Posted on 03/17/2016 7:10:53 AM PDT by Rummyfan
Where have you gone, Alexander Hamilton?
I would like to report that, as a committed contrarian, I was less impressed by the theatrical sensation called Hamilton than everybody else has been. Alas, I can't. Hamilton, which I only saw this past week even though it opened over the summer, is everything you've heard—and if you haven't heard anything, I would like to request an invitation to take a few days' vacation under the rock where you've taken up residence.
Not exactly a musical, not really an opera, not a work of hip-hop, Hamilton is nothing less than the most stirring patriotic pageant of our time or any time (or, in Rob Long's words, "the best and longest Schoolhouse Rock"). Through song and poetry and dance, it takes us through the creation of the United States in the person of its greatest-ever immigrant, perhaps the most significant practical intellectual of the modern age. The man who wrote the words and composed the music, Lin-Manuel Miranda, is a New Yorker, just 36 years of age, who read Ron Chernow's 2004 biography of Alexander Hamilton and was seized with the understanding that something had happened in the country and city of his birth two centuries ago worthy of earnest celebration in a present-day idiom. So while there is wit and humor in Hamilton, there is no ironic distance. Hamilton's towering greatness is presented to us without qualification, as is the glory of the cause to which he dedicated his life—the American experiment.
....
And yet, as exhilarating and thrilling as Hamilton is, it induced in me a kind of mute despair—the same despair I felt over Presidents' Day weekend when I took my children to Mount Vernon on a freezing cold Sunday.
(Excerpt) Read more at weeklystandard.com ...
I’ve heard some songs on the radio. Quite enjoyable.
I’m going tomorrow night!!!!!!
And again in August.....
Yeah, this has cost me financially. But it’s totally worth it
Enjoy!
Walking through Mount Vernon’s exhibits with my daughters, I found tears springing to my eyes at the thought that the office first held by this Olympian man may well be occupied next year by one of these three intellectual, emotional, and moral pygmies who think so little of the country they want to lead.
So.
Let me tell you.
Hamilton is FAR more powerful than I anticipated. And I expected a lot.
I think for me, the greatest thing that it does is humanize the founders, warts and all. They were real life, flesh and blood human beings, sinners for sure...but they somehow, secured the blessings of liberty for us. And at enormous personal cost.
I was only aware of the political history.
I was largely unaware of Hamilton’s personal history. And that is what makes the show.
that the office first held by this Olympian man”
I hope you can see Hamilton.
Washington was my favorite character. Incredible.
Thanks for the update. Can’t wait to see it.
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