Hamilton: An American Musical By Lin-Manuel Miranda

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Hamilton: An American Musical is a musical written by Lin-Manuel Miranda that brings to life the story of Alexander Hamilton, one of America’s founding fathers. Miranda manages to make this historical piece dynamic and engaging. For instance, the soundtrack strays from a typical musical by including genres such as rap and R&B. In this way, Hamilton seamlessly blends history with contemporary trends. However, much of the performance relies upon carefully chosen design elements to convey the overall message. The unique set design and the costumes worn by the characters throughout the musical work together to elevate the performance in Hamilton: An American Musical. The turntables built into the stage and the scaffolding surrounding it help emphasize …show more content…

An example of this is during the song “Take A Break”. Hamilton is in the main area of the stage, sitting at a desk and writing a letter to Angelica. Meanwhile, Angelica stands on the scaffolding. This allows us to see Angelica’s reaction to the letter, while also reminding us that she is away in London, not present with Hamilton in New York. Another example of this usage of the scaffolding is in the song “Stay Alive”. On the main stage, Hamilton talks with General Washington and his fellow soldiers and strategizing about how to overtake the British Army. Meanwhile, Eliza is standing on the scaffolding in the background. Eventually Angelica joins her on the scaffolding, and they embrace, as if to suggest that Eliza has just given Angelica some exciting news. In the next scene, we learn that Eliza is pregnant with Hamilton’s child, a fact that was cleverly foreshadowed through the use of the scaffolding. Another important aspect of the scaffolding is that the staircases descending from it are portable. They use this feature in the song “What’d I Miss” when Thomas Jefferson is returning from serving as a foreign minister in

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