Hamilton is a musical theatre stage work by Lin-Manuel Miranda based on the 2004 biography Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow. It tells the story of the founding father Alexander Hamilton through various musical genres such as pop, soul, hip-hop, and R&B. The cast consisted of mixed races and was meant to narrate the story using the contemporary demographic makeup of America. Its first Broadway premiere was in the Public Theatre of New York on January 20 th , 2015, then it premiered in West End, London in 2017 and had three American tours in 2017-2019. During this time, the show garnered critical acclaim and won several awards, including a Pulitzer, several Tony awards, and a Grammy. This paper will discuss this musical, which is on Disney+. It will also highlight my experience in watching a virtual live performance compared to in-person attendance and will also give insights on some aspects of musical performances that I would not have noticed before taking this class.
Hamilton
Act 1
The musical is divided into two acts and is set at the Richard Rodgers Theatre of New York City. The first scene introduces the humble beginning of Alexander Hamilton from an orphan to a scholar and cabinet member. The scene is set in R&B, soul, and other genres but the most notable and unique is the use of rap. In the second scene, Hamilton meets Aaron Burr, who introduces him to John Laurens, Marquis de Lafayette, and Hercules Mulligan. He introduces himself as an intelligent man who wants to join in the revolution. Every man gives his vision of grandiosity and historical importance through rap and a recitative called, "My shot." At 10.00, the cast gives the revolutionary manifesto of breaking away from the monarchy for both America and France, and the ensemble sing for everyone to rise. The king's message that proclaims his threats to send a battalion to remind Americans of their love and duty to him shows why the characters were agitating for independence. The king's message is full of irony, which equates to killing American families as a reminder of his love for them, and he wonders why Americans want to revolt.
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When the war begins, Burr seeks general Washington's favor but is chased out while Hamilton is received. Washington offers Hamilton a job as an aide, which displeases the young man who wanted the glory of war. Such creates jealousy between Burr and Hamilton, which translates to a competition for the Schuyler sisters at 30.00. Two of the sisters fall in love with Hamilton, who goes ahead to marry Eliza Schuyler. As the jealousy between Burr and Hamilton builds up, Burr breaks into the theme tune, "Wait for it." He vows to patiently win his married lover Theodosia as well as use Hamilton's impetuousness against him.
The scene beginning 46.00 shows the challenges facing Washington, and despite his need for military reinforcements, he refuses to make Hamilton a general, and instead, the position goes to Charles Lee, who fails in the battle of Monmouth. Following his demotion, Lee insults Washington, forcing Laurens to have a duel with him, which displeases Washington. This divisiveness between Burr's and Hamilton's camps leads to disagreements between Hamilton and Washington, who sends Hamilton home.
At Lafayette's insistence, Washington reinstates Hamilton and gives him soldiers to command. Hamilton and Lafayette are assured of victory because Mulligan acts as a spy within the British army. They win the battle of Yorktown and America becomes independent. Burr and Hamilton then compare the young nation to their children, Theodosia and Phillip, respectively. The dreams of Americans, Phillip, and John Laurens, who wished to emancipate black men weigh heavily on Alexander, who buries himself in work. At 1.10.00, he asks Burr to help him with the constitution, but Burr refuses. This obsessiveness with his work, which highly annoys the jealous Burr, leads to him being appointed secretary of the treasury.
Act 2
Some cabinet members do not support Hamilton's economic policies, and Thomas Jefferson arises as an opponent to Washington and Hamilton. Jefferson, Madison, and other Southern states oppose establishing the national bank due to the federal government's control. This debate is represented in the form of a rap battle. At 01.29.00, Hamilton meets Maria Reynolds, and they start an extramarital affair, which Mr. Reynolds uses to extort Hamilton. Hamilton compromises with Jefferson and Madison, and Burr sings the part to show Hamilton's political savviness and declares his ambitions to outwit Hamilton. Burr runs for the senate against Hamilton's father-in-law Phillip Schuyler by changing his party and relying on Hamilton's opponents make him and Hamilton enemies.
A second congressional debate arises whether the US should help France in its revolution war. It is presented in another rap battle, and Washington adopts Hamilton's views of neutrality. Burr, Madison, and Jefferson disclose Washington's support for Hamilton has divided the cabinet in the song, "It must be nice." They decide to follow Hamilton's finances to bring him down and are boosted by Washington's decision not to run for the presidency again. President-elect Adams fires Hamilton, and Jefferson learns of Hamilton's extramarital affair. They show the money he paid as blackmail and hope to shut him forever, but he decides to publicize his affair to salvage his political career. This forces Angelica and Eliza to abandon him while his opponents celebrate that he would never be president. The British king appears in several of the scenes to mock the American congress's unpreparedness and divisiveness.
When Philip Hamilton dies after being shot in a duel to restore his father's name, Eliza and Hamilton get back together and move to uptown, which is quiet. Hamilton withdraws from politics and leads a settled life until he is faced with promoting either Burr or Jefferson in the 1800 elections. Out of anger due to Hamilton's endorsement of Jefferson, Burr challenges Hamilton to a duel. From 2.22.00, we see Burr claiming that Hamilton may have wanted to die since the duel was near the spot where his son was shot. Hamilton thinks of all his loved ones who had died and chose to die there and live his legacy to be interpreted by others. Burr shoots Hamilton, who had aimed at the sky instead of him. He reveals his regret and the fact that Hamilton's death made him a historical villain. He also confesses that slight wisdom would have made him realize the world was wide enough for both of them. The characters give renditions of the greatness of Hamilton and how he is underrated. Eliza concludes by revealing that she took up Hamilton's causes and set the first private orphanage in America in New York City in his memory.
Views on Virtual Plays and the Importance of Music Lessons
Watching Hamilton virtually had a diminished experience of in-person attendance. One loses the excitement present in the theatre, and the energy generated by the audience and the cast is lost. One cannot fully connect with the characters' emotions since the way they are felt in the natural voices, and the songs of the cast cannot be fully portrayed in a recording. Having the characters sweep their eyes across the room and point to the crowd through movements and gestures is different from staring at a screen. Another drawback in virtual attendance is that one is easily distracted from the performance. At home or anywhere else one is viewing from, it is easy to have other competing interests such as disruptions from relatives, social media apps, and surrounding noise. In-person attendance separates an individual from the outside world, and one gets fully engrossed in the performance. The movements by the cast, the songs, and melodies by the ensemble capture one's interest so much that you become an extension of the performers' world. Recorded performances feel more like a movie or something that is already edited and takes some of the aura away, even if the performance is a live record. However, there are advantages, such as watching the musical multiple times and using subtitles. This helped me remember the songs better than I would with one or two in-person attendances. The virtual conferences are also cheaper and convenient since one does not have to travel or face the stress of booking tickets.
Before I took this class, I never understood some concepts of different musical genres, such as the musical setup. I used to think that all live performance musicals were operas. Now I can tell you that musical theatre is different from opera. Operas are arranged in such a way that music is an essential part of the performance and is often accompanied by classical music, while musical theatre focuses a lot on acting like in Hamilton and, as a result, may have longer dance numbers. Musicals also have more non-musical dialogue or fast-forwarded speech-like conversations (sung dialogue or sung through). The voices used in the two also differ, with opera singers often relying on pure voice alone, requiring more vibrato than musical theatre singers to amplify their voices with microphones. I have also learned of the differences between the two acts in a musical. The first act is longer, introduces almost all the characters and major theme songs, while the second shorter act reprises the major tunes already introduced in the first act.
Conclusion
I watched Hamilton virtually on Disney+. The musical talks about the life of Alexander Hamilton. It was interesting, but the experience of watching it virtually was not as great as in-person attendance. At the theatre, one is fully captured by the acting and the silent atmosphere. I was also able to notice some important aspects of this musical that I would not have noticed before picking this class. These including the differences between a musical and an opera, such as the musical setup, the levels of acting, and the extent of dialogue in each. I also noticed the first longer act sets out the major themes and introduces major characters like in Hamilton, where the second act dealt with Hamilton's fall due to events described in detail in the first act.
References
Miranda, L., Kail, T., & Seller, J. (Producers), & Kail, T. (Director). (2020). Hamilton (Musical on Disney+). The Walt Disney.
