On February 17, 2015, the world of Broadway and musical theatre was introduced to Hamilton: An American Musical written by young composer, Lin Manuel-Miranda. Hamilton is a musical, based on the book Alexander Hamilton written by Ron Chernow, which tells the story of the life and tragedies of founding father Alexander Hamilton. This musical uses various styles of rap, hip-hop and R&B music that remain foreign genres when it comes to the average show tune that you’ve heard. Bringing in about $30 million at the box-office and rising, Hamilton is right behind other blockbuster musicals such as Wicked and The Lion King for the title of one of the highest-grossing shows currently on Broadway (Piepenburg, 2016). Winner of 11 Tonys, this …show more content…
Kuesel (2016) states, “Though “Hamilton’s” titular character is the focus of the show, Hamilton’s perspective is by no means the only viewpoint explored over the course of the play,” she goes on to say, “The audience sees Hamilton as a great orator in the eyes of his friends, a greedy elitist in the eyes of his enemies and a hero in the eyes of his wife”. Miranda chose these styles because he realized early on that hip-hop and show tunes, even though they have different sounds and audiences they can both be used as a methods of storytelling (Paulson, 2015). He uses Hamilton and his friends to show off the stereotypical style of rap the “8 Mile” style in which he was inspired by in the first place. The Schuyler sisters are smooth and angelic while still pulling towards the modernity of their times. The urban-contemporary style that Miranda gives them gives off a very “Destiny’s Child” inspired sound. While on the other end he uses King George to tie in the traditional show tune and musical sound that we are used to because he is a character that clings to the past (Langer, …show more content…
Since this musical was based on a book by Ron Chernow, Miranda had Chernow be a historical consultant on the project. Miranda went to Chernow whenever he did stray from historical record or take dramatic license to defend it because he knew he would have to explain to our country why he would change something like this (Delman, 2015). Miranda claims, “My only responsibility as a playwright and storyteller is to give you the time of your life in the theatre. All the most interesting things in the show actually happened. They’re not shit I made up” (Delman, 2015). He had decided to leave out several things that Hamilton believed in such as elitism and senators and presidents should be in office for life. It also bashes Jefferson for being a slave owner even though Hamilton’s opposition to slavery was not central to his political pursuits. The musical leads on the fantasy that if Hamilton had not been killed, he would’ve gone on to play an important role in the abolitionist struggle, which is untrue (Frank and Kramnick,
He accuses Jefferson of being “off getting high with the French” while “we — (being Hamilton and other true Americans, in this case directly associating him with George Washington, who was with Hamilton in the situation referred to here, the siege at Yorktown) — almost died in a trench.” In a final contrast to Hamilton himself, he describes Jefferson as “hesitant” and “reticent.” Hamilton, neither of those things, finishes with the mature “Damn, you’re in worse shape than the national debt is in / Sittin’ there useless as two shits / Hey, turn around, bend over, I’ll show you where my shoe fits.” By that point, the Congress is so involved that they don’t wait for a pause to laugh and they even provide a chanted accompaniment to the last lines before erupting into chaos. It takes George Washington to calm everyone down, and though Jefferson taunts that Hamilton doesn’t “have the votes,” Hamilton walks away from the battle the clear
You may of heard about the musical Hamilton, witch is about the great founding father Alexander Hamilton. Do you know all the other facts about his life? Here are some of his biggest facts.
This is where Hamilton dies, but actually both of the participants were casualties because Hamilton died, but was honored by the people and the government. However, Burr lost everything such as his reputation, and his position. Major mistakes that come from Burr and Hamilton was when Burr betrayed Jefferson when he was running his second term by switching political parties Jefferson's enemy Federalists which made Hamilton to say that he's despicable. Burr is too ambitious and desperate when it comes to politics like Jefferson. Hamilton in other hand was an arrogant. He insults Burr periodically, which made Burr to lose his position and reputation by publicly. In conclusion, by starting with a violent clash between Hamilton and Burr, establishes that the stakes for which these men had learned to debate one another. The end of this chapter did end in violent death, but the reader now understands that the author views these relationships as fiery and passionate although they were flawed by destroying their friendship, lives, and careers by insulting, killing, debating, and betraying one another, but they all failed to achieve their full aspirations due to their flawed
Hamilton cared truly about America and worked diligently to make it a better place financially. Burr on the other hand, seems to me like an opportunist who rose to power but did not seem to care about anything but that power. I believe Hamilton was right when he spoke of Burr as a man who did not care about one thing or another, except profit. Burr saw politics as a game and Hamilton saw it as leading a nation and cared who did it and how it was done. I believe the duel itself also illustrates that Hamilton had more honor in his life. All the way up to the point of the gunfight, Hamilton tried to diffuse the flames, albeit without truly apologizing because of his own stubbornness. I believe his anger at how Burr was with politics made it too difficult for Hamilton to apologize to a man who did not seem to care about anything but profit and having a good
Alexander Hamilton was born a bastard child in the West Indies and demonstrated great intellectual potential at an early age. He was sent to New York City for schooling and studied at King’s College, now Columbia University. His vision of America took a more capitalistic tone and “he was determined to transform an economically weak and fractious cluster of states into a powerful global force” (Tindall & Shi, 2010). Hamilton advocated a strong central government. He was bold and persuasive and his philosophies quite extraordinary for his time.
The book was the biography about one of our founding fathers and our first Treasury-Secretary. While reading the 800-page book, Manuel stated: "Hip-hop songs started rising off the page" (PBS). Alexander Hamilton was born in the Caribbean and was raised in a broken family surrounded by slavery. His father left him, his mother passed away and there was a devastating hurricane on his home island of St. Croix. Alexander Hamilton put pen to paper and wrote a poem and as a result of his writing, won a scholarship and found his way to America. Lin-Manuel describes him as "An immigrant and an outsider who writes his way in" (Keeper of the Flame). When Lin-Manuel read that Hamilton wrote a poem to get off the
After his death, Hamilton’s legacy was mainly carried on by his wife, Eliza, who dedicated her life to preserving his legacy and making sure that he was not forgotten while she was alive. After Alexander’s death, Eliza told his story through doing things such as helping raise money for his mentor and friend, George Washington’s, memorial, and founding the first private orphanage in New York City which paid respect to her late husband who was an orphan. She also made Hamilton’s life and letters accessible, so that Alexander’s history would be easier to trace back to. She also spoke out about issues that Hamilton felt strongly about, such as slavery. Eliza made it her life goal to continue Hamilton’s legacy onto generations to come, which, indeed it has. Since Alexander’s death, his life has been documented through several biographies, most popularly, Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow which inspired the Grammy and Tony award winning Broadway show, Hamilton: An American Musical. Since Hamilton first came to Broadway, Alexander and Eliza Hamilton have been given the recognition that they had not been given, but rightfully deserve.
In conclusion Alexander hamilton greatly affected american battles, part of the economy and the documents that hold our country together. Without Hamilton George Washington may have never become president and helped out our country. So I think the most basic thing you do in life change so much in the world and hamilton did a good job in his life to make america a better for everyone by working hard and not giving
This book may be aimed towards the audience of adults, but I hope that soon teenagers will soon become interested in History. I have alway been a huge fan of American History, but I do not like to read. This book though I do want to read, because of the amazing explanations of “The Duel.” Ever since this broadway show Hamilton by Lin Manuel Miranda I have wanted to learn more about the life of Alexander Hamilton,. Whenever I find a book that describes Hamilton’s life I want to read it, and i'm glad I read Founding Brothers. Within this book Ellis uses many quotes from Hamilton and Burr which is personally one of my favorite parts. The quotes of Hamilton is one of my favorite parts of the book because of Hamilton's amazing skills with a paper and pen. Another element of the book I enjoyed is the still problematic conclusion of Hamilton's death. In “The Duel” there were two shots fired, one by Hamilton and one by Burr. There are two hypothesis’ shared in the book on who shot first. This is important to me because the author was not biased and did not only include one option, I feel like in doing this they gave the reader a choice of which conclusion they want. Joseph J. Ellis did not only stay unbiased he also included some fun and interesting little tidbits throughout the story. When I say this I mean when he described the connection between the weapons used in “The Duel.”
Have you ever wondered what Alexander Hamilton would be able to accomplish if he had not been killed by Aaron Burr? Hamilton, one of the Founding Fathers, was a talented man who achieved many things during his lifetime. Therefore, it is no surprise that he could attain a higher position in the office and even become a president. In fact, with him being a president, many events could be changed, including the War of 1812, the slavery system, and even the size of the country.
Alexander Hamilton was disliked by many people but, he is now popular because of a hit Broadway show created by Lin-Manuel Miranda. Hamilton was born on January 11, 1755 or 1757 in Charleston, Nevis in the British West Indies. He was abandoned by his father which made him an orphan at the age of 13. Hamilton started attending school in Elizabethtown, New Jersey but, plans changed, and he entered Kings College. At the age of 17 he was already interested in government. Later, in 1776 he was introduced to George Washington. He became Washington’s advisor not long after that. Some main events that changed Hamilton’s life were his family, his accomplishments, and George Washington.
It is evident, that Hamilton was backed into a duel that he did not want to fight. He did so only after copious demands made by Burr, but not with the intent of ever harming Burr. It was a reluctant move on his part, which in due course led to his untimely demise. To his last hour Hamilton was indeed a man of honor, and nothing short of a gentleman.
The broadway hit play Hamilton, written by Lin Manuel Miranda, is viewed as an educational play about Alexander Hamilton, one of the United States’ founding fathers and the first Secretary of the Treasury. The play captures the spirit of Alexander Hamilton’s ambition, eloquence, and mistakes in a revolutionary format-as revolutionary as Hamilton himself! Combining rap, musical theater, and history, Hamilton is an enthralling and entertaining play that is mostly accurate to the real Alexander Hamilton. The details of Hamilton’s life and relationships that were misrepresented in the play to achieve the theatrical flair.
Lin Manuel Miranda’s performance/musical, Hamilton, shows the loyalty between characters, which is almost as unstable as the Hamiltons friendships. Hamilton is a very ambitious character who brings up multiple times that he will not be, “throwing away my shot.” But loyalty is the driving force behind his ambition. The songs, “Right Handman” and “cabinet battle #2” show instances of loyalty and disloyalty and where they belong to people. “Cabinet Battle #2” shows the corruption that can sometimes form in loyalty, which leads to disloyalty.
The 2000s/ 2010s brought in a wave of movie musicals- adapted from the stage shows. These brought new audiences into the theatre world, and for the first time in 20 years, brought a love to some of the timeless musicals. With slightly altered songs to appeal to a newer audience, these films brought in much needed money into the industry, with films including: Les Misérables, Phantom of the Opera, Rent, Hairspray, Mamma Mia, Fame- and many more. Together with this, musicals began to push the concept of the songs in them, with a wave of new styles being written. Rap musicals such as ‘Hamilton’ and ‘In The Heights’, Pop musicals including ‘Waitress’ and ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ and Rock musicals of ‘American Idiot’ and ‘Spring Awakening’. Together they pushed boundaries of a ‘traditional’ musical theatre sound, and brought in something never before seen. Due to the influence of ‘Rent’, controversial issues and themes began to be explored more, such as Teen suicide, Murder, Ethnic barriers and everything else, which brought with them, a world of opportunities. It was clear that musical theatre was once again showing for a promising