Has anyone seen this? It’s apparently HUGE on Broadway, performances are pretty much sold out for the forseeable future.
I’ve picked up the soundtrack (after having a bunch of friends glow about it), and I’m liking it a lot. No standout single, but a really cool storyline and a novel approach to telling the story.
The music is largely rap, hip-hop, & R&B, with some strong Broadway/Tin Pan Alley influences as well - the cast is almost entirely people of color, regardless of the fact that most of the historical folks were white as hell. Per Lin-Manuel Miranda, who wrote the music/lyrics/book and plays Hamilton, “Our cast looks like America looks now, and that’s certainly intentional. It’s 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.”
It’s based on Ron Chernow’s 2004 biography of Hamilton, which won a George Washington Book Prize and was nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award.
I can hardly wait till a touring version comes to me - I can’t really justify a trip to NYC to see it, but still…
I believe it is sold out through January at least.
In the New York area, it is freakin’ huge. On any given day, there is a piece in the media delivering straight news or a big think piece on Hamilton and its creator and star:
The success of it as a blockbuster show
Commentary on what it and The Book of Mormon and Fun House say about the future of Broadway
The high-powered political and celeb attendees
The fact that Lyn-Manuel Miranda just got a MacArthur genius grant and is fluent in both hip hop and Broadway
How Miranda seamlessly fused Hamilton’s story with the vibe, music and cross-cultural sense of American Identity of modern hip hop.
How kids of color from low income areas are being given free access to the show because of its content and message
Everything I have heard has been positive, like the Book of Mormon. I would love to see it if I could not have to deal with the nuttiness.
Lin-Manuel is a master of music (& lyrics). The rap and hip-hop really work–now I need to study up on these genres that had not been my cups of tea. But the play also features songs with tunes that stay with you–in several other styles. Including Brit-Pop for George III–the only major role played by a white actor.
This site has the lyrics–& who is singing what. Plus serious annotation…
Have been listening to the soundtrack for almost 3 weeks straight. Am at the point where I’m counting up the $ and seeing how much a trip to NYC to see it would set me back.
(There’s a couple other new shows on B’way that I wouldn’t mind seeing either.)
Now that I have read the thread, it does sound a lot more interesting than a musical about a pretty dull Scottish town, which is what the title first suggested to me.
