The hype is real: "Hamilton: An American Musical" is a smashing success. You see, Lin Manuel-Miranda is the epitome of genius. He took a notoriously boring subject such as the American Revolution and made it so exciting that people are waiting up to a year to get tickets to see the history unfold. The Hamilton soundtrack is even on the iTunes Top Charts ranking in at number 7.
It blows me away how a person could take a topic that many people would brush off and make it such a Broadway hit. Just a few months ago, seeing a show about the American Revolution made me cringe, but now I am just dying to get on a list to get one of the coveted seats for the show.
Although Miranda is not a part of the show any longer, it still maintains the integrity. The solid score is the pinnacle of the show.
Aside from the cast and the music, the show really demonstrates some incredible life lessons from the unassuming characters including Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr and Thomas Jefferson. All three characters are unassuming but prove amazing life lessons to be true.
The show opener of “Alexander Hamilton” is a stunner. The rap starts out with the verse “How does a bastard, orphan, son of a whore” and then proceeds to the first life lesson of the show, “theres a million things I haven't done, just you wait.” That line is the moral essence of the show as unassuming Hamilton rises up to success throughout the story to become America’s First Treasury Secretary.
Another life lesson outlined in the show is to never give up, as expressed through the song, “My Shot,” and even expressed deeper through the verses “And I’m not throwing away my shot!,” Hamilton exclaims. It is a motto of resilience that will be applied to everyday life as well as in the future as Hamilton continues to succeed. It is also a parallel to how Miranda started off by showing Hamilton in an off broadway setting first, before taking it to the big stage in the Richard Rogers Theatre in the Big Apple.
Although I have not seen Hamilton live yet, that does not mean I do not have a few favorite songs in mind. Without further ado, here are the top 7 songs (in honor of the iTunes chart ranking) I am most likely to be found singing at any given time:
- “Alexander Hamilton”: The show opener; a stunner in its own right.
- “My Shot”
- “Yorktown (The World Turns Upside Down)”
- “Aaron Burr, Sir”
- ‘Guns and Ships”
- “Farmer Refuted”
- “Dear Theodorsia”
I am going to leave you with this famous, now iconic quote from Miranda, “and love, is love, is love, is love, is love, is love, is love… cannot be killed or swept aside.” This quote was a part of the sonnet to his wife at the 2016 Tony Awards, and describes how love is unbreakable. The eloquent quote is just a sample of Miranda’s genius ingenuity and desire to make a change through words and lyrics.
