Hamiltonian Apologetics

In defense of the greatest American artwork of the 21st century

Hamilton is now available for home viewing.

(Which, if that were the end of my post, would get about 43 of you “already in the echo chamber” to click like or love, and that would be that.)

I’m writing this instead to friends who have told me they’re uninterested in Hamilton because they:

1. Don’t like rap
2. Aren’t a history buff
3. Can’t understand why the actors are people of color
4. Won’t understand what’s happening because the words are “too fast”
5. Don’t want to have to “learn” stuff while being entertained

To each objection I’d say:

1. I’m not a hip-hop head, but I appreciate poetry. It’s profoundly poetic. And as a more traditional harmony/melody guy, I can tell you most of the songs have those in spades too. I’m certain that 1960's shows that dared to supplement orchestras with rock ‘n roll music weren’t considered sufficiently “musical”, until they were.
2. I’m not a history guru, but the American Revolution (or as my old British political science professor used to call it, “The day we decided to let the colonies go“) is worth revisiting, especially in light of the muck that’s been 2020. And 4th of July weekend? Bonus.
3. The folks are people-of-color to underscore the point that we were, and still are, a nation of striving immigrants. Ye olde melting pot. At the time, that pot contained Scotch, English, Irish, etc. Over the last 200 years, the fondue has broadened to include ever more diverse origin stories. If Miranda threw a bunch of people who look like me up there and scored it with period-appropriate harpsichord music, it’d come off like a stuffy costume drama. We’d receive the story as “past-tense”, old-timey. Less like a reflection on the ongoing American Experiment, and more like a gauzy period piece. Hamilton doesn’t want us to be nostalgic. It wants us to be better Americans today.
4. The lyrics *are* fast. Dense too. That said, until today, people who’ve listened and struggled to keep up have only listened to the soundtrack. Watching the show itself fills in any lyrical gaps, and…