Hamilton (the Broadway musical)

I'm not usually a fan of musicals, but the few I've listened to have drawn me in for a while. I'm not a big fan of R&B or hip-hop, but I suspect that's because I just haven't dipped into that genre much. I'm ashamed to say I don't have extensive knowledge of the history of my country, but I have a passing interest in it and can point out the major players.

All that having been said, I've heard a lot of buzz about this hip-hop Broadway musical take on the life of Alexander Hamilton entitled, fittingly, Hamilton. I finally picked up the soundtrack last week and have been listening to it non-stop ever since (yes, I realize I'm probably late to it) and I now see why it's done as well as it has. If you haven't heard it or even heard of it, you owe it to yourself to check it out. If nothing else, have a listen to the opening song in its rough form from a few years ago by the star and co-writer of the show, Lin-Manuel Miranda.

It's been a while since a piece of media has captivated me in quite this way. We often struggle with definitions of art, especially here in the video game community, but this is great art. For anyone who needs my definition of that, I will quote one of my favorite magicians and freethinkers, Teller (of Penn & Teller), who maintains that, "Art is anything you do once the chores are done." It's a fantastic definition and the only thing I would add is that great art is what inspires people to want to be artists themselves. Treat yourself, have a listen, please to enjoy.

I've had the cast album on repeat since it was released. I even managed to snag front row mezz. tickets for October. Granted, I had to order them in November of last year, but I'm crazy excited to go.

@thelastgunslinger: Oh holy crap... Incredibly jealous. I can't imagine how expensive that was to do. A friend of mine went to the show a few weeks ago, but she had to buy them from a reseller.

I want to go see it so bad, but i can't predict where i'll be in a years time in order to preorder tickets!! I should just buy them and commit to showing up. If they're even available in advance still

@mikemcn: That's what my family did with Book of Mormon tickets. We bought tickets like a year in advance, and made a nice little NYC trip out of it.

I saw Hamilton the day before the Tony nominations so I got to see 99% of the original cast. It is incredible that the show lives up to the hype considering how big the hype is. I was in the very last row, and it still blew me away. The choreography and staging is something to see on top of the great soundtrack. I would recommend the show to anyone who can afford to see it.

Fortunately, I got my tickets months ago, before the prices went through the roof. If you want to see the show now, you'll need to pay an arm and a leg.

I actively dislike musicals but I heard a lot of buzz around Hamilton and listened to some of it on Spotify a month or so ago and man I was blown away. I would love to see it live.

@citizencoffeecake: I think the fact that it's not like a typical musical (which I'd define as a play broken up by songs), and it's more like a concept album (which, to be fair, Linn-Manuel Miranda was originally going to release this as The Hamilton Mixtapes in audio form only) really helps it transcend the usual problems of a musical. Most musicals have dialogue scenes then the characters start singing for no goddamn reason, then more dialogue. At least from the soundtrack, it seems like there are no dialogue scenes in Hamilton. Pretty much everything is a song or a setup for a song.

Hopefully it becomes a touring show or maybe a movie adaption one day for those of us too broke or far away from NYC to get to it.

@phoenix654: They are actually casting a tour right now. And yes, there is almost no dialog in the musical. In fact, there are only one or two moments in the entire musical that aren't on the soundtrack. So if you like the album, you'll probably like the whole show.

I heard about it on John Oliver's episode on Puerto Rico. I'm not a fan of rap or hip hop at all, though, so I probably won't look into it, but it seems neat.

@phoenix654: you can always try their lottery.

FYI anyone with Amazon Prime, the original cast recording can be streamed for "free" as part of your membership.

If you listen using their app, it also has X-Ray lyrics.

@justin258: I'd recommend checking it out anyways. If you have Amazon Prime or have a friend with Amazon Prime it won't cost you anything but a little bit of your time.

Been a fan since they posted the whole soundtrack on NPR last fall. Got my tickets to go see it on my birthday in August. It's gonna be killer.

Seeing Hamilton live back in January with the entire original cast is one of the highlights of my life. I am 100% serious when I say that I think Hamilton is the greatest piece of art across any medium of the last five years. It's astounding. I still listen to it daily and oh my god I have to restrain myself before I fill up a page writing about Hamilton right now.

Ehhhhhhhhhhhhh but it's rap and hip-hop and, regardless of content, that style of music has always grated on my nerves.

Buuuuuuuuuuuuutttt apparently it's at least partially based on/inspired by/whatever Ron Chernow's biography of Alexander Hamilton, which I've read portions of in the past, so maybe I'll look into it? Or at least that's what Wikipedia says.

@justin258: Yeah Lin-Manuel Miranda basically was on vacation reading that book and thought to himself, how has no one made a musical of this yet? Then he made a musical of it. There are a couple changes for narrative effect but overall it's pretty accurate to the history.

Hmm, that opening track is pretty good. If the whole thing is basically just the soundtrack, I'll check that out.

I've only recently got into some musicals in the past few years after listening to the Les Miserables soundtrack on Spotify and went down sort of a rabbit hole. Heard one of the Hamilton songs on the BBC radio a few months back and didn't catch the name so spent most of the day trying to fight out the playlist.

I'm jealous folks get to see it on Broadway with the original cast. It's a great listen, recommend it.

I checked on the page and they appear to be sold out for this year and the next... That is bonkers.

@hermes: Try the digital lottery.

Great job!

I feel the same about most rap and hip-hop, but this is so well written and contains so many historical drops and references that it makes you sit up and listen to every single word. A sample...

When he was ten his father split, full of it, debt-ridden
Two years later, see Alex and his mother bed-ridden
Half-dead sittin' in their own sick, the scent thick
And Alex got better but his mother went quick

Moved in with a cousin, the cousing committed suicide
Left him with nothin’ but ruined pride, something new inside
A voice saying, "Alex, you gotta fend for yourself."
He started retreatin' and readin' every treatise on the shelf...

And not to put too fine a point on it, not everything is rap style. There's a trio of songs by King George III that are very classic musical and Thomas Jefferson has an amazing ragtime song about being in France for most of the 1780s, only returning because he was appointed secretary of state.

Anyway, I've sold it enough.

@phoenix654: Ahh man, you ended your example right before the best part!

Anyway, I can't recommend Hamilton enough. My sisters introduced it to me around Christmas time, and I listened to it pretty much exclusively for about three months. I also really enjoy it because I enjoy studying history, and Hamilton isn't one of the founding fathers that gets a lot of focus in school, at least in the schools I attended. I enjoyed looking things up while I listened to the soundtrack, especially the Reynold's Pamphlet.

Back around November I listened the the entire soundtrack through youtube videos while following along with the lyrics and bought it on iTunes as soon as I finished. Like plenty of people I didn't go into it thinking "Maybe when I'm done I'll read the entirety of The Federalist Papers!" but there you go, that's what Hamilton does.

I'm also super glad I know about Eliza Hamilton now. She's such a great woman in history and I had no clue what she did or who she was until I listened to Hamilton. Pippa better GET THAT TONY or I'm going to lead a one-woman riot into New York City. She's unbelievably talented.

@vocalcannibal: Just started the 36 hour audio book version of Chernow's autobiography that started all this and, yeah, I would never have thought of listening to a day an half long biography of a US Treasury secretary, but I completely agree, this is what Hamilton does to you.

I have a feeling there will be a Lord of the Rings-esque sweep of the Tony's by this show, lest there be rioting in history departments the nation over.

@phoenix654: I've been listening to it this morning, contemplating buying it on audible.

Infinitely jealous of those who got/are getting to see it. I swear I haven't listened to anything else for over a month now. A phenomenal piece of everything, I absolutely adore In the Heights but this show just completely blew me away (no pun intended).