The critically acclaimed musical, Hamilton, is hitting the small screen…well a documentary about it is at least. The Broadway hit Hamilton took America by storm last year. It became one of the most acclaimed Broadway show’s in this decade getting 16 Tony nominations, which is the most a Broadway show has ever gotten, winning 11 Tony Awards, including best musical, a Grammy Award, and the Pulitzer Prize.
If you have ever listened to the original cast album or have been one of the lucky ones that has actually seen the show live then you will know why it has been given the credit it has received. The show about founding father Alexander Hamilton and the American Revolution is a new age musical consisting of a hip hop and R&B style that is hardly touched in Broadway, but is done so perfectly and beautifully that you can't stay away.
The documentary Hamilton's America will be apart of the Great Performances series for PBS that showcases a variety of work done in the performing arts whether it be theater, dance, etc. The documentary follows the two year making of the Broadway show which all started when composer Lin-Manuel Miranda went on vacation and impulsively bought a 800-page biography about Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow.
When Miranda read about Hamilton, an immigrant and orphan who came to New York City hoping to change America which lead him to become Washington's right-hand man, Treasury Secretary, apart of the first political sex scandal, and killed by Vice President Aaron Burr, Miranda thought, "this is Tupac, this is Biggie, this is a hip hop story, and this is my next show."
The Broadway musical shows how relevant the issues faced during the Revolution are during our time since it is in encased with many issues that still trouble our country such as immigration, debt, income inequality, and race relations. And boy does it ever remind us of the political mess we are going through this election.
The documentary will showcase parts of the many songs from the musical such as:
“Alexander Hamilton”
“My Shot”
“Hurricane”
“The Schuyler Sisters”
“You'll Be Back”
“Right Hand Man”
“Helpless”
“Guns and Ships”
“Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down)”
“Wait for It”
“What’d I Miss” (White House performance)
“Cabinet Battle #1”
“The Room Where It Happens” (White House and Broadway performances)
“One Last Time” (White House performance)
“Burn”
“The Election of 1800”
“The World Was Wide Enough”
“Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story”
And will have many interviews in it featuring President Barack Obama, President George W. Bush, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, Senator Elizabeth Warren, Secretary Hank Paulson, Secretary Timothy Geithner, Questlove, Black Thought, Jimmy Fallon, John Wiedman, Nas and Stephen Sondheim.
The documentary airs Friday October 21 on PBS.
