Hamilton the truth

[BobMain2]

Posted: 1/7/19 at 1:01pm

Hamilton “The musical Shot Heard ‘Round the World” has seemed to have started a new American Musical revolution with all the publicity it’s been receiving.  I liked what I saw of Miranda’s first show In the Heights, which used mostly R&B and Salsa. But, although Hamilton had clever rhyming and chorography, the lyrics in vulgar gang rap and the weak plot narrative’s lack of using rising action to climax and resolution sadly dropped the bar. 

Honoring our founding fathers with Hamilton’s opening “How does a bastard, orphan, son of a whore…” , was a bit was a bit of a culture shock for me.

[The #MeToo movement might question that description as her husband John Lavien frequently beat and had her jailed as she no longer resided with him.  Fortunately, she had the good sense to flee to the island of Nevis and St. Kitts where she met James Hamilton in 1751 and lived with him for nearly fifteen years, even though she had not formally divorced Lavien]

 

I'm runnin' with the Sons of Liberty and I am lovin' it!
See, that's what happens when you up against the ruffians
We in the **** now, somebody's gotta shovel it!
Hercules Mulligan, I need no introduction
When you knock me down I get the **** back up again!

 

"ten-dollar Founding Father without a father"  “Man, when the British taxed our tea, we got frisky, imagine what’s gon’ happen when you try to tax our whiskey”. 

 

Damn, you’re in worse shape than the national debt is in
Sittin’ there useless as two ****s
Hey, turn around, bend over, I’ll show you
Where my shoe fits

 

 

One would think they were seeing a musical version of Straight Outta Compton. 

 

It was an opportunity missed when compared to Common and John Legend’s Glory 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8z_ifDgElFw

Somewhere in the dream we had an epiphany
Now we right the wrongs in history
No one can win the war individually
It takes the wisdom of the elders and young people's energy
Welcome to the story we call victory.

 

I can handle the profanity, getting down and dirty, taking off the gloves/white wigs, and the street gang rebels vulgar rapping, but it’s so at odds to our actual literate and scholarly founding fathers, which the show should be trying to honor.  Look at Thomas Paine’s 47-page pamphlet Common Sense, if you want to see how eloquent the founding fathers were contrasted to this show’s street vulgar gang rap. Thomas Jefferson’s statements of human liberty and equality do seem to be a bit at odds in gang rap.  “We hold these truths to be self-evident” can be communicated gang rap, slang, twitter, even emojis, but will this will find a new way to capture its beauty and enlightenment?  What the ****—I suppose a diversity of styles can be fun.  If Straight Outta Compton can revolutionize Hip Hop culture with tales about life in the hood, shouldn’t Hamilton?

 

Miranda’s choice of putting his history lesson into kind of an oratorio style, where characters summarize the events that tarely ever interact with one another, doesn’t give us three dimensional protagonists that pulls us into the story. Despite the incredible talent of the cast, the show’s constant rap beats like a stuck metronome.  The ensemble of dancers going on and off stage almost constantly, does give the story a sense of non-stop motion, but this history lesson in declamatory rap gets tedious as it recites with little dramatic variety or beauty.  The rap all seems very mechanical.  If only the cast could just step out their metered march and touch us with something real like “Molasses and rum” does in Sherman Edwards musical 1776.

 

Molasses to rum to slaves
'Tisn't morals, 'tis money that saves
Shall we dance to the sound
Of the profitable pound
In molasses and rum and slaves
 

'Tis Boston can boast
To the West Indies coast
"Jamaica, we brung what ye craves"
Antigua, Barbados
We brung Bibles and slaves

 

Molasses to rum to slaves
Who sail the ships back to Boston
Laden with gold, see it gleam
Whose fortunes are made
In the triangle trade
Hail slavery, the New England dream

 

Also using Burr as Hamilton’s Judas/Javert is a bit of a red herring.   For the most part they worked together and even got along.  When Hamilton had his scandalous affair 1792 and Monroe challenged him to a duel, it was averted by none other than Aaron Burr.  The split came later when Hamilton supported Jefferson for president instead of Burr in the 1800 election.

 

Hamilton fails to really celebrate the winning the war for independence against Miranda’s foppish King George. Similarly, none of the major events in the recited history lesson seems to really catch fire, the company just talks about them.  Hamilton’s first act badly needs conflict and a real adversary to pull us into the conflicts in the story.  The war lasted for over 8 years and 1 out of every 20 able bodied Americans died fighting for our independence. Hamilton complaining being pass over in Washington’s field promotions is part of it, but the show should pull into the bigger picture of America’s battles and victories.   

 

The American Revolution ended when Britain and the infant United States won the war and they both signed the treaty of Paris. Hamilton’s Act I finale, in an anticlimax, ends with just talking about the Federalist papers.  These newspaper essays were hasty written in three or four a weeks to support New York’s ratification of the Constitution.  Unfortunately, by the time New York voted, it had already passed.  Was this the big event to stand up and cheer for the ending of the first act of Hamilton? 

 

Hamilton biggest problem is overlooking what our revolution was actually about. It forgets the Sons of Liberty’s mantra: "No taxation without representation". Hamilton changes the English colonies fighting against taxes and the rule of England and to a conflict with immigrants and slaves against slavery.  This may resonate with some groups, but it’s not the story of the British colonies fight from English rule

 

The Revolutionary war was not against slavery.  The founders accepted slavery as an institution.  George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin and James Madison were all slave holders.

Number of slaves each president owned. (CAPS indicate the president owned slaves while serving as the chief executive): [1] - GEORGE WASHINGTON (between 250-350 slaves) - THOMAS JEFFERSON (about 200) - JAMES MADISON (more than 100) - JAMES MONROE (about 75) - ANDREW JACKSON (fewer than 200) - Martin Van Buren (one) - William Henry Harrison (eleven) - JOHN TYLER (about 70) - JAMES POLK (about 25) - ZACHARY TAYLOR (fewer than 150) - Andrew Johnson (probably eight) - Ulysses S. Grant (probably five).

 

Hamilton mother, Rachel Lavien lived with James Hamilton, a Scottish trader.  They lived on Nevis, an island in the British West Indies near St. Croix.  They had two sons, Peter and Alexander.  She lived with him for nearly fifteen years, even though she had not formally divorced her former husband.   When Alexander was ten years old, they moved to the island of St. Croix. Of the 24,000 residents on the island, 22,000 were slaves. They owned a dry goods store and owned 7 slaves.  After discovering that Rachel was still technically married to John Lavien, James Hamilton left Rachel and returned to Nevis and St. Kitts, leaving her and his two sons behind. To make matters worse, his mother died of severe illness, when Hamilton was only 13 years old.  Ironically, when his mother died, she left two slaves to her sons—one to James and the other to Alexander.  The sons never took possession of these slaves as the court held that since they were the illegitimate offspring of a fallen woman, they had no right of inheritance.

 

Hamilton worked as a clerk for Beekman and Cruger Company in Christiansted on St. Croix.  The company traded sugar and African slaves with New England.  Hamilton recorded the arrivals of slaves from the Gold Coast of West Africa. They were, he reported, “very indifferent indeed, sickly and thin . . .” and commented on the bottom line, “they average about 30 [pounds sterling].”  Hamilton’s excelled in his position and ran the company when the firm’s owner was absent at sea. 

 

In 1780, Hamilton married Elizabeth Schuyler, from a prominent New York slaveholding family. He bought for his in-laws "2 negro servants" from N. Low for $250 in 1796 according to Hamilton's own expense book.  Hamilton deducted $225 from Church's account on 29 May 1797 for the purchase of "a Negro Woman and Child.  Although Hamilton was not an advocate of slavery and did not own slaves himself, opposing slavery was never at the forefront of his agenda.

 

The Revolutionary War:  Here’s the long and short of it!  It began as a conflict between Great Britain and her Thirteen Colonies. The British were overtaxing American colonies pay for Britain’s war debt from the French and Indian War.  They revolted and declared their independence as the United States of America and the fight began.  We formed a militia, drove the British out and formed our own government

 

[HAMILTON]
You have your orders now, go, man, go!
And so the American experiment begins
With my friends all scattered to the winds
Laurens is in South Carolina, redefining brav’ry
[HAMILTON/LAURENS]
We’ll never be free until we end slavery!
[HAMILTON]
When we finally drive the British away

[LAURENS]
Black and white soldiers wonder alike if this really means freedom

Slavery and indentured servants within England was pretty done at that time in England, and it was outlawed in 1772.  It was abolished in all British colonies in 1833.  But the colonies had slavery both before the war for independence and long after.  My gosh, even in the Declaration of Independence, the delegates had Jefferson cross out the antislavery clause in the Declaration:

 

“He (king George) has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of life and liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating and carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere or to incur miserable death in their transportation thither.  This piratical warfare, the opprobrium of infidel powers, is the warfare of the Christian King of Great Britain.  Determined to keep open a market where Men should be bought and sold, he has prostituted his negative for suppressing every legislative attempt to prohibit or restrain this execrable commerce.

 

Slavery was also implicitly permitted in the Constitution through the Three-Fifths Compromise, which detailed how each slave state's enslaved population would be factored for apportioning seats in the United States House of Representatives and direct taxes among the states. Slavery wasn’t abolished until the 13th amendment 100 years after the war for independence.

 

[LAURENS]
They'll tell the story of tonight
[ELIZA]
"On Tuesday, the twenty-seventh, Lieutenant Colonel John Laurens was killed in a gunfight against British troops in South Carolina. These troops had not yet received word from Yorktown that the war was over. He's buried here until his family can send for his remains. As you may know, Lieutenant Colonel Laurens was engaged in recruiting three thousand men for the first all-black military regiment. 

The surviving members of this regiment have been returned to their masters."

 [LAURENS]
Tomorrow there'll be more of us

 

However, England’s Lord Dunmore In November 1775, promised freedom to all the slaves and indentured servants of revolutionaries who would take up arms and fight for “His Majesty’s crown and dignity.”  Most believed that victory by the British would lead to the end of their slavery. Slaves rushed to Norfolk to join “Lord Dunmore’s Regiment.” Across the chest of each black soldier appeared the words “Liberty to Slaves”.  

 

By the end of the war, from 20,000 to 100,000 enslaved blacks—as many as one in five enslaved Africans from all 13 states including George Washington’s own slave Harry, ran to the combined British-black army.  Washington had refused to accept slaves into the official Continental Army.  Lord Dunmore’s proclamation prompted Washington in 1777 to reverse his decision barring free blacks. 

 

Roughly a year later, enough slaves in Rhode Island were promised freedom in exchange for military service—enlisted to fill two battalions.  For South Carolina and Georgia, it was a different story. Even with increasing pressure from Congress for additional manpower, those colonies would not arm slaves.  The use of slaves in the battles is to be an important element in Hamilton, but it shouldn’t be half told as just as many were recruited by the British.   

 

King George defeated France in the Seven Years' War, becoming the dominant European power in North America and India. George wanted to "keep the rebels harassed, anxious, and poor, until the day when, discontent and disappointment were converted into penitence and remorse”.  That’s the bully that should be the show’s bad guy. But this show makes King George into a foppish preening drag for a few laughs, who just thinks the Colonists are just being very bad boys. Moreover, he’s always all alone without any solders, not menacing at all.  This takes away any real drama from the battle. Also, being British he gets a Beetles style song.

 

With all this show’s supposed diversity, what’s with the “single” white casting of King George?    How come only a white guy get to play the bad guy?  The original casting call specifying “NON-WHITE men and women” actors (later amended) for ongoing and future productions of the show. Lin-Manuel Miranda: “It is essential to the storytelling of Hamilton that the principal roles — which were written for non-white characters, excepting King George.

 

L-MM “There are only 3 roles specifically designated for Hispanic actors on Broadway: Paul San Marco in A CHORUS LINE, Bernardo in West Side Story, and Cervantes in Man of La Mancha.”  “I don’t dance well enough to play Bernardo [West Side Story], or Paul in The Chorus Line. And I don’t have enough of an operatic voice to play the Man of La Mancha. And if you’re a Latino man, that’s all you get.” The idea has always been to look the way America looks now, so it doesn’t exclude anyone.” ‘Hamilton’ is a story very deliberately told to reflect what America looks like right now. We have every color represented …”.

 

While I applaud more minority casting for shows, excluding all whites, except for King George, is not how America really looks right now.  African Americans are 12%, Hispanic and Latino 18%, native is 1%, and white make up 61%. Whites are currently the minority in California, Nevada, New Mexico, Maryland, District of Columbia, and Hawaii.  Non-white children under 10 years of age are now the majority, and the US will be “minority white” less than two decades.

At the dawn of the American Revolution, 20 percent of the population in the thirteen colonies was of African descent. The first official United States Census taken in 1790 showed that only eight percent of the black populace was free.  If L-MM had to include slaves in the story, how would they be cast?  In Hamilton all the main characters are being played by people of color, but there are no historical people of color find a place in Hamilton’s narrative.   Washington had hundreds of slaves, why pretend they aren’t there?  While I applaud L-MM being race conscious, I would prefer the show to be colorblind or color conscious, instead of just excluding white performers.  (

 

Lin-Manuel Miranda’s calling for a black and minority casting, with the exception of making King George white, was just a gimmick. Fortunately, Miranda had no historical blacks in his history to avoid inconsistency on the stage.  Blacks reflecting our founding fathers seems a bit awkward, but having whites doing street-gang hip hop probably wouldn’t have looked much better. I suppose it is what is.  But just using color blind casting with all races would have made more sense. Broadway been doing it for years.  We’ve had black Dolly’s, Annie’s, Lion King, Phantom… We should have a black Eponine years ago as Alexander Dumas was black, but any kind of actor will do just fine.  That’s why they’re called actors. Stop with the race cards and just have open casting.

 

Hamilton is a musical that lives and breathes hip-hop and its music used a diverse cast to try to state frankly, no, not everything, even history, should just about white people. But this can alter many parts of our country’s history to half-truths and even dishonesty.    I am in favor of Colorblind Casting or Non-Traditional Casting is where characters for a performed work are cast without regard to race, gender, age, etc. However, there is no such thing as true color-blind casting. Race has an impact on decision making, whether or not that impact is acknowledged.

 

Color-conscious casting means the roles are open to different races, but productions need to consider how the audience will react to those choices. Color-conscious casting puts a burden on the play to justify the relationship in the historical context,” If the casting does not address race, she it could whitewash racism that really was in existence in that period by creating a pretend special relationship.  This is an often contradictory — bent that reflects both the need for diversity and the need for “authenticity.” For example, if there is a romantic connection between the two families, and if one is black, it could introduce the concept of an interracial relationships in a time and place where it didn’t exist.  Just get over it!  A modern audience needs to just see the cast as “just people” ones that they can relate to, as most situations and conflicts are truly universal. 

However, some plays require racial casting if it is available.  I cannot imagine an all-black or all white cast for A Raisin in the Sun being able to convey a black family's experiences fighting racism and white supremacy in the United States in the 30’s. Moreover, the telling our country’s very short history without race would be dishonest.  Racism was just as real in time of Hamilton as it is now in this country.  That truth needs to be exposed, not concealed.   

Hamilton only mentions slavery a handful of times—one could easily assume that slavery did not exist in this world, and it was not an important part of the lives and livelihoods of the men who created the nation.  The casting brings attention to a glaring omission in the show: despite the proliferation of black and brown bodies onstage, not a single enslaved or free person of color exists as a character in this play.

 

The exception is only a couple of bars, when a chorus member assumes the role of Sally Hemings, the enslaved woman with whom he had an ongoing sexual relationship. In Hamilton Lin-Manuel Miranda eradicates race from the history of the United States. The song “Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down)” does reference “black and white soldiers” at the Battle of Yorktown and during

“Cabinet Battle #1,” when Hamilton/Thomas Jefferson for the security of the South’s slave-holding economy,

A civics lesson from a slaver. Hey neighbor
Your debts are paid cuz you don’t pay for labor

 

 

Lin-Manuel Miranda was asked if he would consider female actors in the roles of America's Founding Fathers. He talked about the differences in men and women’s voices, and then he added, "… I'm totally open to women playing founding fathers once this goes into the world. I can't wait to see kick-ass women Jefferson’s and kickass women Hamilton’s once this gets to schools.”  [One can Hardly wait for the #MeToo, Trans, and GNC (Gender Non-Conforming) versions of our US history.]

 

However, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton casting removes race from our history.  Sorry, but it’s part of the true story and these racial problems are woven all through our history and continue to be with us. Instead of brown, yellow or blackface, the show simply removes all race from our history.  Hey!  It’s just a show, you can put them all in masks too, but the show will be missing an essential part of our country’s history should not be hidden. Race was why the delegates had Jefferson cross out the antislavery clause in the Declaration of Independence.  I would not want anyone, especially young people, shielded the racial progress we have made throughout the history of the US.  This show is closing our eyes to race and pretending it simply isn’t there.  Discrimination is still with us and we need to keep it in our history.  Many even now also continue to deny the Holocaust.  

 

The tedious uninvolving story and lack of excitement were only one of the show’s problems.  Fatigue was another.  “Hamilton” has 3 to 4 times more words in the show than most musicals. Lin-Manuel Miranda explained, in an interview , that it would be impossible to tell Hamilton’s story at the pace of a conventional musical.

 

 L-MM, “It would have to be 12 hours long, because the amount of words on the bars when you’re writing a typical song — that’s maybe got 10 words per line,” he said. “Whereas here we can cram all this **** in all the margins.” 

 

So, L-MM “crammed this ****”—A total of 20,520 words into Hamilton's two hour and 23 minutes.  If Hamilton were sung at the same pace of other shows it would run somewhere between four to six hours. 

 

Show                             Total words

Hamilton                           20,520

Spring Awaking                 4,709

Phantom of the Opera      6,789  

Company                           5,085

1776                                   2,735

Candide                             5,616        

Oklahoma!                         4,303

Pirates of Penzance          5,962

 

Sometimes more words are, well, is just more words, unless you really have something new to say.  This is what contributes to Hamilton’s verbal overload. One wonders, for example, with almost 3 hours running time L-MM needed so much filler for The room where it happened.

 

[Thomas Jefferson and James Madison] and an immigrant* [Hamilton]

*Why is Hamilton treated like an Ellis Island immigrant?  He is an American and qualified to run for President.  When the new Constitution was adopted: Article II, Section 1, specifies: No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President;

 

Two Virginians

walk into a room

 

Diametric’ly opposed, foes

They emerge with a compromise, having opened doors that were

Previously closed

Bros

The immigrant emerges with unprecedented financial power

A system he can shape however he wants

The Virginians emerge with the nation’s capital

And here’s the piece de resistance:

 [BURR]
No one else was in
The room where it happened
The room where it happened
The room where it happened
No one else was in
The room where it happened
The room where it happened
The room where it happened
No one really knows how the game is played
The art of the trade
How the sausage gets made
We just assume that it happens
But no one else is in
The room where it happens The room where it happens….*

*“The room where it happens” lyric is repeated many, many more times—I just didn’t print them all.

I suppose a weak lyric is better than nothing, and if you just keep repeating it long enough and then add a banjo to the hip-hop mix, it’s golden.

 

And why does the shoe need a number about Burr’s bitching that he wasn’t in the room where it happened anyway?  He wouldn’t have been invited to the room where it happened for the June congressional dinner meeting as NY state’s attorney general.  Burr didn’t make it to Congress until 1791.  Miranda creates the dinner party diplomacy in Burr's imagination.  Why not show the sausage actually being made in congress where it was passed, instead of all this imaginary verbal repetition? 

 

Central to the compromise was a bargain where southerners agreed to change their votes and support if Congress would relocate the capital city of the United States after a ten-year temporary residence at Philadelphia. This carried the strong implication that the North would not raise serious objections to the institution of slavery, since the capital would now be located on the Potomac in two slave states, Maryland and Virginia.

 

Three key Southerners -- George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison -- finagled locating the national capital, Washington, DC, in slave territory. The capital started out in New York City, in a free state, then moved to Philadelphia. But in Philadelphia a slave-owner could only keep a slave for six months before freeing him, unless he was temporarily sent into slave territory, which was inconvenient to the owner. The founders set aside land around a slave town, Alexandria, Virginia, to serve as the capital of the new nation.

 

Sondheim’s song Someone in a tree in Pacific Overtures comes to mind, where no one knows what happened in the treaty house.  The old man and the boy report what they’ve seen from a tree, and the soldier hiding under the floorboards reports what he’s heard. Sondheim gives it from three points of view and this song is brilliant.

 

"The World Turned Upside Down" is an old 1640’s English ballad protesting against the policies of Parliament relating to the celebration of Christmas.

 

In the surrender of British troops, article 3 stated that: "the garrison of York will march out to a place to be appointed in front of the posts, at two o’clock precisely, with shouldered arms, colors cased, and drums beating a British or German march. There was no historical record of song or songs were played by the band. The account of it being that song was added to the historical record almost a100 years after the event.

 

This show also lacks memorable melodies.  I’m not asking for Che gelida manina, but couldn’t Hamilton step out of the rapped history lesson and give us some real emotion, about what he feels about the Nation he’s building or perhaps even a love song?  Moreover, if it had a beautiful song, or melody, to soften the monotonous beating of this show. Usually most shows have at least one standout musical theme that rises above the rest, Beauty and the Beast’s “Tale as old as time…”, Evita’s “Don’t cry…”, Les Miz’s “One more day…and this show could surely use a “Do you hear the people sing?”, and I can’t think of it, but Hello Dolly may even have one. I didn’t find myself humming anything from the show as I was leaving.

 

But the show did have one catchy recurring leitmotif “Not throwing away my shot” that pervades the show.  Ironically, Hamilton does indeed throw away his shot in his famous dual with Raymond Burr which is central to the story.  The other context means not throwing his shot at fame or place in history, but this creates an awkward double meaning throughout the entire show.

 

Hamilton:

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

 

But when it finally comes time to duel with Burr and his shot, Hamilton sings,

“If I shoot first and throw it away He has to yield.”  “We both get to live another day” “I know this puts me in a difficult spot, but I’ve got to throw away my shot.   [Hamilton does throw away his shot]

 

Wikipedia: Hamilton did fire his weapon intentionally, and he fired first. But he aimed to miss Burr, sending his ball into the tree above and behind Burr's location. In so doing, he did not withhold his shot, but he did waste it.  Hamilton wrote a note, entitled “Statement of Impending Duel with Aaron Burr” stating he would “throw away my first fire.”  Indeed, Hamilton did throw away his first shot. 

Hamilton was fatally wrong about Burr yielding and both of them living another day.  This recurring lyric “I am not throwing away my shot”, as far as the famous dual is totally false, yet it is repeated endlessly throughout the entire show. It just needs to be scraped. For what’s it worth, here it is in the other context:

https://www.thewrap.com/snl-lin-manuel-miranda-whips-out-not-throwing-away-my-shot-parody/

 

At the end of the first act, I was exhausted from this long monotonous rapped history lesson. If the show made the war for independence tedious, the the second act done much in the same manor, dealing with Hamilton’s establishment of our national bank, foreign and domestic debt, and the U S Mint, seemed like it would be just as tedious, so I bailed at intermission and went home. My date said that he like the first half much better, so perhaps it was for the best.

 

Hamilton’s version of our history gave me little stand up and cheer about.  But, when they dimmed the lights, the audience went crazy and most had never seen the show.  I can’t believe this show with a single wooden balcony set devoid of any effects except a turntable and some chairs costs any more to produce than shows like Les Misérables, Wicked, Miss Saigon, or Phantom of the Opera.  But with all the show’s hype, and the money they were charging, the story of the Emperor’s new clothes did come to mind.  Charging thousands of dollars with a B list cast on an essentially bare stage, would be a tough sell even for Bernie Madoff. 

 

Hamilton, one of the great founding fathers, in addition to being instrumental in the war for America’s independence, was the author of America’s economic policies and the architect of our financial and banking system. Hamilton’s gravestone said, “The PATRIOT of incorruptible INTEGRITY/The SOLDIER of approved VALOUR/The STATESMAN of consummate WISDOM.” 

 

Hamilton’s brilliant accomplishment’s in the forging of our country has much to make us stand up and cheer, but the show’s lack of excitement and tedious rhythmic droning just holds it back.  The show’s semi-dramatic dialogue in a metronomic slog fails to muster up much excitement, but at least the dancers onstage did give the story constant sense of motion. 

 

But my biggest problem with Hamilton was my failure to understand just why on earth they were charging us thousands of dollars to see it. My second one was setting this history in a metered rap using a chorus to show emotions and personalities with little theatrical interaction between them.  The constant rap rhythm made it feel like the cast were just reciting and chanting the events to me, in choregraphed patterns, not really bringing them to life.  While I did admire the clever rhyming, but there was little poetry in the lyrics.  Moreover, if Lin-Manuel Miranda could also have gotten the history right, it would have made for a much better show. 

 

I am not putting Lin-Manuel Miranda abilities down, as he one of the brightest new lights in the theater.  Listen to 'Evolution of Lin-Manuel Miranda', a soulful celebration of Lin's groundbreaking musical creations! https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=381&v=6PGV_p4iPiE  The music, harmonies, the transitions, are an inspiration.

 

Regrettably, Hamilton is a historically dishonest, tedious, vulgar, and dramatically flat, street gang rapped dance diorama on Alexander Hamilton’s place in American history.   But I have hope for his next show. I’m sure it will easily surpass this one.

 

Peace, Bob Main

 

Post Script:

 

One final frustration.  Hercules Mulligan appears in the first act of the play as a friend of Alexander Hamilton, John Laurens, and Marquis de Lafayette.  Hercules Mulligan was a discrete but silver-tongued Irish immigrant in New York City, who prospered as a haberdasher, tailoring garments for colonial aristocrats and British officers. He attended King's College (now Columbia University) in New York City. After graduating Mulligan helped Hamilton enroll at the Elizabethtown Academy in New Jersey, and later, the College of New Jersey at Princeton (now Princeton University).

After Hamilton enrolled at King's College, he lived with Mulligan in New York City.  Mulligan had a profound impact on Hamilton's desire for revolution. Mulligan became one of the first colonists to join the Sons of Liberty. He was a member of the New York Committee of Correspondence, a group that rallied opposition to the British through written communications. When George Washington spoke of his need for reliable information from within New York City in 1776, Hamilton recommended Mulligan due to his placement as tailor to British soldiers and officers. Mulligan's slave, Cato, was a Black Patriot who served as a spy together with Mulligan, and often acted the role of courier, in part through British-held territory, by exploiting his status as a slave, letting him pass on intelligence to the Continental Army without being stopped. Hercules is buried in New York’s Trinity Church, next to his friend Alexander Hamilton.

 

Lin-Manual Miranda in Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down) Lyrics’ has Mr. Mulligan singing,

“We in the **** now, somebody's gotta shovel it!...” And so, Miranda does.  Our founding fathers were intelligent, educated and literate men.  I felt that their portrayal as hip vulgar gang rappers, did little to respect them.

Peace Bob Main

[haterobics]

Posted: 1/7/19 at 1:07pm

BobMain2 said: "Our founding fathers were intelligent, educated and literate men. I felt that their portrayal as hip vulgar gang rappers, did little to respect them."

You realize this wasn't a documentary?

[TheGingerBreadMan]

Posted: 1/7/19 at 1:08pm

This post is ridiculous. Do everyone a favor and stop.

[JBroadway]

Posted: 1/7/19 at 1:34pm

I didnt make it through your whole post (Ill try again later when I have a bit more time on my hands), but Id just like to say I think its extremely reductive to call the lyrics in the show vulgar gang rap. With a few notable exceptions (which you chose to cherrypick), there is actually not very much profanity or vulgarity in the show. And there are tons of insightful, poetic, highly LITERATE lyrics in the show. Especially from the character of Hamilton himself. Passages that are on par, or greater, than the lyrics in Glory. And even the more down and dirty sections can still communicate truth and intelligence without using high-brow vocabulary.

[Huss417]

Posted: 1/7/19 at 1:39pm

Stopped reading as this seems to have more words then the 20,000 you say Hamilton has.

[HogansHero]

Posted: 1/7/19 at 2:08pm

Everyone is entitled to their opinions and to their rants, even one unsuited at least in length for the chosen forum. But you misapprehend so terribly much that it is hard to take your screed seriously. Scholarship, if that's what you are after, requires understanding your subject before criticizing it. Anything less is just a reaction.

[wonkit]

Posted: 1/7/19 at 10:11pm

I have not seen HAMILTON yet - going later this month - but I appreciate anyone who can reflect at length about what he has seen and how he has reacted to it. Most of the writing about the show feels like hagiography and not theatrical criticism. I look forward to judging for myself very soon. Thank you, Bob Main 2, for the effort you put into your post.

[antonijan]

Posted: 1/7/19 at 10:28pm

Nice book report.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 1/7/19 at 10:35pm

"Sometimes more words are, well, is just more words"

 

Your post is, are, well one of those pot-kettles.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 1/7/19 at 10:37pm

No, this is YOUR truth.  You're allowed not to like the show, there are plenty that don't - however, this is all your OPINION.

 

I loved the show, my kids loved the show, the overwhelming majority of people that see it love it.  It's ok that you don't.

 

 

[ThaDudeAbides]

Posted: 1/7/19 at 10:43pm

Statesmanship is more than entertaining peasants.

[Wee Thomas2]

Posted: 1/8/19 at 6:42am

Dude!  Only took you 3 years to come up with this?

Much is rehashed from earlier threads here, but ok.

 

Also, you missed one VERY IMPORTANT part:  Our founding fathers, they were all White Guys!

[Patty3]

Posted: 1/8/19 at 8:40am

I think Trump could use your help with tonights speech about why he should build a wall.

[Jocelyn3]

Posted: 1/8/19 at 10:05am

Take a break.

[dmwnc1959]

Posted: 1/8/19 at 10:06am

Wee Thomas2 said: "Also, you missed one VERY IMPORTANT part: Our founding fathers, they were all White Guys!"

 

Next you’re going to tell me they didn’t know how to rap. WTF. Way to ruin a show for me.