Hamilton: An American Musical

In 2015, Hamilton: An American Musical took the world by storm. Through 2016, it won many musical awards, including the Tonys, the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Hamilton was written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, a Latin-American based playwright, who contributed to different plays and movies, such as In the Heights, and later wrote some songs in. Miranda takes his experiences as an American citizen emigrating from Puerto Rico, and infuses them with the theme of many of his plays: upholding the Latin-American legacy, being remembered through history, and finding a place of belonging.

Hamilton follows the life story of America’s first Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton, who was one of the few immigrants to become a founding father, and was the youngest founding father out of the . Sure, people would normally try to avoid another history lesson, but in fact, it tells the story of an extremely intelligent young man who sees a chance and not only takes it, but seizes it by the collar and creates an enormous impact on the American government. The audience sees him rise through the ranks, first as a young, scrappy, and hungry college graduate, then as George Washington’s soldier and right hand man, and finally as a well-renowned politician, all while overachieving and setting the bar unbelievably high for his peers. It also follows a complex love story, a little more than just falling in love with his wife, but also for his son, his friends, and his country. It also reflects the different perspectives of the story, such as Aaron Burr, who is normally seen as Hamilton’s nemesis with evil intents, but actually has a story of his own describing his guilt after the duel.

At first glance, it seems like just another musical with a great hook, but what makes Hamilton stand out is its style of music. Until now, it would be unheard of and almost ridiculous to use hip-hop for portraying American history, but, much like Hamilton himself, Miranda set the bar higher for his peers and made the connection between lively hip-hop and the American founding fathers. Each of the characters in the musical takes on a different style of music depending on the song. For example, the character of George Washington sings steadier parts to reflect his wisdom compared to Hamilton’s desperate motivation, while the character of Hamilton will normally sing a much livelier song.

Another aspect of Hamilton that sets it apart from typical musicals is the story behind it. The musical was inspired by the book Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow, a biography Miranda picked up in the summer of 2009. As he read, he became absolutely fascinated with this particular political figure, and - as he described it - Hamilton had “a life meant for the stage.” His first performance of Hamilton was of the first song in the soundtrack, Alexander Hamilton, and took place in the white house at the White House Evening of Poetry in 2009. At first, as expected, his idea of an ‘American Musical’ was laughed at. Nonetheless, the audience seemed transfixed from the opening chords, the beginning to the very end, and erupted in applause after the performance. Miranda’s entire process of writing Hamilton reflects Hamilton’s determined and self-driven personality, having written the entire script and sheet music himself.

The part about Hamilton I find the most interesting are the most trivial details that you don’t notice until somebody tells you they’re there. For example, the original cast of Hamilton are predominantly of color, to represent the oppression of the British on the Americans. Many of the actors are Latin-American, African-American, or Asian-American. One of the only white actors from the original cast was Jonathan Groff, who played King George III, the monarch of Britain during the American revolution. In “Best of Wives and Best of Women”, there are thirty six words spoken each by Alexander and Elizabeth Hamilton, which represents how many years they were married for. Hamilton also contains the fastest rap ever in the history of Broadway: “Guns and Ships”, with nineteen words in three seconds. (If you do the math, that’s 6.3 words per second.) To put that in context, I compared it to the fastest song in Pirates of Penzance, last year’s spring musical. “Modern Major-General”, with thirty four words in nine seconds, translates into 3.8 words per second.

Finally, my favorite story-behind-the-song: Dear Theodosia describes Hamilton and Burr’s relationship with their children after they were born. Hamilton write about When Miranda wrote Dear Theodosia, he didn’t write it based on the emotions he felt when his son was born, but rather, he wrote it when he adopted his dog.

Hamilton also started out as a mixtape, which means that it the production was originally meant to be much, much shorter. On the other hand, however, there was also a mixtape published last year in 2016, titled The Hamilton Mixtape. It features songs from the original soundtrack that were taken out, and also has original songs sung by many famous and little-known, such as Sia, John Legend, Regina Spektor, and Watsky. There has been a bit of controversy as to which one is better, the original soundtrack or the mixtape. Although the original soundtrack is longer and follows a specific storyline, some might argue that some parts of it are too consistent, that some of the songs are redundant and unnecessary, or that the mixtape gives the original soundtrack a bit more variety and pop. Likewise, some might argue that the mixtape is shorter, lacks consistency, or that they simply like the voices of the original cast better for the roles they were meant to play. (Personally, I prefer the original soundtrack over the mixtape, mainly because I know the lyrics to most of the songs. It also helps me finish my homework during study hall.)

There continues to be a steadily growing number of people who listen to the Hamilton soundtrack, and it’s no surprise why, either. Not only do its catchy lyrics and opening chords attract listeners, but the complexities of the characters are actually quite relatable, and it reminds us that, in the context of human history, there is no such thing as ‘evil’ or a ‘bad guy’, but rather, it’s all simply human motivation. Hamilton tells a motivating tale of dedication and hard work, and inspires its audience members to push the boundaries of their expectations and go beyond the limit.

If you find yourself bored one day and decide to listen to Hamilton, I’ll leave you with a few iconic songs.

Act 1

Alexander Hamilton

My Shot

Story of Tonight

The Schuyler Sisters

You’ll Be Back

Right Hand Man

Helpless

Satisfied

Guns and Ships

Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down)

Non-Stop

Act 2

What’d I Miss

Cabinet Battle #1

Say No to This

Take a Break

The Room Where it Happens

Washington on Your Side

*Blow Us All Away

*It’s Quiet Uptown

The Election of 1800

The World Was Wide Enough

*Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story

*TEAR WARNING: if you succumb to really sad songs, these ones may make you cry. For the best effect, listen to these in the correct order of the soundtrack, and maybe also while eating ice cream huddled in a dark corner of your room.

Maddie ‘17