Even though I joined the bandwagon a little late, most people know of the recent musical that is blowing up and blowing minds, “Hamilton.” However, for those of you who haven’t heard of this masterpiece, it is about Alexander Hamilton and is set to the tune of hip-hop and R&B songs, a complete and utter rarity among other Broadway musicals. But, how does a historical musical win a Grammy, a Pulitzer Prize, and be nominated for 16 Tony Awards (the most nominations received by any Broadway production) and not flop in front of the younger generation? Well, the combination of the writing and music and cast keeps “Hamilton” on top.
Around eight years ago, Lin-Manuel Miranda picked up a biography of one of the founding fathers titled "Alexander Hamilton" by Ron Chernow. Almost immediately, Miranda drew a connection between Hamilton and a rapper, since the founding father is known to be “a word-drunk fireband with untrammeled ambition, raw talent, an outsized ego and a lust for combat, verbal and otherwise.” Literally no one else in the world could have seen the connection, but now Hamilton and rapping seem like the perfect couple. And so began the seven-year relationship between Miranda and the only founding father to die young. Spending over half a decade on this musical, Miranda took great care to portray Hamilton as the word-hungry, intelligent, ambitious man he was. Historical accuracy proves to be incredibly important to Miranda, so he repeatedly consulted Chernow, who praised the creator for his “convincing and ‘very interior look’ at [the] title character” and for his ability to “[pluck] out the dramatic essence of the character.” Miranda does not merely write in the same fashion as other authors do by simply writing situations and who happened to be in them, in a fairly dull, methodical way, he dives into multiple characters’ minds, and draws out their thought processes without falsifying the historical content–he shows how the characters caused situations as well as why they did.
However, writing isn’t the only area where Miranda excels. His “skill with the quill” has proven to be fantastic with composition as well as script. Every song on the Hamilton soundtrack is arguably the best because of the obvious effort and addictive beats present. The hip-hop style works in this musical because Miranda ingeniously weaves Broadway’s traditional story-telling songs with rhythm and sounds referencing “Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Mobb Deep and others” including Notorious B.I.G. and Destiny’s Child. The sound fits the musical because Miranda doesn’t conform the soundtrack to fit what has been done before. He isn’t afraid to allow his music to flow in a new direction, and because he just lets it flow, the music isn’t forced or awkward. All of the songs “could be performed ‘more or less as they are by Drake or Beyoncé or Kanye,'” according to Ben Brantley. The spectacular writing and musical composition captivates all audiences, reviving characters who have been dead for two hundred years.
The most controversial aspect about “Hamilton” is its actors of color in the cast. Aaron Burr is black, Eliza Hamilton is Asian-American, and John Laurens is of Puerto Rican descent. Some people have their britches in a bunch since George Washington isn’t the same color he is on the dollar bill: green. No, but in all seriousness, the complaint that the musical is inaccurate because the cast is not completely white is outrageous. If other productions get to adjust skin tone by whitewashing Egyptians, Native Americans, and basically every other ethnicity that isn’t white, Miranda should be able to do the reverse by casting people because of their talent and “[reflecting] what America looks like now.” The diversity brought onto the stage is, as Miranda states, “a way of pulling you into the story and allowing you to leave whatever cultural baggage you have about the founding fathers at the door.” “Hamilton” provides an opportunity for non-white Americans to connect with American history. The audience sees every skin tone on stage instead of simply eggshell, allowing them to slip more easily into the story.
This combination of superb writing, attention-grabbing music, and perception challenging cast has hypnotized audiences of many ages while still teaching people a thing or two about the American Revolution. Lin-Manuel Miranda’s original composition entertains because he writes to explain history as a story rather than lecture about it. Mix that with a ridiculously talented set of cast members and the result is a "young, scrappy, and hungry" critically acclaimed, award-winning Broadway breakthrough.
