Hamilton: Surprisingly Not Overrated!

[rachelmanija]

Lin Manuel Miranda performing the opening number of Hamilton - his history geekiness is so endearing.

The whole thing on Spotify for free.

I am slowly listening to this. It's very dense, especially since I'm not familiar with that period of history other than reading Gore Vidal's Burr and getting briefly obsessed with the duel and the question of who shot first (Burr. Also, Hamilton's shot went wild because he'd been hit, not because he deliberately fired into the air, give me a break) and I just have the album - there doesn't seem to be a video available. It's pretty great though. If you like Sondheim, you would like this. I'd say listen to the first three tracks (through "My Shot") and see if you like it. I love the way it combines hiphop with Broadway, both lyrically and musically. It's really clever and catchy.

Comments

[mme_hardy]

That was my first reaction, too. "If everybody is all over it, it can't be that good." It is that good. I am astonished. And yes, it reminds me, in mood and execution if not in musical style, very much of Sondheim. King George III's ballad could be straight out of ASSASSINS or FOLLIES.

[rachelmanija]

Yeah, so far it reminds me of Assassins (my second-favorite Sondheim; first is Sweeney Todd) in its musical range, daring, and integrative approach to history: the past isn't gone, it isn't even past.

Here's some classic Broadway rhyming - this could be in Merrily We Roll Along, and I think that's probably a direct influence:

Raise a glass to the four of us
Tomorrow there'll be more of us

But this is pure hiphop:

Burr, check what we got
Mister Lafayette, hard rock like Lancelot
I think your pants look hot
Laurens, I like you a lot
Let’s hatch a plot blacker than the kettle callin’ the pot...
What are the odds the gods would put us all in one spot
Poppin’ a squat on conventional wisdom, like it or not
A bunch of revolutionary manumission abolitionists?
Give me a position, show me where the ammunition is!

And this integrates both, summing up what I'm guessing is the theme of the entire thing (though I'm jus halfway through Part 1):

Hey yo, I’m just like my country
I’m young, scrappy and hungry
And I’m not throwing away my shot!

[rydra_wong]

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/07/08/t-magazine/hamilton-lin-manuel-miranda-roots-sondheim.html

LMM is a Sondheim mentee. As well as just knowing his musicals as well as his hip-hop.

[laurashapiro]

Yay, welcome to the fold!

There are bits of video available, via 2 60 minutes specials that are available online, and an upcoming PBS documentary. Join the hamiltunes comm to learn more.

[heavenscalyx]

Oh dear. I can't stand Sondheim. That is, I will tolerate Sondheim for a good reason, but I don't find anything he writes to be catchy or even particularly interesting.

At some point, I'll make an attempt on Hamilton, still.

[rachelmanija]

I would listen to "My Shot." If you don't like that, you don't like the style and shouldn't bother with more.

[kore]

I can't stand Sondheim either, and I love this -- I mean, just as a data point. He makes my teeth grate, I don't even know why. This musical reminded me a lot more of Dessa or Doomtree, melodic hip-hop.

[cyphomandra]

Put me down as another can't stand Sondheim but like Hamilton data point. Musicalswise, I love Les Mis, Chess and Rent.

[rmc28]

It is EATING MY BRAIN :-) I have been looping the album most of the time since Sunday morning.

[rachelmanija]

I have gotten a little obsessed with "My Shot." In fact it's hard for me to get very far into it because I keep replaying that.

[oracne]

I just sent you an email.

[rachelmanija]

THANK YOU.

[kore]

AHAHAHAHA WELCOME TO THE MADNESS

I first listened to it right after NPR took the streaming down, which I think was when a lot of people got into it, when it was on Youtube -- I think it still is. There's B-roll floating around, and 60 Minutes footage, and I think there's going to be a Pro-Shot? done pretty soon. People have been WILD to actually see it.

[rachelmanija]

I really would like to see it live. I think it would be worth the exorbitant price. Really great theater is an evanescent experience that stays with you forever. I can think of plays I saw 20 years ago that have moments that still take my breath away in memory. I saw The Kentucky Cycle on Broadway, with Stacy Keach, and so long as I live I will never forget the back of the stage opening up and all the ghosts of the past rising up behind him.

[ironed_orchid]

Thanks, this was the impetus I needed to actually watch/listen. I haven't played the whole soundtrack yet, but that's a great video to get people into it.

[rilina]

I have finally reached the point where I am listening to other music again ... but I still go into over-excited jazz hands mode when I have opportunities to burble about it!

[hederahelix]

NPR informed me this morning that LA is getting Hamilton too. My aunt got to see it in NY, and she had nothing but awesome things to say, and she has no interest in hip hop.

I

[rachelmanija]

Ahh! Want to go see it, if we can get tickets?

[rydra_wong]

there doesn't seem to be a video available.

Nope, but there seem to be vague plans to do a proper film record of the Broadway production, which would be awesome.

There's also video of a few songs that has been released, or news reports with assorted clips -- let me know if you'd like links.

[rachelmanija]

I would, please.

Commended to your attention

[rydra_wong]

https://twitter.com/Lin_Manuel/with_replies
http://linmanuel.tumblr.com/

LMM's social media presence is reliably entertaining and full of joy.

(Does obviously contain spoilers for parts of the show you may not have heard yet.)

[cahn]

I just finished the Chernow biography, and there certainly is controversy about whether Hamilton intended to deliberately miss Burr or not. Chernow does conclude that Burr probably hit first and the shot went wild because of that, but he also has a fair amount of (circumstantial) evidence that Hamilton also intended to deliberately miss him, enough to convince me, at least -- one of which was that he (accurately) predicted that if Burr shot him, it would ruin Burr, so why would he do a thing like that? And if so, then he shouldn't gun down Burr...

(Chernow definitely is a fan of Hamilton, so he is not an unbiased observer, although he certainly doesn't shy away from calling out Hamilton pretty strongly when he was being stupid and idiotic.)

[rachelmanija]

Hmm. That is indeed a persuasive argument.

Burr was one weird dude.

[dhampyresa]

I like the idea that Hamilton "threw away his shot" and Burr didn't "wait for it" at the duel FOR MAXIMUM TRAGEDY :D

[rachelmanija]

Yes, history aside, I love that for tragedy. NO ALEX, DON'T THROW AWAY YOUR SHOT.

[lorata.livejournal.com]

It took me a few tries to get into it because I kept listening while doing other things, and you really can't, not the first time. Then I listened to it once and was like "I like this but it doesn't give me feelings", but then I kept listening to it and kept listening and now it's been like 6 weeks and I don't think I've NOT had the songs in my head/on my iPod for one single day since.

There's a lot of changes made for entertainment/theatrical reasons, and a lot of them are annotated on the Genius Lyrics page (cosigned by LMM himself!) if you're interested. (Things like Angelica already being married by the time she met Alexander, or the fact that they had 8 kids, or blah blah blah) I like it the way it is, really, and also because it lets me pretend it's not related to real life at all. When I remember that in reality it was a bunch of privileged (and often pro-slavery, hello George Washington) white dudes I immediately stop caring. But when I pretend they really were POC and this is the world they inhabited, I can't get enough.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

I saw some interviews with Miranda and was charmed by how he obviously was well-aware of those issues, and yet also saw his own story in Hamilton's. I have such a soft spot for that sort of thing as I too identified very strongly with a historical figure with whom I had nothing and everything in common.

[rosefox]

There's no film version of the show (yet), but the 60 Minutes pieces on the show have a lot of clips, if you want to get a sense of the visuals:

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/hamilton-broadway-musical-60-minutes-charlie-rose-2/

And here's ten minutes of B-roll footage (shh) from those pieces:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/f5xrgi1dubiv0a3/Hamilton%20Musical%20-%20B-Roll%20Video.mp4?dl=0

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[a2zmom.livejournal.com]

I would love to get tickets for this but it's nigh impossible. As soon as a block goes on sale, it's sold out.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

I've been in love with Hamilton for the last few months! I desperately want to see it, but it's currently sold out through October. I've even been to the lottery a few times (if you haven't heard of this, they hold a daily raffle where they give away 20 tickets for $10 each by drawing names out of a hat) but since it's regularly attended by over a thousand people, I have never been lucky enough to win.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Keep trying! You might get lucky!

I love how successful this is. It so deserves it, and I am in love with Miranda. He is such a delightful geek. Did you see the clip of him wearing a shirt saying BURR SHOT FIRST?

[desperance.livejournal.com]

not because he deliberately fired into the air, give me a break

There's a word for that! It is called deloping! I know this from my learnings! *ahem Georgette Heyer ahem*

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Learn something new every day!

(I still don't think he did it.)

[sunlit-music.livejournal.com]

The lyrics are so well thought out, and Hamilton sounds very inspirational. :-) Plus Miranda is very likeable and a brilliant performer. Thanks very much for sharing this!