HAMILTON on the 4th of July!!!!

So with you!

Usually when I come this late to the party I have trouble being enthusiastic. I saw the Graduate a year after it opened . I had heard all the funny lines , and I failed to be charmed by Dustin’s dilemma.

I joined Disney to see this ( they continue to be the best marketers ever) but I was not expecting to be thrilled. I had seen Miranda in Mary Poppins and it did not work that well for me.

Then I saw it. HOLY MOTHER OF GOD. LIN MANUEL MIRANDA IS A FORCE OF NATURE. The writing is everything you always hope rap will be , literate character driven, full of irony and pity, multi layered. I love that he simply ignored race in the casting. Then the performances ... the Schuyler sisters are the huge standouts for me. Perfect supple multi colored voices, perfect trio that moves from lyric to soul effortlessly.

I could only do Act one because the text was so dense, the back story was so rich, I just had too many questions. I started by watching all the Lin Manuel Miranda I could find on YouTube. I found a solo performance with piano only , at tge White House . Obama was delightful, getting all tge history, the characterization, the psychology , humour

youtu.be/WNFf7nMIGnE

Then I found Miranda’s acceptance speech at tge Tony’s


youtu.be/6jehrbUGdlE


Here is his text


My wife’s the reason anything gets done
She nudges me towards promise by degrees
She is a perfect symphony of one
Our son is her most beautiful reprise.
We chase the melodies that seem to find us
Until they’re finished songs and start to play
When senseless acts of tragedy remind us
That nothing here is promised, not one day.
This show is proof that history remembers
We lived through times when hate and fear seemed stronger;
We rise and fall and light from dying embers, remembrances that hope and love last longer
And love is love is love is love is love is love is love is love cannot be killed or swept aside.
I sing Vanessa’s symphony, Eliza tells her story
Now fill the world with music, love and pride.

I think I am going to watching Hamilton for a while