Hamilton Review

This review comes from my Letterboxd profile, where I review the movies I watch frequently.

Yeah, I know, I'm basic. Honestly, that's a fair call at this point. Hamilton is one of my favorite musicals at this point, which would make me pretty basic. That being said, I really don't care at this point. This musical has been in my life for the better part of four years. I remember I had actually NEVER heard of Lin-Manuel Miranda until everyone got excited at his name being dropped as the writer for the music of Moana, and of course, after getting excited about that movie and loving the music, I decided to finally give this show a shot. I was one of those people that had absolutely no idea how a hip-hop musical about a founding father could be any good before listening to the soundtrack and finding myself completely captured by it. I bought the official book and kept it with me as I stayed backstage for my school's production of The Addams Family, skimming through it before the shows started. Looking back, this musical was one of the big sparks that kept my passion for musical theater strong. It wasn't the only spark (the first musical I ever acted in, Shrek Jr., and what is probably my favorite musical at this point because of how much I connect to it, Dear Evan Hansen, are also incredibly important to me), but it was probably one of the bigger ones, and I've loved Lin-Manuel Miranda ever since.

But that doesn't mean the criticisms weren't there. I think, in all honesty, the criticisms towards this musical have been there from the start. The obviously skewed narrative towards yet another founding father, a member of those that founded our country on flawed ideologies; the only occasional mentioning of the prevalence of slavery and discrimination against Black people and Native Americans despite the promise of a free world; and, maybe most mixed in how people viewed, the purposeful choice of diverse casting in a history that is clearly, completely white. I was naive as a highschool freshman. At the time, I really only focused on the criticism towards the diverse casting, which I never cared about because I thought everyone was fantastic based on the soundtrack. I always kind of had it in my head that as a historical narrative, it was still fine because it wasn't necessarily trying to shove that history to the side. Watching an actual production of it for the first time, hearing the musical numbers intertwine with each other in a way I've never really had the opportunity to experience before, and seeing how every narrative piece truly connects has made me realize that, yeah, as a historical narrative, this musical absolutely has problems. I mean, in all honesty, I've thought about that truth for years, I just never really wanted to bring it to the forefront.

But even after half a decade of this musical being a part of the American consciousness and our primary pop culture, I've still never gotten tired of it. At times, it feels like the criticism levied towards Hamilton comes from a trend I've kept noticing where something becomes enormously popular, everyone praises it, then everyone seemingly turns against it once they become tired of it being so enormously popular, completely forgetting why it became popular in the first place. At other times, however, I can't disagree with those that say they just can't get behind the way this musical glorifies certain aspects of American history and I can't argue with those who just simply don't like the music. There are various sides to this debate, despite the overwhelming praise that Hamilton has received over the years, but at this point, I simply can't ignore the fact that I adore everything about this show as a MUSICAL. As a musical, I find every performance phenomenal, every song mesmerizing, every lyric so perfect that if you took the music away from it all it could still stand on its own as dialogue. That's what always stood out about Miranda's writing to me -- it feels as if you could take the music away from his songs and still have them stand on their own as pieces of dialogue, that's how well-written they are.

The use of motifs throughout the musical is better integrated throughout each song and character moment than I've maybe ever seen in a musical, and I can't deny I still cried to some of these songs -- the back-to-back declarations of love of "A Winter's Ball," "Helpless" and "Satisfied," the determination to get to the place you most want in "Wait for It," the beautiful fatherly message of "Dear Theodosia," and the absolutely heartbreaking revelation of deceit in "Burn." These, along with so many other songs that it's impossible to name them all ("Alexander Hamilton," "My Shot," "Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down)," "Non-Stop," the cabinet battles, "The Room Where It Happens," "One Last Time," "Hurricane," and "The World Was Wide Enough" being the ones I TRULY want to shout out), are among, in my opinion and ONLY MY OPINION, some of the best songs in musical theater history. The characters come through in every musical motif, every line of (musical) dialogue, they're established through those connections to styles and tempos and melodies throughout the show and it's just incredible. Actually seeing a stage production of the show for the first time, it's even more amazing to see the nuances of all of the actual performances come to life and make the context of the songs make more sense, it's incredible to see the absolutely mesmerizing choreography and set and costume design leap off of the stage, it's great seeing the little nuances that make the funny lines of dialogue funny and the more emotional moments more emotional and even hear some interludes or character reactions that weren't on the original soundtrack or even in the book. Seeing the show for the first time, at this point, has cemented my opinion that I will always love it as a show.

That being said, it would be stupid of me to say that as a historical narrative, it is absolutely flawed. That side of this musical shouldn't be ignored at all, but I also feel like it's taken way out of proportion at times. This musical was the foundation of the biggest thing I try to focus on when it comes to adapting history into movies, musicals, plays, etc. -- as long as you're not doing a disservice to the tone of the original history that the work is based on, certain artistic liberties are okay. I've never felt like the omissions from this musical came from an intentionally or even subconsciously malicious place. This musical, as its title suggests, is about Alexander Hamilton, and when you're covering the perspective of one founding father in a two and a half hour long musical, there is no way in hell you can do justice to explain the history of slavery and the injustices brought on Black people and Native Americans and the various different things that they had to suffer through while also telling the story of that founding father and his personal experiences going through the Revolutionary War. That being said, it is still important to acknowledge that the perspective is skewed and is going to be biased no matter what you try to do, no matter how many references towards those injustices you're able to fit in the musical, and I personally think Miranda does that. How does he do this? By writing numbers that literally tell the audience that no one can control who decides to tell their story and how that story will be told. Therefore, it's your job to make sure that when you hear how one person tells their story, you should hear how another person tells that same story. Do your own research, come to your own conclusions, find out what actually happened, and make sure you find a way to understand the stories for yourselves.

As I've said in a couple of recent reviews, art is incredibly, INCREDIBLY subjective. Art is made to tell a story, whether based in reality or fiction, that comes from the basis of a certain person's (or maybe multiple people's) perspective. Whether or not you like that art is completely your choice. If you are personally someone who doesn't think that the diverse casting or the unignorably skewed narrative is justifiable and you have logical reasons for it, if you think that the story of Hamilton and the founding of our country in general could have been executed in a better way than it was, or if you simply don't like the music or writing or choreography or acting of the show, that is absolutely, completely, and totally okay. My basic principle when it comes to people's differing opinions on art is that as long as it's not a piece of art that actively discriminates against, attempts to hurt, or chastizes a certain group of people in an intentionally harmful way, then people can have whatever opinion of it they so choose. I've never personally seen Hamilton as a completely propagandist musical that should be burned like the letters Hamilton wrote Eliza or as a show that gets it completely wrong when it comes to its morals -- I just see it as a show that clearly has a skewed historical narrative, and I think it's important for people to at least acknowledge that side of it. Many people have said that the idea of liking something as a piece of art while also acknowledging that it really doesn't get history all that correct is completely okay, and I frankly agree with that sentiment. Admittedly, at this point in the review, I will acknowledge that maybe something I've said has come across as contradictory to statements I've previously made or it's come across as completely misinformed or off the mark, and if that's true, I want to have a genuine, respectful discussion about it.

Maybe I'm trying to defend this musical in a way that I can't quite articulate, but that's because no matter how many times I hear this musical criticized, no matter how many times I hear people say they're tired of it, I can't stop myself from saying that I absolutely adore Hamilton in every single way -- the writing, the music, the motifs, the characters, and now that I've seen the actual filmed show, the performances, the choreography, the staging, the lighting, the costumes, everything about this musical is, to me, just phenomenal. Sometimes, it's admittedly very hard to deny that you love a piece of art despite all of the points against it, and I just... I can't bring myself to say that I don't like this musical. I just can't. I've loved the music for years, and now I can say that I love the show just as much. I want to be able to have respectful discussions with people about their differing opinions because I want to get the message across that differing opinions when it comes to art are completely okay. At this point, though, I know my opinion, and while I can understand other perspectives on this show and will try to acknowledge them in the best way I can, I can't help myself -- I still love Hamilton, and I think I always will.

Letter Grade: A+

[Additional Edits: Isn't that also what art like this is about? To get us to discuss our own personal and political beliefs in a way that intertwines with the beliefs conveyed in this kind of work? To incite discussion in the first place? I don't know, that's just my take. Also, I forgot to mention that the editing together of three different performances is so seamless that I didn't even 100% know if they were different performances until after I looked it up to confirm. Wow, the editing is seamless here.]

[Oh, and shoot, one more thing I almost forgot, happy birthday, Lin-Manuel!! I can't believe how well this worked out!!]