Eric Dunleavy

Hamilton: One Shot of Broadway Reflection

The documentary opens up talking about how the musical, Hamilton, took the world by
storm with its mixture of hip-hop and history wrapped into one show. It then goes into talking
about the mastermind behind the show, Lin Manuel Miranda. A man with a Puerto Rican
background who grew up in the Washington Heights area in New York. He attended Wesleyan
University and that is where he started writing his first hit show, In The Heights. This musical is
what put Lin Manuel Miranda on the map due to its unique mixture of Latin music, Salsa, and
rap. The musical was nominated for 13 total Tony awards, taking the following categories by
storm; Best Musical, Best Original Score, Best Choreography, and Best Orchestrations. Along
with the surplus of Tony awards it won, it also won a Grammy for Best Musical and was
nominated for the Pulitzer prize for drama. A few months after the hit Broadway musical took
Broadway by storm, Lin Manuel Miranda read a biography of Alexander Hamilton and decided
that his life story would make a great musical. The documentary then goes into the life and the
tremendous impact Alexander Hamilton had during the making of this country. During the time
in which Lin Manuel Miranda was working on the creation of Hamilton, Broadway was in a
tough spot because they were not sure which direction to go because some of the older hit
Broadway shows are outdated and would not appeal to a new group of fans. This played a factor
in why Hamilton blew up so much because in the past, hip-hop and musical theater did not go
along butl Lin Manuel Miranda found a way to make it work. His reasoning behind telling
Alexander Hamilton’s life through hip hop was because throughout his entire life, all Alexander
Hamilton did was write and write, so to Lin Manuel Miranda, telling his life through the genre
that has the most words per measure made sense.

After Lin Manuel Miranda finished writing Hamiton, it made its rounds in the Public
Theater before going up to Broadway. Hamilton first appeared on stage in February 2015 and
was widely praised by critics everywhere. The show features a wide variety of historical figures,
for example, Alexander Hamiton, George Washinton, James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, King
George III, and Marquis de Lafayette. But it is Alexander Hamiton’s relationship with the lesser
known Aaron Burr that was the centerpiece of the musical. Alexander Hamiton came to Burr for
mentorship when he first arrived in the colonies and they had an on and off relationship (mostly
off) throughout their entire lives. They were both aids to George Washington during the
revolutionary war yet they still were not able to get along. But the fighting did come to an end
when Aaron Burr challenged Alexander Hamiton to a duel after Hamiton’s involvement in the
outcome of the Election of 1800 in which Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr were going up
against each other for the presidential election. Aaron Burr struck Hamiton in the chest and
Hamilton eventually passed away from his injury from the duel. But prior to his death, Hamilton
played a big role in why the United States ratified the constitution and the country's financial
situation we are in currently. Hamilton also turned a lot of heads when it decided to tell the story
of the people who started the country who were mostly white, and casted all of them as people of
color. Seven people from the cast were nominated for their own respective Tony awards due to
how well they all performed. But Hamiton’s success did not stop in the theater. The Hamilton
soundtrack, when it was released in 2015, got up to the number three spot on the Billboard chart
and won a Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album. In 2016, Lin Manuel Miranda stepped
down from his leading role as Hamilton and was invited to create music for Star Wars: The
Force Awakens, Moana and was handed a star role in the Mary Poppins sequel. After his success
with Hamilton, he is now the most sought after man in the Musical Theater genre.

Hamilton changed the face of the tradition of Broadway because in the documentary,
someone described the old theater as a white wig. A white cast and crew with a mostly white
audience. Also in the history of music theater, people of color were only casted to tell a certain
story and would only be casted if their complexion fit the story. But Lin Manuel Miranda
decided to go against the status quo and cast the white men and women who started the country
as people of color and it turned out that it doesn’t matter at all what color skin you have in the
theater as long as you portray the character correctly and give a good performance. This also
shows that people of color are as much a part of our history as white people are. Another reason
as to why Hamilton impacted musical theater as a whole is because Lin Manuel Miranda found a
way to incorporate all of these different genres that are featured on the album in a way that
sounds natural and works as a whole. Especially being able to incorporate hip-hop into musical
theater after it had been done before but was never a big hit. One final reason as to why Hamiton
impacted musical theater is because the music and story of Hamilton has brought in countell of
new fans who have has their eyes opened to musical theater from this show, and just like how the
older shows like Rent and Cats influenced Lin Manuel Mirnda, Hamilton will influence another
young kid who might grow up to be the next Lin Manuel Miranda.

One way as to how Broadway shows can evolve in this post-Covid era is to just keep
expanding and trying new things. No one wants to see the same show over and over again with
the same plotline and same twists so as long as something has a good story, people will watch it.
Another way Broadway can evolve going on is to go against the status quo just like how Lin
Manuel Mianda did when he was incorporating hip-hop into musical theater and using it to tell
the history of America. One final way Broadway can evolve is to evolve with the problems that
people face in today's day not in the past. In conclusion, Lin Manuel Miranda is a staple in the
musical theater community and he did not get there by playing it safe. He got to where he is now
through his hard work and his ability to create art like we have never seen or heard before.