a new King George III, The Book of Mormon’s Rory O’Malley, and we the loyal, royal subjects have been blessed with video of this long-heralded ceremony, in the form of today’s #Ham4Ham show. Longtime fans will be sad to lose the show-stealing Jonathan Groff, but oceans rise, empires fall, and Rory O’Malley: History has its eyes on you.
Read more in Slate about Hamilton:
