Hamilton (Lin-Manuel Miranda)
Sep. 26th, 2015 08:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cahnYup, I'm officially obsessed. The NPR streaming link is still up. It is also available to Amazon Prime members (free) and is on Spotify. It is possible to get a pdf of the official lyrics here.
Okay, now that I've had a chance to listen a second and third time, I… just want to talk about this ALL THE TIME. So! Things I Love About Hamilton:
-ANGELICA. ANGELICA SCHUYLER IS THE BEST.
-The Schuyler sisters! Seriously, when was the last time I saw an awesome sister relationship in a musical, much less as incredibly awesome a sister relationship as this one. LOVE SO MUCH. Might have legit started tearing up when Angelica came back in the second act with "I know my sister / Like I know my own mind" — I might also be tearing up now when I hear it in the first act.
-Lafayette! The camaraderie Hamilton and the guys have, in general. But basically every time Lafayette has a line I want to cheer. GO LAFAYETTE. Immigrants! They get the job done!
-Burr and Hamilton. What a complicated and interesting relationship he's made between the two of them. Burr is clearly the villain and yet he's his own person, you can't help but feel for him, and one of his songs ("Wait for it") is actually one of my favorites when taken as a standalone, and you can totally see how things ended up the way they did AGH.
-Washington! LOVE.
-Jefferson is hilarious.
-The count-ups. The way they govern the strong reactions and the strong events, and I don't even know how Miranda got this to work but he did. (My favorite, of course, is Angelica's three fundamental truths, but the ten duel commmandments are arguably even more central.)
-King George as a Britpop dysfunctional boyfriend. GENIUS.
-Hamilton! Like, obviously, the narrative is on the whole on his side — but he was also an obnoxious jerk, and the narrative doesn't elide that.
-I also love how all the other people are like, this guy just talked for six hours about his vision of government, "Who the f is this?" (Direct quote!)
-Have I mentioned CABINET MEETINGS AS RAP BATTLES.
-I just want to repeat: assuming states' debts. AS A RAP BATTLE. And it's good. Can this be real?
-Just in general, the part where it's all historical. Miranda didn't make up stuff. He didn't need to! Hamilton's life, man, it's a musical that doesn't need any embellishment. And yet I feel like most other people, making a musical about it, would have romanticized it or embellished it anyway. (Hi Smash writers!) BUT HE DIDN'T.
-Seriously, I have so many FEELINGS about all these historical figures now I CAN'T EVEN.
-Miranda has so many FEELINGS about history and politics in general. Like, not just the characters (which obviously he has ALL THE FEELINGS about) but obviously he thinks the actual politics are fascinating, and passes this on, e.g. "The Room Where It Happens" is all about how these deals are made and makes it fascinating and interesting and Burr has all the emotions about being an outsider looking in. I LOVE THIS.
-The music is just awesome. I don't know anything about hip-hop or how one might evaluate this from the hip-hop genre standpoint, but from where I'm standing as someone who loves Broadway musicals, this is amazingly complex and interesting music. (I mean… this is maybe a really low bar, considering Broadway is about Les Mis and Frank Wildhorn…) And it's conversant with the Broadway-musical tradition as well as the hip-hop tradition, even while it does strange and marvelous things with it.
-The lyrics are even more awesome than the music. They are complicated and awesome and have, like, actual historical quotes in them! WIN.
-I love that Miranda didn't at all feel bound by Ye Olde Broadway Tradition, like the Showstopper Number To End the First Act. The first act ends with Burr narrating about how Hamilton's writing a bunch of the Federalist Papers, and Washington almost offhand asks Hamilton to be Secretary of the Treasurer. I mean, maybe it's a showstopper in person? But in recording, it plays as no more and no less than everything else driving Hamilton — and the US — to that point in time.
-Let me just say that again. He let the history and the story dictate the structure! He didn't just put stuff in because It Should Be There! This never happens in musicals!
-I keep going back and forth about how I feel about the meta (there's a lot of what-is-my-legacy meta), but in the end I like it. It's a musical that by its very nature is concerned with how the present interprets the past, how we see the past through the lens of the future, and of course the characters (who were themselves concerned about their future legacy) and music must also reflect that.
-Philip Hamilton :((((((((((((((((( I really did start sobbing at this point. I would ask for fix-it fic, only this is, like, history… so there's no actual fixing it…
-Lin-Manuel Miranda as Alexander. I mean, I thought he was awesome as scrappy young Alexander, and then Philip and AGH AGH AGH AGH.
-I don't really think it's fair that Miranda is this good a composer, writer/lyricist, and actor. I mean he is freaking amazing at all three! Also, when does this guy sleep?
-I don't understand how this musical is about Hamilton and all the other historical figures around him and all their relationships and legacy meta and politics and emotions AND somehow it finds a small space, a quiet little space, for grace and forgiveness. THIS MUSICAL. IT IS PERFECT.
Ways in which Hamilton is currently annoying me:
-I have King George's da-da-da-da-da refrain in my head as an earworm now. And, I mean, Britpop as a genre is not really something I want to have in my head as an earworm.
-I have these meetings at work and I keep trying to force whatever anyone says into rap meter. BAH.
Also: Alexander Hamilton is TOTALLY the plebe immigrant good-looking Miles Vorkosigan. I mean, forward momentum was basically his life, can't you just see Miles doing basically every single thing Hamilton does, the fighting and the politics and the wrecking his life in his drive for forward momentum… Now I think Miles' voice will always be Miranda's voice in my head (although Miles looks nothing like Miranda, I guess). Also, now I kind of want someone to write Miles having the equivalent of the Reynolds scandal! (I guess Memory was… kind of… that, only with it transmuted to the mercenary army domain. And it turned out much better for Miles. It must be nice to have the author on your side :) )
Okay, now that I've had a chance to listen a second and third time, I… just want to talk about this ALL THE TIME. So! Things I Love About Hamilton:
-ANGELICA. ANGELICA SCHUYLER IS THE BEST.
-The Schuyler sisters! Seriously, when was the last time I saw an awesome sister relationship in a musical, much less as incredibly awesome a sister relationship as this one. LOVE SO MUCH. Might have legit started tearing up when Angelica came back in the second act with "I know my sister / Like I know my own mind" — I might also be tearing up now when I hear it in the first act.
-Lafayette! The camaraderie Hamilton and the guys have, in general. But basically every time Lafayette has a line I want to cheer. GO LAFAYETTE. Immigrants! They get the job done!
-Burr and Hamilton. What a complicated and interesting relationship he's made between the two of them. Burr is clearly the villain and yet he's his own person, you can't help but feel for him, and one of his songs ("Wait for it") is actually one of my favorites when taken as a standalone, and you can totally see how things ended up the way they did AGH.
-Washington! LOVE.
-Jefferson is hilarious.
-The count-ups. The way they govern the strong reactions and the strong events, and I don't even know how Miranda got this to work but he did. (My favorite, of course, is Angelica's three fundamental truths, but the ten duel commmandments are arguably even more central.)
-King George as a Britpop dysfunctional boyfriend. GENIUS.
-Hamilton! Like, obviously, the narrative is on the whole on his side — but he was also an obnoxious jerk, and the narrative doesn't elide that.
-I also love how all the other people are like, this guy just talked for six hours about his vision of government, "Who the f is this?" (Direct quote!)
-Have I mentioned CABINET MEETINGS AS RAP BATTLES.
-I just want to repeat: assuming states' debts. AS A RAP BATTLE. And it's good. Can this be real?
-Just in general, the part where it's all historical. Miranda didn't make up stuff. He didn't need to! Hamilton's life, man, it's a musical that doesn't need any embellishment. And yet I feel like most other people, making a musical about it, would have romanticized it or embellished it anyway. (Hi Smash writers!) BUT HE DIDN'T.
-Seriously, I have so many FEELINGS about all these historical figures now I CAN'T EVEN.
-Miranda has so many FEELINGS about history and politics in general. Like, not just the characters (which obviously he has ALL THE FEELINGS about) but obviously he thinks the actual politics are fascinating, and passes this on, e.g. "The Room Where It Happens" is all about how these deals are made and makes it fascinating and interesting and Burr has all the emotions about being an outsider looking in. I LOVE THIS.
-The music is just awesome. I don't know anything about hip-hop or how one might evaluate this from the hip-hop genre standpoint, but from where I'm standing as someone who loves Broadway musicals, this is amazingly complex and interesting music. (I mean… this is maybe a really low bar, considering Broadway is about Les Mis and Frank Wildhorn…) And it's conversant with the Broadway-musical tradition as well as the hip-hop tradition, even while it does strange and marvelous things with it.
-The lyrics are even more awesome than the music. They are complicated and awesome and have, like, actual historical quotes in them! WIN.
-I love that Miranda didn't at all feel bound by Ye Olde Broadway Tradition, like the Showstopper Number To End the First Act. The first act ends with Burr narrating about how Hamilton's writing a bunch of the Federalist Papers, and Washington almost offhand asks Hamilton to be Secretary of the Treasurer. I mean, maybe it's a showstopper in person? But in recording, it plays as no more and no less than everything else driving Hamilton — and the US — to that point in time.
-Let me just say that again. He let the history and the story dictate the structure! He didn't just put stuff in because It Should Be There! This never happens in musicals!
-I keep going back and forth about how I feel about the meta (there's a lot of what-is-my-legacy meta), but in the end I like it. It's a musical that by its very nature is concerned with how the present interprets the past, how we see the past through the lens of the future, and of course the characters (who were themselves concerned about their future legacy) and music must also reflect that.
-Philip Hamilton :((((((((((((((((( I really did start sobbing at this point. I would ask for fix-it fic, only this is, like, history… so there's no actual fixing it…
-Lin-Manuel Miranda as Alexander. I mean, I thought he was awesome as scrappy young Alexander, and then Philip and AGH AGH AGH AGH.
-I don't really think it's fair that Miranda is this good a composer, writer/lyricist, and actor. I mean he is freaking amazing at all three! Also, when does this guy sleep?
-I don't understand how this musical is about Hamilton and all the other historical figures around him and all their relationships and legacy meta and politics and emotions AND somehow it finds a small space, a quiet little space, for grace and forgiveness. THIS MUSICAL. IT IS PERFECT.
Ways in which Hamilton is currently annoying me:
-I have King George's da-da-da-da-da refrain in my head as an earworm now. And, I mean, Britpop as a genre is not really something I want to have in my head as an earworm.
-I have these meetings at work and I keep trying to force whatever anyone says into rap meter. BAH.
Also: Alexander Hamilton is TOTALLY the plebe immigrant good-looking Miles Vorkosigan. I mean, forward momentum was basically his life, can't you just see Miles doing basically every single thing Hamilton does, the fighting and the politics and the wrecking his life in his drive for forward momentum… Now I think Miles' voice will always be Miranda's voice in my head (although Miles looks nothing like Miranda, I guess). Also, now I kind of want someone to write Miles having the equivalent of the Reynolds scandal! (I guess Memory was… kind of… that, only with it transmuted to the mercenary army domain. And it turned out much better for Miles. It must be nice to have the author on your side :) )
no subject
Date: 2015-09-27 05:05 am (UTC)Yes, about Miles and Hamilton. Yes, they are the same person. But the class difference has enormous ramifications. Miles is always the Regent's son and the Emperor's foster brother, and he slides out of some of his disasters, including the ones in Memory, because when all else fails he can turn up in Gregor's office and call in the nepotism card. Alexander Hamilton never gets that get-out-of-scandal-free option, and that's part of why he dies.
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Date: 2015-09-27 03:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-09-27 05:02 pm (UTC)But that's why I now want the fic (because Bujold isn't ever going to do this, and honestly I guess I don't really want her to because in canon I want the happy ending) where Gregor abdicates in favor of a democracy (okay, yes, this also would never happen, but bear with me) and then Miles gets to face all the enemies he's made without that protection, the way Hamilton self-destructed once Washington gave up the presidency. And also I want the sex scandal where Miles decides to self-destruct by publishing that his defense against being accused of breaking Vorloupulous' law (or whatever) was that he was having an affair (of course, this would be an AU canon where Aral never gave him the lecture on honor vs. reputation).
I want a lot of self-contradictory things, I guess!
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Date: 2015-09-27 06:35 am (UTC)and meanwhile I'm turning the nominations for Hamilton into part of a tutorial for new tagmods, because there sure are some creative variations there.
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Date: 2015-09-27 05:03 pm (UTC)heeee. I guess it would also be confusing because all the characters could also sort of be in 18-19thC RPF? I wouldn't know how to tag it.
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Date: 2015-09-27 05:05 pm (UTC)King George as abusive husband is HILARIOUS. "And when push comes to shove / I will send a fully armed battalion / to remind you of my love!"
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Date: 2015-10-06 08:53 pm (UTC)Yeah, I mean, Hamilton does have Washington (how would Memory have been different if Gregor had abdicated before those events?) but you're right, Miles has this massive privilege of security that he never even thinks about. I absolutely agree that Miles would have self-destructed in similar if not identical ways. That whole bit at the end of "Hurricane" sounds exactly like something Miles would say...