Hamilton

Pages

Lin Manuel Miranda's second Broadway musical has smashed all the records for ticket sales (surpassing The Lion King at the end of 2015), was nominated for a record-setting 16 Tonys, won 11 Tonys (just one shy of The Producers' record 12 wins), won a Grammy for Best Musical Theater album, and it has become a cultural touchstone.

Oh, and Miranda won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Hamilton, and a 2015 MacArthur "Genius" Grant, and an honorary doctorate from his Alma Mater, Wesleyan University.

I think he also walks on water and can shoot laser beams out of his eyes, but I'm not sure about those two.

The musical is a literal rags-to-riches story about Alexander Hamilton. He's the guy on the US $10 bill, and if you remember your American History, he was the first Treasurer of the US (one of the four members of George Washington's cabinet), and he died in a duel with Aaron Burr.

Watch this, and if it piques your interest, watch the full PBS documentary about the show: Hamilton's America. It is available on the PBS website until Nov. 18, 2016, after which you will probably be able to buy a DVD or Blu-ray, or maybe stream it for a fee or something.

Oh, and Lin Manuel Miranda also recently hosted SNL, and for his opening monologue, rewrote the lyrics to one of Hamilton's songs:

P.S. The Hamilton Original Cast Recording is available to stream on Amazon Prime Music and Apple Music (and it wouldn't surprise me if it is also on Spotify).

Is this where I just start quoting lyrics?

They're definitely quotable.

One of the things I love about the cast recording is all the callbacks to earlier songs. There are a few major themes that are repeated in many songs. Reminded me of how classical composers will quote certain themes in different movements of a symphony.

I'm actually kind of new to the whole thing. I had heard a song or two since the musical first came out, and I knew that it was a big deal. It wasn't until this past weekend that I got a chance to sit down with my headphones on and listen to the whole thing beginning to end. It really is something. I kind of felt like Michelle Obama when she said "this is probably the best piece of art I have ever seen in any medium." I hope I get a chance to see it in a theater someday.

BadKen wrote:

One of the things I love about the cast recording is all the callbacks to earlier songs. There are a few major themes that are repeated in many songs. Reminded me of how classical composers will quote certain themes in different movements of a symphony.

Musicals are full of that and Hamilton uses it really well. I was listening today at work and a few more themes floated out to me - they're so beautifully woven in. They make you relate songs to a character or an idea without even being consciously reminded of it. This is the kind of thing I could go on about for ages.

Also the Schuyler sisters' parts all sit comfortably in my range, so that's a huge plus for the soundtrack as a whole

I was chosen for the Constitutional Convention!

Yay thread! I have lots more to say, but it's late and I'm going back to sleep. That would be enough.

Tangential, but the roles of Jefferson and Lafayette in the 2015 and 2016 runs were played by Daveed Diggs, who is a f***ing amazing rapper and is the mc behind the experimental/noise rap group clipping., one of my favorite bands of the last five years.

For those of us who are not in the US, the upcoming show in London might be the best way to watch this. Hamilton will start in October 2017 and tickets go on sale on 30 January 2017. If you have pre-registered for priority booking (you can still do that on http://www.hamiltonthemusical.co.uk until the end of October), you will be able to buy tickets on January 16.

I'll definitely book tickets come January. Usually I am not big into musicals (The Book of Mormon was great though), but this has got great music and an exciting story. Ron Chernow's "Alexander Hamilton" was used as the basis of the musical's story and that is one of the best biographies I've ever read.

It will be interesting to see how popular such an American topic will be over here in Europe. I'm absolutely sure that almost no one knows about Alexander Hamilton, because US history is never taught in such detail over here. How well known was the person Alexander Hamilton in the US before the musical? Did people know anything about him - apart from him being on the 10 dollar bill perhaps?

I would say most people didn't know too much about Hamilton before the musical. Personally I knew he was the first treasurer and that he died in a duel, and that's about it.

The musical has been a hit in my house for many months. All three of my kids can sing most of it. It's been popular with many of my students at my school. One of my students is working on learning the "Guns and Ships" rap by heart.

I'm working on Guns and Ships too. I've pretty much got the Hamilton part of Farmer Refuted down. I also enjoy singing the King George songs down an octave.

I'd absolutely love to get tickets to see this, but with the popularity of it, that's basically impossible unless you're willing to lay out $400 a seat in the secondary market. It makes me sad that I can't buy a bluray of a filmed version of the stage show. Such a thing does exist, but who knows if they plan to release it within the next decade.

Act 2 is super dangerous to listen to when your first child is an infant.

Chaz wrote:

Act 2 is super dangerous to listen to when your first child is an infant.

There are still parts I have to skip there. "It's Quiet Uptown" (and other parts) totally has a power to kill a sensitive parent.

BadKen wrote:

One of the things I love about the cast recording is all the callbacks to earlier songs. There are a few major themes that are repeated in many songs. Reminded me of how classical composers will quote certain themes in different movements of a symphony.

There's a whole lyrical dissection over on Genius.com.

In an interview with American Theater, Miranda said:

There’s lots of [Easter eggs] in Hamilton. I don’t want to give them away, because I feel like Rap Genius is going to have a field day finding them.

Miranda has also tweeted his approval of the annotations:

Lin-Manuel Miranda ✔ @Lin_Manuel
Can I just say that you wonderful nerds are absolutely KILLING IT on the lyric annotations on http://Genius.com . proceed.
Brainsmith wrote:

It will be interesting to see how popular such an American topic will be over here in Europe.

I wonder if the King George bits will be played differently at all.

BadKen wrote:

One of the things I love about the cast recording is all the callbacks to earlier songs. There are a few major themes that are repeated in many songs. Reminded me of how classical composers will quote certain themes in different movements of a symphony.

Hamilton: The Revolution is fabulous with Miranda's notes on what inspired him to write certain lyrics. The book is totally a huge creative writing resource.

Hamilton obsession runs DEEP in our household. The annotated libretto described above is PHENOMENAL and really provides context and insight into every scene. It also calls out where he fudged history and where he didn't, and his obsession with certain video games and podcasts (including the 1 obvious direct MBMBAM reference in the show).

For anyone trying to see it in New York, one small trick: If you wait until RIGHT before the show -- like 6PM for an 8PM show, and you use the legit resale service from their actual web page, the prices crash down towards face value, as those hoarding the tickets wrestle with possibly not selling them at all. Now Face for some tickets is 250 bucks or so, and you'll still pay something like a 70 dollar resale fee, but ... it's cheaper than spending 1500 bucks on tickets a few weeks out. There are also almost literally no bad seats in the theater. Even the last row in the balcony isn't THAT nosebleed.

Also, you can always enter the daily lottery for 10 dollar tickets. We have friends who've gotten in that way.

Aristophan wrote:

I would say most people didn't know too much about Hamilton before the musical. Personally I knew he was the first treasurer and that he died in a duel, and that's about it.

Pretty much, yeah: "The ten dollar founding father." He wasn't ever President, so he doesn't get as much coverage.

To the point that, before the musical, the treasury department was going to take him off the $10. Post-musical, they're instead kicking Jackson off the $20, which is a much better switch (given that he was responsible for the Trail of Tears and all).

I'd read the Federalist Papers and knew about the duel and a couple of other details, but the bulk of his story was new to me.

Count me in as someone who has had the Hamilton obsession run deep since the first time I heard the soundtrack (I think it was at the beginning of this year?). Ever since then I've kind of gone into a deep history dive on researching colonial America, the Revolutionary War, and just a general look at the politics of that time.

It is worth noting that the material for this musical comes from the book Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow (this may have been brought up in the PBS documentary--I haven't had a chance to watch it yet). I'm still going through it but it is a great read if you want to fill in some more of the details that the musical tends to gloss over. For instance there is a bit more of a focus on Hamilton's life in St. Croix and his college years leading up to the Revolution.

Gremlin wrote:

Is this where I just start quoting lyrics?

I'm not going to lie, there was a good two week period where just about any conversation I was involved with could trigger the soundtrack off in my head. I can't explain it, but if a phrase was even remotely similar to a lyric in the soundtrack I would immediately have the related song go off. It was pretty bad

CptDomano wrote:
Gremlin wrote:

Is this where I just start quoting lyrics?

I'm not going to lie, there was a good two week period where just about any conversation I was involved with could trigger the soundtrack off in my head. I can't explain it, but if a phrase was even remotely similar to a lyric in the soundtrack I would immediately have the related song go off. It was pretty bad :lol:

Hamilton is now my goto anti-earworm. Got a song stuck in my head that I don't want? Just start listening to Hamilton again.

It does mean that I'll have Hamilton stuck in my head instead, but I don't mind that.

I was lucky enough to score tickets last October for a March show. It was for my son's birthday. He loves Broadway and is a hard-core history geek. I'll never forget sitting with my wife after we read the description of the show saying, "you're sure about this?" as my finger hovered over the 'buy tickets' button. The description just made it sound so silly. Even right up to start of the show while looking over the program I had terribly low expectations. And then it started, and it blew me away.

I've since been addicted to anything Hamilton and a genuine Lin-Manuel Miranda fan boy. Not only is he amazingly talented, but he is modest and humble as well.

The first time I ever heard about Hamilton was on an episode of MBMBaM where he was a guest. He told them he was doing a hip-hop story of our first treasury secretary. I assumed he was joking.

Some photos I took recently:
Hamilton statue in Central Park
IMAGE(https://scontent-ort2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/14657348_10154601573083718_8569196181862677346_n.jpg?oh=1bebdde2e24bea0ba9dd27c8eeb6427f&oe=58920BDD)

Hamilton's grave marker at Trinity Church:
IMAGE(https://scontent-ort2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/14680606_10154590327078718_6924349856197384773_n.jpg?oh=ccafe7bc291c6bdb155fcfa0a4dcf412&oe=58AA993F)

Angelica's grave at Trinity Church:
IMAGE(https://scontent-ort2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/t31.0-8/14680827_10154590326923718_447132743498009724_o.jpg)

Alexander and Eliza's graves:
IMAGE(https://scontent-ort2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/t31.0-8/14691288_10154590327228718_4400044213544796560_o.jpg)

Marker for Philip Hamilton:
IMAGE(https://scontent-ort2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/t31.0-8/14615566_10154590327178718_4515277846889069994_o.jpg)

Gremlin wrote:

Is this where I just start quoting lyrics?

There is precedent.

IMAGE(https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/2016-05/21/13/enhanced/buzzfeed-prod-web13/anigif_enhanced-23157-1463853496-8.gif)

PaladinTom wrote:

and it...

I CAN DO THIS ALL DAY, PEOPLE

Probably my favorite song off the soundtrack and this version has me wondering if I can record a one-woman version... Hm...

rabbit wrote:

Hamilton obsession runs DEEP in our household. The annotated libretto described above is PHENOMENAL and really provides context and insight into every scene. It also calls out where he fudged history and where he didn't, and his obsession with certain video games and podcasts (including the 1 obvious direct MBMBAM reference in the show).

For anyone trying to see it in New York, one small trick: If you wait until RIGHT before the show -- like 6PM for an 8PM show, and you use the legit resale service from their actual web page, the prices crash down towards face value, as those hoarding the tickets wrestle with possibly not selling them at all. Now Face for some tickets is 250 bucks or so, and you'll still pay something like a 70 dollar resale fee, but ... it's cheaper than spending 1500 bucks on tickets a few weeks out. There are also almost literally no bad seats in the theater. Even the last row in the balcony isn't THAT nosebleed.

Also, you can always enter the daily lottery for 10 dollar tickets. We have friends who've gotten in that way.

If I lived in or near NYC, I'd absolutely be doing that. Having to travel in means that definitely isn't an option.

The show's coming to Boston for a few months in the next year or two, which might be my best chance to see it. The problem with the traveling shows is that since they're only there for a limited engagement, then all the people near the city that want to see it are trying to get those limited number of tickets, so it's just as hard to do. This is my general problem with live shows: it's a medium that's inherently exclusionary to a huge range of people that would otherwise love it. /crank mode

Did anyone ever watch the live stage show of This American Life a few years back? We bought it online and I loved the song "What the Heck I Gotta Do" from the first story called 21 Chump Street.

When I saw Hamilton I immediately recognized Lin-Manual Miranda and Anthony Ramos from that show! Miranda wrote that portion of the show and played Ira Glass on stage. It was great.

CptDomano wrote:
PaladinTom wrote:

and it...

I CAN DO THIS ALL DAY, PEOPLE

See, that song is a perfect example of the kind of playing around with themes I was talking about. The "one two three four..." musical phrase is used as a break several times in the song before the end. And since the audience has already heard the same melodic line in "Ten Duel Commandments," it's a subtle clue to what's coming. Just brilliant.

Katy wrote:

There's a whole lyrical dissection over on Genius.com.

In part of the comments for the very first line of the very first song, I learned that "Schuyler" is derived from the Dutch word for "Scholar." So Burr calling him a "hero and a scholar" has a subtle double meaning, since he married into that family.

Another fun note is that the orchestral tutti at the start of the song follows the rhythm of "not throwing away my shot," which didn't register to me until I read that.

I can tell it's going to take me a looooong time to wade through this site. Damn!

I was going to mention 21 Chump Street, my first exposure to Lin-Manual Miranda. Absolutely loved it, and then discovered this Hamilton craze was by the same guy. Yeah, I got on the obsession train pretty hard. It was the soundtrack to my recent computer build-- both taking about 3 hours.

The first song that really stuck for me was Satisfied, but song that sold me on the whole experience was Take a Break. Then some really high mentions for Wait for It, Dear Theodosia, and It's Quiet Uptown.

Want to have some real fun? Check out this algorithmic dissection of the lyric rhymes from Hamilton. And then read about their methodology.

Amusingly, some of the Hamilton songs are so dense with lyrics and annotations that the Genius app flat out can't handle them and refuses to load.

Regarding lyrics I just remembered: this is from a while ago (Wall Street Journal, of all places!). Algorithm analysis of Hamilton compared to some hip-hop luminaries. So interesting to highlight "dense" lyrics, internal rhymes, structure etc. Allows you to compare Hamilton to other hip hop songs as well.

Pages