{"id":14380,"date":"2020-07-02T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-07-02T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/?p=14380"},"modified":"2024-03-02T21:19:02","modified_gmt":"2024-03-03T05:19:02","slug":"watch-this-hamilton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/watch-this-hamilton\/","title":{"rendered":"Watch This: Hamilton<\/i>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In the five years since Hamilton\u2019s<\/em> debut, Lin-Manuel Miranda\u2019s musical has saturated popular culture to the point of parody. It\u2019s hard to find someone who doesn\u2019t know the show\u2019s opening lines, or doesn\u2019t have \u201cThe Schuyler Sisters,\u201d \u201cMy Shot\u201d or \u201cYou\u2019ll Be Back\u201d floating through their head at least once a week. All this is to say, it could be easily argued that the show\u2019s fresh, sharp take on American history has dulled somewhat by repetition. It\u2019s still good, it\u2019s just not new anymore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The version of the show streaming Friday on Disney+<\/a> isn\u2019t that surprising. It\u2019s exactly as advertised, a recorded version of a live performance. However, its timing, on a Fourth of July weekend in the middle of ongoing Black Lives Matter protests, is not-so-quietly revolutionary. Hamilton\u2019s<\/em> multi-layered message of history and inclusion is as necessary as it\u2019s ever been. Current events give this recorded 2016 performance an extra dose of context that makes it crackle back to life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Hamilton<\/em> adapts Ron Chernow\u2019s biography of founding father Alexander Hamilton (played by Miranda), and recounts Hamilton\u2019s role in the American experiment, as well as his tumultuous relationship with Aaron Burr (Leslie Odom Jr.), who ultimately killed Hamilton in a duel. Miranda gives the story relevance through casting performers of color in all the main roles; Jonathan Groff\u2019s gloriously daffy King George III is the only white performer. The showtunes are the other fresh element, a rainbow mix of hip-hop and pop music. Characters\u2019 singing and rapping styles are tuned to their personalities\u2014Hamilton\u2019s wife, Eliza Schuyler, and her sisters sound like an R&B girl group, George III sings dated-but-fun british invasion pop, and Revolutionary spy Hercules Mulligan performs Busta Rhymes-inflected gangster rap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For those familiar with the show\u2019s songs, but who haven\u2019t seen them performed, the filmed version brings some welcome nuance. There\u2019s not much connective tissue between songs, and the plot breezes right past, despite a running time of over two and a half hours. However, getting to actually see the interplay between Odom\u2019s Burr (who also serves as the show\u2019s narrator) and Miranda\u2019s Hamilton\u2014not just hear it on a cast recording\u2014adds a great deal of complexity. It takes on an element of jealousy that recalls Amadeus<\/em>, with Burr as the striving, frustrated Salieri to Hamilton\u2019s blazing, effortlessly talented Mozart. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Of course, the point of Hamilton<\/em> isn\u2019t just \u201chistory but make it cool.\u201d At its heart is the message that the story of America (and its present) doesn\u2019t belong solely to rich, white men. America is constantly evolving, built on the contributions of a diverse array of people, all of whom deserve the opportunity to make their mark on the world. That message still comes through loud and clear, perhaps even more so now that the musical can be viewed in homes across the country (and not just by the lucky few who can afford a ticket). In the middle of a moment where we\u2019re surrounded by reminders of America at its worst, Hamilton<\/em> is a welcome reminder of what we should be at our best: a diverse, colorful, idealistic world of open possibilities. \"\"\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Hamilton” streams Friday on Disney+<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the five years since Hamilton\u2019s debut, Lin-Manuel Miranda\u2019s musical has saturated popular culture to the point of parody. It\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":577,"featured_media":14383,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[340,1381],"tags":[1098,162,1425],"class_list":["post-14380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","category-movies","tag-movie-review","tag-movies","tag-watch-this"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/577"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14380"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14380\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22791,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14380\/revisions\/22791"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}