Hamilfacts Part 4
This week, I wanted to provide some context to the cultural phenomenon that is Hamilton: An American Musical. As you remember from our first post, Lin Manuel Miranda first performed the opening number at the White House as a piece that was part of a mixtape. That event took place on May 12, 2009. Lin had just come off his Tony award winning show that he wrote and starred in called, In The Heights. The movie adaption for In The Heights was set to be released this summer, but coronavirus has changed those plans, it is now set to be released June, 2021 and will star an original Hamilton cast member, Anthony Ramos (who played Laurens & Philip).
In 2008, Lin went with his wife on a beach vacation for some rest after writing and starring in the Tony winning show, and looking for a book to read, he picked up Ron Chernow’s 2004 book on Alexander Hamilton.
As Lin sat in a hammock reading, he started wondering about 50 pages in, if anyone had already made this story into a play or musical. He found nothing, but he couldn’t believe it hadn’t already been done. So, he picked up his laptop and started writing a mixtape. He performed it first at Ron Chernow’s house and later at the White House after Chernow gave his blessing for the project. 6 years later, Hamilton opened on Broadway in August 2015. What amazes me is how huge Hamilton has become in such a short time. Alexander’s face was announced by the Treasury to be removed from the $10 bill to make room for a historic woman (now Jackson will get that honor). As the musical gained notoriety a groundswell of support for Hammy stopped that project. During the summer of ‘16 I remember seeing the Hamilton statue outside the treasury building in DC (which is right next to the White House – our boy is so strategic - picture below) and thinking about the fact that I didn’t want to waste my limited time in the city reading the plaque about the first treasury secretary.
The combination of Chernow & Miranda’s work helped tell his amazing story and shifted the national interest. Here we are, just 5 years after the first Broadway performance and it’s still the hottest ticket in any town it’s in (well it was when you could still buy tickets anyway). There were permanent shows on Broadway (obviously), London, LA, & Chicago (now closed) as well as 3 separate touring groups performing across the country. Hamilton won 11 Tony’s and broke the record for the most nominations for a single show. It also won a Grammy & 7 Oliver awards (England’s version of the Tony’s). Lin and the creative team from the musical worked to create Hamilton: The Exhibition, which was built to be a traveling interactive museum focused on the history of Alex & the musical all housed in a tent.
It was set up in Chicago and didn’t do as well as they hoped. The article here provides an insight to the hype and risk before it opened and here is a review of why it didn’t work out. I did get to visit it before it closed, and I thought it was amazing. I understand why it didn’t work out, but it was visually stunning, meticulously designed, and incredibly well made. It was amazing to hear the voices of the main original cast members narrating the real/whole story of Hamilton’s life. The video below is Lin providing Al Roker a tour of the exhibit just before it opened.
In the end, a good story is compelling, and Hamilton’s life was certainly an amazing story. The musical will continue to tour for a long time and I hope you get the chance to see it someday soon (has been announced that it was going to come to Eugene, but who knows when that will actually be now….because Coronavirus). The link below is an interview that Lin had with Stephen Colbert from Dec. 2015, and towards the end of it (6:00) there is a clip of one of the cabinet battles that can’t be missed.
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