After uttering the word satisfied, two of my friends broke out into song at dinner one night. After the serenade and after my face was wiped of serious confusion, they started explaining a new Broadway musical phenomena called "Hamilton."
“Hamilton” is about the life of the sometimes-forgotten-founding-father, Alexander Hamilton. Many of the songs are in the style of, wait for it, hip-hop and rap. If I wasn’t intrigued by the fact a musical was written about a founding father, the fact that it was written in the styles of hip-hop and rap surely got my attention. I had to check this musical out.
Being a connoisseur of new, hit broadway musicals isn’t easy for someone that doesn’t live in New York and who doesn’t have $1,000 just laying around. According to Ticketmaster, the cheapest seat for this musical is literally $1,000 at the moment. This leaves most new, interested fans to listen to the music soundtrack.
Walking from class to class, I started to listen to this highly regarded work of art. Wow, the hours I spent listening were worth it.
The opening song explained how Alexander Hamilton was born a, “bastard, orphaned, son of a whore and a Scotsman,” who was raised in the West Indies. Despite all odds, he became a scholar and an American hero. The play starts in 1776, the year the American Revolution started and went all the way to Hamilton’s death in the first couple years of the 19th century.
The catchy songs were not cheesy in the slightly. Actually, the music and the impressively written raps were not only interesting to listen to, but also portrayed history in a more casual, personable way.
For example, I laughed out loud when the characters were trying to convince Aaron Burr, a friend/ enemy of Hamilton as well as a politician, to bring the woman he loves to a party. Burr explains she’s married to a British officer, leading to an unconventional, “oh shit.” I don’t know about everyone else, but when I imagine the founding fathers, I don’t imagine the words, “oh shit,” slipping into the conversation.
Another example, the song titled, “You’ll Be Back,” is basically a creepy love song from King George to the American colonists.
Lastly, President Washington’s cabinet meeting about establishing a national bank ended up being a rap battle between Thomas Jefferson and Hamilton. Yes, you read that right, a rap battle. Just imagine John Kerry and Jacob Lew today having a rap battle about some foreign, financial crisis.
This musical also had some moving ballads such as, “Dear Theodosia,” which is about the birth of Burr’s daughter and Hamilton’s son. Other songs towards the end tore my heart. They display the emotion behind the mistakes and tragedies which make up life.
Upon finishing listening to the music, I looked up pictures from the musical and I was surprised to see that there were non-white actors playing historically white characters. Lin-Manuel Miranda, the writer, composer, and the lead (Hamilton), said in an article for the New York Times, “This is a story about America then, told by America now, and we want to eliminate any distance — our story should look the way our country looks.”
It’s quite obvious the Lin-Manuel Miranda is not only a genius storyteller, songwriter, and actor, but is also a man who wanted to tell an old story with modern American ideals.
This musical is clearly a masterpiece that might go down in musical history with “The Phantom of the Opera” and “Les Miserables.” I hope I can see it on stage sometime soon without having to pay an arm and a leg.
