Due to being sick, by the time I even heard of Hamilton, the Broadway hiphop musical about Alexander Hamilton, it was the hottest thing ever and its fans were pushing it with so much zeal that I was actually put off. I figured it could not possibly live up to the hype.
Also, except for Sondheim, I'm not a huge musical theatre fan, and though I am a history nerd, I'm not much into American history in general, except for the Vietnam war and to a lesser extent the 1930s and 1940s. I find Hamilton's period particularly uninteresting. Hamilton would have to be a staggering work of heartbreaking genius to get me to like it at all. Previously, Gore Vidal's novel Burr, which is indeed pretty great, was the only work set in that period which I liked or even did not find excruciatingly boring.
So I am a little hesitant to put up a post which is inevitably going to make non-converts feel the exact same way I did, and make them even more reluctant to try it. However…
I consider Sondheim to be the genius of American musical theatre. In my opinion, no one has ever even come close to matching him, so far as my personal taste is concerned. Sweeney Todd is my favorite of his plays, and I also think it's objectively his best, insofar as that can be objective. I say this not to say that Hamilton is like Sondheim (though it does have noticeable Sondheim influences) but to explain my own personal standards when I say that Hamilton is the only musical I have ever heard that I think is as good as, and I already love as much as, Sweeney Todd.
I now see why Hamilton is so popular in fandom circles, and why its fans are so enthusiastic. For one thing, no one is going to listen to the whole thing if they don't like it early on, and it seems to be something that either people love or are totally indifferent to. So you only hear from the fanatical fans - everyone else didn't even finish it.
That aside, Lin-Manuel Miranda pretty clearly identifies with his own character of Alexander Hamilton. (When I mention Hamilton, I mean LMM's character, not the actual historical guy.) He wrote him as an immigrant and a writer, a man who came from nothing and fought his way up, a man who ran off at the mouth and was told off for thinking he was the smartest in the room (because he often was). He wrote Hamilton as writer, and as a misfit whose intelligence annoyed others even as it made him notable. No wonder so many fans identify!
I have never identified with a fictional character as much as I identified with Hamilton in certain songs and lines. One song in particular is not only a beautiful song, but is about the defining act of my life - the one moment, if I had to pick just one, that sums up the core of my self. It's a song about what makes me who I am.
I've written about that too, but Miranda wrote it in music, which I could never do. He wrote lines that I could never write, not because he's a better artist than me (though he probably is, and I say probably because, like his Hamilton, I do generally think I'm the smartest in the room so I'm not sure) but because only he could write them, just as only I could write what I write. Lin-Manuel Miranda's surely never even heard of me, but he wrote my soul into a song and put it on Broadway.
I assume that's because it's his soul too. I think it's the soul of a lot of writers and artists. Though the particulars are directly applicable to me in a way that's really unusual, and I would not be surprised if some of you have been biting your tongues not to say, "Rachel, you HAVE TO listen to Hamilon because you will identify SO MUCH, let me link you to this one song that is SO YOU."
I heard that song and I was glad that I lived long enough to hear it. I felt as if, had I died the day before, what I would regret most was that I never got to hear that song. I felt that way when I saw Sondheim's Assassins and Sweeney Todd, when I saw The Kentucky Cycle on Broadway, when I saw the first X-Men and Lord of the Rings movies, when I went to Japan for the first time and saw monks practicing kyudo in Kita-Kamakura and autumn leaves falling at Eikan-do temple.
Again, this isn't about my taste and whether it matches yours - it's about that shock of joy at something you experience for the first time, and fall in love with at first sight. It's as if you exist solely so you could experience that moment.
I'm not going to name the song because I managed to be unspoiled for the show, and so it came as the most amazing, poignant surprise. Maybe it will be for you, too.
(I'll talk about it later, in a spoilery post, along with other spoilery things. Obviously the historical events are known; I'm talking about artistic moments, and there are many delicious surprises there which I don't want to ruin.)
If you are unfamiliar with Hamilton, I think watching these two videos will tell you if you'll like it or not. I think if you don't like these, you probably won't like the rest either. I suggest that you watch the videos in this order. They both should actually be watched, as one is a performance and one includes lyrics.
Lin-Manuel Miranda performs an early version of the opening number at the White House
My Shot
The entire thing is streaming for free at Spotify.
Also, except for Sondheim, I'm not a huge musical theatre fan, and though I am a history nerd, I'm not much into American history in general, except for the Vietnam war and to a lesser extent the 1930s and 1940s. I find Hamilton's period particularly uninteresting. Hamilton would have to be a staggering work of heartbreaking genius to get me to like it at all. Previously, Gore Vidal's novel Burr, which is indeed pretty great, was the only work set in that period which I liked or even did not find excruciatingly boring.
So I am a little hesitant to put up a post which is inevitably going to make non-converts feel the exact same way I did, and make them even more reluctant to try it. However…
I consider Sondheim to be the genius of American musical theatre. In my opinion, no one has ever even come close to matching him, so far as my personal taste is concerned. Sweeney Todd is my favorite of his plays, and I also think it's objectively his best, insofar as that can be objective. I say this not to say that Hamilton is like Sondheim (though it does have noticeable Sondheim influences) but to explain my own personal standards when I say that Hamilton is the only musical I have ever heard that I think is as good as, and I already love as much as, Sweeney Todd.
I now see why Hamilton is so popular in fandom circles, and why its fans are so enthusiastic. For one thing, no one is going to listen to the whole thing if they don't like it early on, and it seems to be something that either people love or are totally indifferent to. So you only hear from the fanatical fans - everyone else didn't even finish it.
That aside, Lin-Manuel Miranda pretty clearly identifies with his own character of Alexander Hamilton. (When I mention Hamilton, I mean LMM's character, not the actual historical guy.) He wrote him as an immigrant and a writer, a man who came from nothing and fought his way up, a man who ran off at the mouth and was told off for thinking he was the smartest in the room (because he often was). He wrote Hamilton as writer, and as a misfit whose intelligence annoyed others even as it made him notable. No wonder so many fans identify!
I have never identified with a fictional character as much as I identified with Hamilton in certain songs and lines. One song in particular is not only a beautiful song, but is about the defining act of my life - the one moment, if I had to pick just one, that sums up the core of my self. It's a song about what makes me who I am.
I've written about that too, but Miranda wrote it in music, which I could never do. He wrote lines that I could never write, not because he's a better artist than me (though he probably is, and I say probably because, like his Hamilton, I do generally think I'm the smartest in the room so I'm not sure) but because only he could write them, just as only I could write what I write. Lin-Manuel Miranda's surely never even heard of me, but he wrote my soul into a song and put it on Broadway.
I assume that's because it's his soul too. I think it's the soul of a lot of writers and artists. Though the particulars are directly applicable to me in a way that's really unusual, and I would not be surprised if some of you have been biting your tongues not to say, "Rachel, you HAVE TO listen to Hamilon because you will identify SO MUCH, let me link you to this one song that is SO YOU."
I heard that song and I was glad that I lived long enough to hear it. I felt as if, had I died the day before, what I would regret most was that I never got to hear that song. I felt that way when I saw Sondheim's Assassins and Sweeney Todd, when I saw The Kentucky Cycle on Broadway, when I saw the first X-Men and Lord of the Rings movies, when I went to Japan for the first time and saw monks practicing kyudo in Kita-Kamakura and autumn leaves falling at Eikan-do temple.
Again, this isn't about my taste and whether it matches yours - it's about that shock of joy at something you experience for the first time, and fall in love with at first sight. It's as if you exist solely so you could experience that moment.
I'm not going to name the song because I managed to be unspoiled for the show, and so it came as the most amazing, poignant surprise. Maybe it will be for you, too.
(I'll talk about it later, in a spoilery post, along with other spoilery things. Obviously the historical events are known; I'm talking about artistic moments, and there are many delicious surprises there which I don't want to ruin.)
If you are unfamiliar with Hamilton, I think watching these two videos will tell you if you'll like it or not. I think if you don't like these, you probably won't like the rest either. I suggest that you watch the videos in this order. They both should actually be watched, as one is a performance and one includes lyrics.
Lin-Manuel Miranda performs an early version of the opening number at the White House
My Shot
The entire thing is streaming for free at Spotify.
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AND THEN I LISTENED TO THE BEGINNING OF THE FIRST SONG AND I HAVE NEVER BEEN THE SAME
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With you on Sondheim and Sweeney, absolutely. When I recommended Hamilton to you, it didn't occur to me that you'd find so much to identify with, and now I'm kinda kicking myself because OF COURSE you would.
Can't wait to see what else you have to say.
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I will give you a hint. I identify a lot with "My Shot." But that isn't it.
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V nz thrffvat Uheevpnar. "V jebgr zl jnl bhg"
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V jebgr zl jnl bs Uryy
V cvpxrq hc n cra, V jebgr zl bja qryvirenapr
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Part of the problem, too, is the rap music. I can't listen to any music from any genre with a pounding, rhythmic beat for very long. (Any rhythmic beat causes me pain, unfortunately. Fireworks. Thunderstorms.) Even with the sound turned down, the beat reverberates in my ears and bones, and that HURTS. Because of this, I have yet to get through the entire musical; things seem to get a lot louder and more echoing in the second half.
So between my dislike for Historic!Hamilton and the fact that much of the music literally causes my bones to throb with pain, I don't think that I'm ever going to be a fan of anything but the stills on Tumblr.
I have found one song that I really like, however--"Wait For It." "I am the one thing in life I can control..." That I can identify with.
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For me, though, it gets into all of it - there really isn't a song I can divorce from those contexts enough not to be "meh" over. I think a lot of the concepts are fascinating and so is much of the style, but the musical itself, I . . . can't.
(And since people are so often crap about this stuff: I do not in any way mean that anyone else should have my issues or that knowing the historical context exists should change anyone's enjoyment, etc; god knows I do get swept up in stuff about eras that have their own problems, and a lot of them. Just, these particular ones stick in ways that ruin my potential enjoyment, is all that I mean.)
and will admit that the constant hype/etc makes it hard not to slide over into hate. >.>
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My family hasn't been in the U.S. that long--both my grandfathers were immigrants, one in 1920, one in the late 1930s--so I have no idea what it's like to be aware of such a long line of ancestors. But I can imagine how tired you would get of the idolatry toward the Founding Fathers, especially since the rebels were dicks to Loyalists, beating them and often burning down their homes. As for the Native/First Nations issues...yeah, America has fucked those up royally right from the beginning.
For me, though, it gets into all of it - there really isn't a song I can divorce from those contexts enough not to be "meh" over. I think a lot of the concepts are fascinating and so is much of the style, but the musical itself, I . . . can't.
I can't really forget that Burr wanted to found another country in the center of North America (and/or the Southwest and a bit of present-day Mexico) and, hopefully, build an empire. Or that he wanted to capture Washington, D.C. and turn it over to Spain. So I have to ignore the character singing "Wait For It," or at least shove the context off to one side for the moment. (When I was growing up during the Cold War, I had to do the same thing when I heard songs by Paul Robeson, who was a fantastic singer and a Communist. People being Communists was a much bigger issue in the 1970s and 1980s than it is now.)
I can do that with one song, though. (It helps that Burr didn't pull that shit until after the duel.) But, like you, I can't do it with the whole musical.
and will admit that the constant hype/etc makes it hard not to slide over into hate. >.>
Oh, man, do I understand that. Hype does have a souring effect after a while, and I'm not sure why.
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I may be the rare person in the middle on this show. I can easily see its brilliance and I would go see it in person in a heartbeat if I could, but I don't feel like it was made for me. (If there's anyone in the show I identify with, it's Burr, which is not a great feeling. But at least he gets one totally awesome song!)
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But in the end, he's still "the damn fool who shot him," and that still makes me uncomfortable.
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"Talk less, smile more" is actually very good advice if you're a Hamilton/Rachel type. I have heard it so often, and I hate it, but I actually did end up taking it, and suddenly my life became 100% more happy and less full of constant, unnecessary, upsetting conflict and feuding and angry letters. Hamilton isn't the smartest person in the room when Burr's in it too. Yeah, Burr's the damn fool that shot him but he thought he was saving his own life at the time, and Hamilton was the damn fool who couldn't compromise, even to save his own life. Given that the play's Hamilton rather than Burr, it goes out of its way to suggest that Burr makes some good points and isn't a bad person, just a very different type of person.
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(Not that I plan on ever challenging anyone to a duel.)
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The play was also rather alarmingly accurate about why I was frequently and intensely disliked up until about my mid-20s. Yeah, so I probably was smarter than most people, and I probably was right a lot of the time, but saying stuff like, "Because that is a stupid idea and let me explain to you why" was not helpful in getting things done my (non-stupid) way. Meanwhile, the people who talked less and smiled more got things done their (stupid) way much more often.
It was also accurate about how now and then some mentor figure would take me under their wing and let me do things my way, generally to great success. But still.
Believing I'm right and saying so is both my best and worst quality. "Pick your battles" was probably the single most important thing I learned as an adult. When I was younger, I told people they were wrong every time I thought so. The unsurprising result was that people did think I was very smart, and many of them also wanted to kill me. I am lucky dueling did not exist back then. Instead, I got repeatedly backstabbed, sabotaged, and passed over in academic and job settings.
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Oddly, the ones I end up identifying with are the Schuyler sisters. (Really, mostly what I've learned is that I should go find more information on them. Everything I've found so far has impressed me.)
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(And I sort of have to agree, since most of my close relationships throughout my life have been with "Hamilton" types. It is a good balance, if you can get along!)
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http://www.c-span.org/video/?401579-1/award-ceremony-hamilton
Skip to 1:06:25 for the song (but I found the whole vid interesting).
"Lin-Manuel Miranda was presented with a Special Achievement Award from the board of the George Washington Book Prize. Mr. Miranda is the playwright, lyricist, composer, and star of the Broadway musical Hamilton. The musical uses rap and hip-hop music to tell the story of Founding Father Alexander Hamilton. This was the first time the board presented a prize for a play."
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Now I need a Hamilton icon...
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Given everything else happening in your life, I am so so glad that you experienced that, and that there are things that can bring you that shock of joy despite everything.
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Well, I rather like it, but hip-hop/rap/whatever is so hard to listen to that I am going through it at a rate of a couple of songs in one sitting.
Then again, compared to everyone else maybe I count as indifferent.
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I mean, I'd probably agree with you that "Sweeney Todd" is a better show, but "Sunday," perhaps because it's also about an artist, has that same sense of being both tragic and inspiring, and specifically makes *you* the listener want to go out and stop wasting time and do great things, make great art, etc.
The other thing they have in common is the dramatic shift in tone between the two acts, whereas Sweeney Todd is more of a piece all the way through. I noticed this more when I saw the show then when I listened to it, as nothing breaks the spell like waiting on line for the restroom in a Broadway theatre, but it's clearly conscious. We haven't gone very far ahead in time, not like "Sunday", but from the moment Jefferson comes prancing in, it's clear that whereas the last act was the story of a struggling writer/artist, this act is about the challenges of success. I mean, I'm oversimplifying obviously, and of course "Hamilton" is much more tragic.
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Previous to Hamilton I would have said that "Finishing the Hat" (which of course Miranda gave a hat-tip to at the Tonys) was the best musical song ever written about being an artist, but I'd now say it's between that and "Hurricane." It's interesting that both include the risks or losses incurred with art, not just the gains: the world goes by while you finish the hat, or you decide to write your way out when you should just sit tight and say nothing.
Everything has a price, paid not just by the artist but by their families. But the rest of the world gets the financial systems and the hat. And, of course, if you're the artist, the hat is worth any price.
"The Glamorous Life" in "A Little Night Music" seems like more of a light-hearted take on similar themes.
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(It's especially great because I made a friend listen to it, and she was skeptical at first and now can't stop. Hee hee.)
I'm still not looking for fanfic -- though I love all the art! -- and think I probably won't change in that regard, but man I've listened to Act 1 so many times I've entirely lost count. (Assuming I don't listen to 'Wait For It' 5 times in a row, Act 1 through to the Cabinet Battle in 2 is about the length of my morning & evening walks to campus, heh.)
I have an interesting relationship with Hamilton & Burr, as both are equal parts "wow that is really me" and "WELL NOT THAT PART, TF IS WRONG WITH YOU". ^_^;
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Hilarious comic about a conversation between Burr and Hamilton (http://brigdh.tumblr.com/post/133363953072/dorothywonderland-me-too-burr#notes)
Another comic by the same artist (http://brigdh.tumblr.com/post/133137467412/dorothywonderland-non-stop-plays-in-the#notes)
Cute comic about John Laurens (http://brigdh.tumblr.com/post/133476053266/publius-esquire-based-off-an-earlier-text-post#notes)
Scenes from the show in a Disney-esque style (http://brigdh.tumblr.com/post/135278842767/paticmak-who-lives-who-dies-who-tells-your#notes)
Sweet drawings of Hamilton and Burr with their children (http://brigdh.tumblr.com/post/137322792422/sinuswave-hamilton-and-his-son-philip-and-burr#notes)
Another adorable drawing of Hamilton and Philip (http://brigdh.tumblr.com/post/131743272977/spookydraws-burnt-crisp-gimme-all-your#notes)
Very cute Philip/Theodosia drawing (http://brigdh.tumblr.com/post/137726747752/spookydraws-dear-theodosia-what-to-say-to#notes) (shipping the children of the rivals has gotten popular on tumblr)
Funny Hamilton and Burr sketch (http://brigdh.tumblr.com/post/137852034287/halorvic-20151224#notes)
Also, these are not art, but are sort of related:
Hilarious series of posters on display at the Broadway theater (http://brigdh.tumblr.com/post/138116728907/lettersfromtitan-howdoyouwritenonnnstop#notes)
A vid (http://fv-poster.dreamwidth.org/282675.html) (there were several fanvids for Hamilton in Festivids this year, but this one was my favorite of them)
This may be my favorite gif ever made (http://brigdh.tumblr.com/post/133493810299/mylifeisaparodyofatragedy-i-would-like-to#notes)
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However, maybe I need to listen to the music without waiting for this less-than-likely event of a show within driving distance.
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If you asked the average American what they know about Alexander Hamilton, that's probably what you'd get. Part of what's charmingly hilarious about the entire existence of this musical is that in America now, people do still know his name but he's not remotely one of our iconic political figures, like George Washington or Thomas Jefferson. Nor is he obscure enough to be cool. He's in the exact "Oh, one of those dead white guys" zones where nobody but a few history nerds cares.
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Huh, the first song is pretty good (and made sense to me).
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I finally got tickets to see it, and I'm so excited! Not until June, and I could only get a Sunday matinee, which means it will be the understudy playing Hamilton instead of LMM himself, but I can't wait!
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Unfortunately, I also now have all these intense Hamilton feelings that I don't know what to do with! Usually I either read fic, which in this fandom is kind of a problem because there's just not enough and almost all the really good stuff is WIPs, or I write stuff. But I can't write Hamilton for much the same reasons I can't write Tony Stark. Dude is so much wittier than me. I can't write the kind of snappy, clever dialogue that fic would need. So mostly I just listen to the soundtrack a lot and have feelings. And refresh LMM's twitter.
(Part of why Hamilton has been so good for me is also that it's caused me to watch LMM's interviews, and it is such a comfort to me to know that an artist I admire that much is just as much of a self-admitted procrastinator as I am. I tend to get into a vicious cycle pf procrastinating, and then hating myself so much for procrastinating that I can do the thing even less. It's been hugely helpful to be able to tell myself "Miranda would have procrastinated on that JUST AS MUCH. You're okay! And then he would've got it done anyway, so GET IT DONE.)
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I adore LMM. I am a terrible procrastinator myself, and yet I manage to get stuff done anyway.
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I think a lot of artists are Procrastinators Who Get Stuff Done (right before the deadline). That's why I try to have deadlines for everything I do.