Hamilton - Review
You get to be in the room where it happened; but you have to get Disney+, so there’s that…
Director: Thomas Kail
Writers: Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ron Chernow
Starring: Lin-Manuel Miranda, Leslie Odom Jr., Renee Elise Goldsberry, Daveed Diggs, Phillipa Soo, Chris Jackson, Okieriete “Oak” Onaodowan, Anthony Ramos, Jasmine Cephas Jones, Jonathan Groff
PG-13 2hr 40min Historical Drama, Musical Disney July 3, 2020 Disney+
Disney
For whatever it’s worth I have never seen Hamilton live. Not that it necessarily matters in terms of having an opinion. That said, I loved it. I thought it was incredible and unique. I’m not typically a fan of musicals. I have a few I’ll defend: The Fiddler on the Roof, West Side Story, and The Producers. But none of those musicals got in my ear the way Lin-Manuel Miranda’s brilliant historical hip-hop opus was able to do.
The songs are catchy and infectious. I often fond myself bobbing my head along with music, which is comprised mainly of Hip-Hop, R&B, and some more traditional Broadway styled songs. There are so many good songs that it is difficult to pick one over the other, or to pick three favorites—or five!
Picking a favorite performance is much like picking a favorite song because there a so many. Lin-Manuel Miranda plays Alexander Hamilton to perfection leaning into the material (all of which he wrote) and was nominated for a Tony Award for his performance. But he wasn’t the only cast member to be honored at the Tonys: Leslie Odom Jr. (Aaron Burr), Renee Elise Goldsberry (Angelica Schuyler), Daveed Diggs (Lafayatte, Thomas Jefferson), Chris Jackson (George Washington), Jonathan Groff (King George III) all received nominations for their performances and Odom, Goldsberry, and Diggs each taking home trophies.
These aren’t your typical Broadway Ballads either. The rapping is not dumbed-down, in fact, as a fan of the genre, it’s some of the most impressive I’ve heard in a long time, with rhyming couplets coming at you fast at times you know you’re going to have to watch Hamilton a second time—don’t worry you wont mind. The enunciation and timing of the performers is off the charts impressive.
My biggest complaint about Hamilton is actually about Disney and their need to constantly censor and edit artists works. They did with Splash and The Simpsons when they casme to Disney+ and now they’ve done it with Hamilton. Two cases of the word “fuck” were cut out of the final cut to make it “more acceptable for the Disney+ platform. The argument has been made that by giving up the two f-bombs they have made it more acceptable for younger viewers, however, i think that parents that are put off by a thirteen year old hearing the f-word would also likely “say no to this” to much of the other choice language and happenings in the play; making the change just another case of empty overzealous censorship by Disney.
Additionally, seeing Hamilton requires a Disney+ account which will cost you $6.99/mo. that wouldn’t be so bad if the service had more to offer, but right now, beside Hamilton, it’s pretty bare bones.
It’s hard to say Hamilton doesn’t deserve the praise it has gotten. It’s an inspiring piece of work that will be talked about for generations. For me, the message of speaking ones mind, standing by it, and most importantly, standing together for a greater idea is as important now as it has ever been. As much as Hamilton and Burr disagree they both learn the other has something to teach them and much as Burr realizes that their was room for both he and Hamilton, we must listen to each other and realize there is room for all of Us in the words and ideas that the U.S. was built on even though the carpenters still had their flaws. That’s some of what I think it’s saying. It inspires me to want to fight for the America I see on that stage, and I think it will inspire others too, if they’re willing to think and listen.