The many joys of Hamilton
My favorite things – “HAMILTEN” edition
It has been a blast to watch the celebrations of the 10th anniversary of Hamilton’s Broadway debut (August 6, 2015), and I wanted to join in by sharing a couple of Hamilton-related gifts that have kept on giving for me.
The interview before “the world turned upside down”
Deep in my “Saved” podcast list on my Apple Podcast app — the oldest one, at the very bottom – is an episode of Michael Ian Black’s “How to Be Amazing” podcast. Lin-Manuel Miranda was the guest on that May 26, 2015 episode, and I’m pretty sure this was the first time I’d heard an interview with him.
I can’t tell you when I listened to it, but it may have been a year or so later; May 2015 marked the beginning of a very heavy year, and I don’t think Hamilton hit my radar in real time with the rest of the world. When the “How to be Amazing” interview aired that spring, my sister was in and out of the hospital, trying to get a diagnosis for breathing problems; in June 2015, she found out she had Stage 4 cancer, and she died the following May.
She was a theater kid, dancer, choreographer, teacher, arts critic and so much more over the years, and I’ve often thought about how much I wished she could have seen Hamilton. The 10th anniversary made me realize that Hamilton’s rise dovetailed with her final year, something I hadn’t really thought about before.
Back to that “How to Be Amazing” interview: Even though I’m pretty sure Hamilton was already a sensation by the time I listened, the fact that I already knew the end of that story didn’t take a bit of pleasure away from listening to Lin-Manuel Miranda talking about his creation in the “before” days; that was really the charm of it. Though it aired on May 26, the interview may have been recorded months earlier; not sure.
(From here on, I’m taking the easy route and abbreviating Michael Ian Black to MIB and Lin-Manuel Miranda to LMM.)
At one point, MIB asks, “So is there a chance we’ll see an African-American George Washington?” and LMM laughs and says, “You will see an African-American George Washington! We’ve only had African-American George Washingtons! … the cast of Hamilton is overwhelmingly actors of color.”
When you hear MIB’s surprise, you remember that what we now take for granted was a big deal when Hamilton debuted.
The whole interview is, well, amazing. It has become something that I return to when I need my creative spirit rejuvenated; I always come away feeling joyful.
I listened to part of the interview again while writing this post, and this comment from MIB toward the beginning made me laugh:
“The Alexander Hamilton Hip-Hop Musical sounds like the dumbest idea ever” — “It may well be!” LMM interjects with a laugh – “and yet with Lin-Manuel Miranda doing it, I’m dying to see it!”
Absolutely.
The “How to Be Amazing” podcast is no longer around, sadly, and that may be the reason I’m having a hard time sharing the episode from the Apple Podcasts App. It’s available on Spotify here, and you can also listen on Soundcloud if you create an account (it’s worth it).
I hope you enjoy it as much as I have; I love LMM’s “exuberance,” as MIB describes it, their banter is fun and it’s full of reminders that persistence is as much a factor as genius in creating great things (more on that below).
The story of the story
My second Hamilton delight is a book that in part delves into how the words and music of the show came together – I have never enjoyed footnotes more.
I think I may have bought Hamilton: The Revolution for myself for Christmas at some point after it came out in 2016. I’m not that great at summarizing things that I love – perfectionism kicks in – so I’m stealing from the Hachette publishing website description:
“A backstage pass to the groundbreaking, hit musical Hamilton, winner of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Eleven Tony Awards, including Best Musical, including the award-winning libretto, behind-the-scenes photos and interviews, and exclusive footnotes from composer-lyricist-star Lin-Manuel Miranda …
“[The book] gives readers an unprecedented view of both revolutions, from the only two writers able to provide it. Miranda, along with Jeremy McCarter, a cultural critic and theater artist who was involved in the project from its earliest stages — ‘since before this was even a show,’ according to Miranda — traces its development from an improbable performance at the White House to its landmark opening night on Broadway six years later. In addition, Miranda has written more than 200 funny, revealing footnotes for his award-winning libretto, the full text of which is published here.
“Their account features photos by the renowned Frank Ockenfels and veteran Broadway photographer, Joan Marcus; exclusive looks at notebooks and emails; interviews with Questlove, Stephen Sondheim, leading political commentators, and more than 50 people involved with the production; and multiple appearances by President Obama himself.
The book does more than tell the surprising story of how a Broadway musical became a national phenomenon: It demonstrates that America has always been renewed by the brash upstarts and brilliant outsiders, the men and women who don’t throw away their shot.”
I love backstories.
Beyond what you learn from the stories themselves, Hamilton: The Revolution reminds you that the show didn’t flow magically and instantaneously from the creators’ brains onto the page. Those of us who want to create things understand intellectually that a Hamilton-level show takes years and years of work and rework, but it’s awfully easy to look at someone like Lin-Manuel Miranda and say, “That guy is just magic; I could never do that.”
And he is magic, but he also worked really hard with his co-creators before Hamilton became Hamilton. As a writer who tries to spend more time on purely creative projects these days (as opposed to only my day job as a writer and editor), the book was an inspiring reality check. (As mentioned, LMM also has great advice and perspective on this in his “How to Be Amazing” interview.)
The fortunate thing about writing this post to celebrate “Hamilten”? It made me realize that there is a big chunk of the book that I haven’t read yet. It’s one of those that you can dip in and out of when you have a little window of time, but the problem with those books is that they can end up forgotten at the bottom of a pile of novels and other books you read at a faster clip. My copy is now back on my bedtime reading pile.
If you also love reading backstories, especially about creativity and works of art, and if you, like me, are buoyed by LMM’s infectious love of creating (his exuberance), go buy yourself a copy of this book or look for it at the library.
(It’s a very good time to escape into a book that celebrates a musical that celebrates history and music and immigrants, after all.)
The show
My then-teenage daughter and I saw Hamilton on the road two years after its Broadway debut; while it would have been memorable to see the original cast in NYC, I knew that all of the traveling casts were getting rave reviews, so I didn’t think we’d feel we had a “lesser” Hamilton experience.
Still, there was a little part of me that wondered if anything with so much build-up could possibly live up to our expectations.
But the show blew our expectations out of the water, of course, and we were thrilled to at last be in the room where it happened (sorry, not sorry). When the cast came out at the end to take their bows, we felt the rush of what we had just experienced, along with everyone around us. It was pretty magnificent.
Thanks LMM and friends – it has been a fun ride.
Postscript
I’ve never dedicated a post before, but this one is for my sister Viki, the arts educator and eternal theater kid, and her friend Liz, who was a leader and innovator in public school arts education for decades – and who delighted in seeing a local theater kid, Ariana DeBose, go on to appear in Hamilton as “the Bullet.” Colon cancer took my sister and Liz way too young, six years apart, and if there’s any justice in the afterlife, those two are out there collaborating in some kind of theater heaven.
