Nordling here.
My love of musicals comes from a lot of places, but one prime memory I have is seeing THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA with friends here in Houston and as I arrived, I saw my wife-to-be coming down the stairs in a black dress that knocked me out of my socks. She's the primary reason I love them as much as I do - when someone complements your life and exposes you to experiences, art, and ideas that you may not have come across otherwise, you embrace them. One of the best things I ever did in my marriage was take my wife and daughter to Broadway, which was a goal I had since that day I saw her on those stairs in Houston's Jones Hall. (Granted, one of the plays I took her and my daughter to was SPIDER-MAN, TURN OFF THE DARK, but I wouldn't trade that experience for anything.)
I have another goal now, and that is to somehow, some way see HAMILTON on stage. Although, to be fair, the movie I've made in my head from listening to the soundtrack on repeat for the last few days may not compare to what Lin-Manuel Miranda has done with this amazing, triumphant work. I tend to come to musicals from a cinematic angle, imagining them on the silver screen in the interior of my skull. Ask me about Spike Lee's RENT (at least, the version I've created in my mind) or what the Wachowskis do for WICKED. Musicals at their best are raw emotion, which is why too many people tend to reject them. That much energy and power, unfiltered through the cynicism and reserve of the day, makes some audiences uncomfortable. Some consider musicals frivolous and silly, when in truth they use their stoicism as a shield, not allowing themselves to feel something so earnestly like the material demands.
But that is the universe that musicals occupy, demanding that you engage with it. For those willing to let the music in, they are profoundly changed. Lin-Manuel Miranda understands this, and choosing Alexander Hamilton as a subject for a musical may seem an unusual choice. Hamilton was never a president, never front-and-center in the history books, and yet none of this, none of the United States, would be possible without him. Miranda read a biography of Hamilton while on vacation, and the subject consumed him - a young man, rising above his station, embracing the possibilities of what a young America could deliver, reinventing yourself and grasping your future in both hands. In America, your destiny is your own, not beholden to your past, your faith, your circumstances. In Alexander Hamilton's story, Miranda saw everything that makes us as a nation - our foibles as well as our successes, our moral uncertainties side-by-side with our ambitions. We are a nation of immigrants, creating our own stories, making our mark now instead of riding on the coattails of the past.
In telling this story, Miranda doesn't use the staid, sedate vocabulary of past stage shows, instead using hip-hop, rhythm and blues, and modern day vernacular to bring us closer to the subject than ever before. Centuries evaporate before our eyes and ears, and Miranda not only makes us relate to Alexander Hamilton, the son of immigrants who at 19 helped change the planet, but also of Aaron Burr, Hamilton's rival and ultimate assassin, who considers Hamilton an upstart and interloper, even as Burr clings to the old ways and he allies himself with revolutionaries, without any guiding principle. "Talk less, smile more," Burr tells Hamilton, and in four words defines our politics for the next two centuries. Or haven't you been paying attention to many of the people running for President on both sides of the political divide?
HAMILTON wouldn't work if it was simply a history lesson, but Miranda finds the rich emotion and power in the material. So often, our deeds fall short of our ideals, and Hamilton is no different. But Miranda has empathy for everyone - for Hamilton, for Burr, for Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Lafayette, even King George (the King George songs are some of the funniest, most passive-aggressive pieces of music in HAMILTON, and Jonathan Groff nails the British disdain and co-dependence of the 18th century monarch). Miranda casts HAMILTON with a young, diverse cast, and while it isn't historically accurate, it feels right, as we continually struggle with our racial, religious, and sexual differences. Miranda, by using these historical figures as surrogates, gives voice to the voiceless. These struggles haven't changed through time. Only the principals have. Or, to quote HAMILTON, "It's not a moment, it's a movement."
And the music is so good. "My Shot" is an anthemic rally to arms, "Satisfied" is both a strong love song, and a testimony to the tides of ambition. The grief of "It's Quiet Uptown" is palpable, and the songs between Hamilton and Eliza are deeply emotional and moving. I love how the political discussions turn into rap battles, with Miranda using modern musical tropes to bridge the distance and make these philosophical political discussions engaging. We are swept in the story, and Miranda brings stale history into focus. He breathes life into this story, and it seems reductive to describe it thus, but HAMILTON may be the best Schoolhouse Rock episode ever made. History is best when it ceases to be words on the page and enters our lives in a personal way. So much of how we teach history is dates, names, places, and more dates. Lin-Manuel Miranda may be the best history teacher we have right now - this material is all out there for the taking, but Miranda brings it home. I love how HAMILTON reminds us about our friendship with France, and how without them we wouldn't have won the Revolution, and during these fateful days we would do well to remember that. For his work developing the material over the past few years, Lin-Manuel Miranda received the MacArthur Genius Grant this year, and I can't think of a better recipient. This material should be taught in schools.
Notice that I haven't described the play in any way - the sets, the costumes, the stage direction. That's because I haven't seen it. But the music alone is so cinematic, so vivid, that it's remarkably easy to put the soundtrack on and fall into the story. That's the strength of the music and the writing. Most of us know the story of Hamilton and Burr's duel, but Miranda walks us to how they got to that fateful hill. The material is dense, but very accessible. And you may find yourself, as I did, deeply engaged and moved. I'm an easy cry, as most of you know, and HAMILTON is no exception. But I wasn't crying at the mournful material as much as I was at the sheer audacity and courage of HAMILTON. It's incredibly intelligent, thematically rich, and captivating. The struggles of Hamilton, and Burr, and these revolutionaries are our own. These are the same battles we fight, in different clothes. "I'm just like my country, I'm young, scrappy, and hungry, and I'm not throwing away my shot" is a shout across years and generations, for writers, scientists, artists, business owners, sports figures, actors, public servants - it is our rally, our creed, and who we are as a nation. HAMILTON is an astounding piece of art, and if I see a movie this year that does to me what HAMILTON did, I'll take that movie to heart until my dying days. HAMILTON is a masterpiece. Now if only I can see the play!
Nordling, out.
