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Scamilton the Musical

Why I think the hit Broadway musical "Hamilton" is-gasp!-overrated.

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Scamilton the Musical
Rolling Stone

If you're at all invested in the Broadway or theatre community, you've definitely heard of Hamilton. If you're not, you've probably still heard of Hamilton by now, but I'll fill you in anyway. Hamilton is a new musical written (book, music and lyrics) and starred in by the same guy-Lin-Manuel Miranda. It's premise is pretty unique-it's the story of founding father Alexander Hamilton told through rap and hip hop music with a very diverse cast of actors. It got a lot of buzz when it played off-Broadway at the Public Theater last year. Hillary Clinton even came to see it. It finally came to Broadway in August 2015 and the cast album was released in September. Ever since then, Hamilton has been breaking records and sweeping up the awards and people have been going absolutely crazy. The show has won seven Drama Desk awards, the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and racked up a record setting 16 Tony Award nominations. The cast recording also took home a Grammy for the best musical theatre album and hit number one on the Billboard rap and Broadway cast albums charts. Countless celebrities have come to the show. The Obamas have come to the show-twice-and asked the cast to come perform at the White House.

In addition to its mainstream successes, Hamilfans are crazy. There have been Hamilton fan meetups at Broadway Con, people who stand in line for hours for the slight chance at a cancellation ticket, fans spending over a thousand dollars on just one ticket, then hundreds more on gifts for the cast, who they wait hours for at the stage door knowing they may not even come outside. There are scammers selling fake tickets on the street and unfortunately there are people buying these tickets and being disappointed. There have been two books written about the show-"Hamiltome" and "Hamilton: The Revolution" which fans are spending up to $40 on and, if they're close enough to New York, waiting hours and hours in line outside the Drama Book Shop to see if Lin-Manuel will sign it for them.

I know at this point, you're wondering: what is it? What is so great about this musical? What's making people go so crazy for it?

Well, as someone who's obsessed with Broadway, has listened to the cast recording a billion times, frequently fangirls over the show with friends, and has entered the ticket lottery only to lose countless times: I don't know!

I'm not saying I don't like Hamilton, because I love it, I really do. I jam to the hip-hop songs regularly and still dream of winning the lottery. But recently a new block of tickets went on sale for months from now, and the ticket prices still manage to shock me. When I logged on only a few minutes after tickets went on sale, only a handful were left. I clicked on the first ones I saw, and they were over $600-for partial view seats. I'm sorry, but even if the actual founding fathers of our country themselves came back to life and rapped onstage, I wouldn't pay that much money for a glimpse of them. That's crazy.

Hamilton prides itself on having a cast of racially diverse actors. Although the real life versions of the characters were all white, Hamilton's actors are Latino, Asian, black, pretty much anything but white. Miranda wanted the show to tell the story of America's creation, but have the characters look like America does today. I think that's awesome, but Hamilton's audience does not reflect this goal. Only the richest of the rich can afford to go see Hamilton. It is missing the opportunity to inspire the younger or less fortunate crowds. And those $600 seats are the cheapest there are-some people are paying $1000-$2000 for two hours of entertainment. Two. Hours. Most of which can be heard on the cast recording.

In addition to the ridiculous prices, the cast of Hamilton hasn't made themselves too available to the fans. I've met a few of the actors on the street and they were all very nice, but I know a few people who've seen the show and waited at the stage door for an hour afterwards, only to have not a single one of the actors come out to say hi or sign their playbill. Lin-Manuel himself is known for pretty much never ever coming out the stage door. Oh, and that book signing I mentioned earlier? He left early. Not too impressive, Lin.

I'm not saying Hamilton is bad or unworthy of praise, but I am saying Hamilfans, and Lin-Manuel himself, need to find their chill. Lin, you know you don't need to be charging THAT much for tickets, and meeting a few fans a couple times a week is only gonna make your life better. Fans, you have to be willing to "wait for it," as the show says-don't throw your life savings away on a ticket. I'm sure the show is good, but nothing is THAT good.

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This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
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