Clever Rhymes And Patriotic Lines Have Invaded My Life
If you know anything about me, you most likely know that I adore Broadway musicals. I've listened to them for years, performed in some local performances, and I sing something from a show every single day. Heck, I even wrote two books based off the premise of moving to New York City to become a performer. It's probably a bit surprising to hear that I waited almost a year to listen to Hamilton: An American Musical, especially since this show went over so well that people who don't even normally listen to show tunes were singing it in the streets.
Everywhere I looked, people were talking about Hamilton. If you're late to the game, like I was, let me fill you in:
Hamilton: An American Musical is about Alexander Hamilton, one of the founding fathers of The United States of America. It's just won eleven Tony Awards, including Best Musical, as well as a Grammy, and tickets to the show are sold out through the end of the year. It's also a rap musical, which is the main reason I didn't listen to it.
It's not that I don't like rap music, I do. But something about 1776 rebels rapping wasn't really making me feel like I needed to listen ASAP, you know? However, I'm about to eat my words, haha!
As I was scrolling through Facebook one day, a video showed up in my feed. It was a gender bent cover of one of the songs in Hamilton. I wasn't really doing anything, so I watched it. And I kinda liked it. A little while later, I looked up the soundtrack on YouTube and listened to the first three songs. They weren't bad, but I didn't really feel like I absolutely had to hear the rest. Finally, I ended up logging into my Spotify account and listening to the whole thing over a couple days.
Hamilton is amazing. I don't even know how to describe exactly what it is that makes it so incredible, but I understand why everyone was and still is talking about it. On top of all that, it's an incredibly patriotic retelling of the birth of my country. At one point, I even had tears in my eyes because I was so touched by the sentiment. I love my country, even with all its flaws and mistakes, and Lin-Manuel Miranda has captured that feeling in his show.
Even if the show itself weren't amazing, it's been shattering the "normal" practices of theater. Racially blind and non-gender specific, Hamilton cast their performers based on their talent. It proves that you don't need a stage full of white men to tell the story of the American Revolution, which seems like a revolution in and of itself. I'm eager to see how the show will continue on, now that it's past it's first year and solidified in the history books.
So, if you haven't listened to it, you should. If you want to see it, good luck, haha! You're part of a very large group of people who would also like to experience the show. Don't give up, though! You go see that show. And take me with you. I'm a pretty good vacation partner, haha!
Listen to Hamilton: An American Musical Today
#Broadway #Hamilton #Musical #TonyAwards #author #LinManuelMiranda
