It’s hungry. I’m always hungry.
Some background before I get into everything: I’m a recovering Broadway addict, the kind who no longer keeps up with the trades, but who still jams out to The Last Five Years every now and then. I also enjoy rap music (Kendrick deserved that Pulitzer, though he got it for the wrong album). All things considered, it seemed like Hamilton would be right up my alley. But I’ve never so much as listened to the cast album. I decided early on I didn’t want to experience any of it until I could see it in person.
Disney+ provided that opportunity, and here’s the thing.
Deep breath. I can do this. Here we go.
I didn't particularly like Hamilton, and I'm scared to admit it.
Parts were good! But I don't understand why this was such a Broadway darling, or why it set the world on fire. Is it because Broadway fans/white kids had never heard rap before? That's all I can think of. I'm honestly at a loss to understand the zeitgeist. It makes me feel old and a little afraid.
What I enjoyed:
- Many of the lyrics were clever and well-formed. The music was also catchy. Damnably catchy. Lin Manuel-Miranda is a fantastic musician/songwriter. I can’t get the songs out of my head. Granted, the main refrains did play approximately one billion times throughout the show, but still. They are deservedly earworms.
- How unabashedly it gloried in the history of founding a nation. As much as I will point out the many, many, many flaws in our political systems, I am at the core patriotic. I think it’s inconceivable that America exists as a nation. It shouldn’t. And yet, there’s something to the krazy glue and luck and sheer will that holds the states together, and I enjoyed Hamilton giving some credence to that.
- On that note, I loved the cabinet meetings/rap battles. Far and away the most engrossing part. I wish the entire play had been three hours of that. I would have been on the edge of my seat. Show me more debates about the treasury! I’m into it! Get more into your talking points, and make those personal jibes! Love. It.
- These performances: Daveed Diggs as Jefferson, Jonathon Groff as King George, Renée Elise Goldsberry as Angelica. Also, the true star of the show, Mr. Leslie Odom Jr., who made Aaron Burr come across as sensible and pathos-inspiring. I think I agreed with everything he said? Is that true? Maybe?
What I did not enjoy:
- The plot treatment, how it told without showing. Parts of it felt like a high school history project (granted, the best high school history project ever), because it quickly highlighted events without giving them much personal time to breathe.
- The choreography. I’m of the opinion that movement should serve the play. It should enhance what’s happening in the narrative. Since the narrative was thin, a lot of the movement seemed superfluous. It was distracting. Flailing. And far too often they relied on the stage turntable to add visual interest.
- The treatment of women. Put down your pitchforks, fans! But to me, any strength or sassiness on their part seemed shoved in the story to curry favor, and any later acknowledgements of the sister’s actual accomplishments seemed in service to preserving the legacy of more "important" men.*
- On that note, the end enraged me. I was a frowny pants during the final number. So glad to hear 30 seconds of Eliza's story, which is basically that she bolstered Alexander's history? Cool cool cool.
- Lin-Manuel Miranda as Hamilton. He doesn't have a great vocal or acting range. He's talented! Adorable and charming! But I kept imagining Daveed Diggs in the role. How would it have changed if there was a performer with raw charisma and magnetism? Would I have been more impacted by Hamilton’s pride? Would I have understood his “tomcatting,” a plot point Miranda was too much of a cute muffin to pull off? So much of the characterization was left to the audience to create. A stronger performer—like Goldsberry, who completely owned every line and made me an Angelica fan based stage presence alone—could have sold the role much more successfully.
And yet. I’ve woken up every morning for the past three days with songs reverberating through my head. I've found myself going down YouTube holes and reading articles to try and understand. I want it to stop taking up my mental space, but it's there. Lurking. "La da da da daaa, da da da da dai yuh dum." Please. Make it stop. So does Hamilton win this round? Perhaps, perhaps.
But until I completely and utterly surrender to the hivemind on this, I will claim this as my favorite song from the musical (click on it, please click on it, you'll be so happy you did):
And this as my chosen Hamilton, and what I will picture any time people bring it up in conversation. In turn, I'll contribute by discussing how great Dave Grohl was at the Constitutional Convention:
* Background on why this is a plot point I'm sensitive to, and why it infuriates me. In grad school, I noticed that every one of my male professors had a female graduate assistant (meanwhile, most of the female professors didn't have any assistants that I knew of... hmmmm). It opened up my eyes to see how those professors heavily relied on the organization and precision of hard-working women. And yet, when high-profile promotions or openings came up, the professors more often recommended the few male students, impressed with how "assertive" and "straight-shooting" they were. Once I noticed it in my industry, I noticed it everywhere.
I'm tired of women's labor being in service to old white dudes.
