Hamilton, the mega-Broadway hit about founding father Alexander Hamilton, has combined hip-hop and rap music, history and theatre in a revolutionary way that has made it more than just a successful musical, but a cultural phenomenon.
“[Hamilton] is the best show I have ever seen. [When I saw Hamilton] it was clear how much passion and devotion everyone in the show put into their performance,” said senior Kellyann Coveny.
Hamilton is a musical interpretation of the life of Alexander Hamilton. The story follows Hamilton from his first comings to the 13 colonies, through the American Revolution and the forming of the Constitution, to his death by duel. The whole story of Hamilton’s life is narrated by Hamilton’s political nemesis, Aaron Burr.
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It opened only seven years after In The Heights, the other successful musical by Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, opened on Broadway.
Miranda came up with the idea for a musical about the life of Alexander Hamilton after reading Ron Chernow’s biography of his life.
Miranda and his writing partner, Alex Lacamoire performed the opening song of the musical entitled “Alexander Hamilton,” at the White House in 2009 which was the world’s first introduction to what would become a full musical.
Hamilton is unique in that it utilizes rap and hip-hop music as the main style of many of the songs performed throughout the musical.
“When I have tried to explain [Hamilton] to people who have never heard of the show they just didn’t understand. Neither did I until I actually listened to it,” said Coveny. “Lin-Manuel Miranda is such a talented composer that he makes the mix of hip-hop and show tunes make perfect sense.”
The fusion of rap music and musical theatre allows Hamilton to appeal to a larger audience than just the traditional musical theatre community. People who are fans of both genres can enjoy the manner in which the story of Alexander Hamilton is being
He accuses Jefferson of being “off getting high with the French” while “we — (being Hamilton and other true Americans, in this case directly associating him with George Washington, who was with Hamilton in the situation referred to here, the siege at Yorktown) — almost died in a trench.” In a final contrast to Hamilton himself, he describes Jefferson as “hesitant” and “reticent.” Hamilton, neither of those things, finishes with the mature “Damn, you’re in worse shape than the national debt is in / Sittin’ there useless as two shits / Hey, turn around, bend over, I’ll show you where my shoe fits.” By that point, the Congress is so involved that they don’t wait for a pause to laugh and they even provide a chanted accompaniment to the last lines before erupting into chaos. It takes George Washington to calm everyone down, and though Jefferson taunts that Hamilton doesn’t “have the votes,” Hamilton walks away from the battle the clear
You may of heard about the musical Hamilton, witch is about the great founding father Alexander Hamilton. Do you know all the other facts about his life? Here are some of his biggest facts.
Everyone has heard the name Alexander Hamilton, but few are familiar with his views and actions regarding the survival of the young American republic. He could be recognized for anything from serving our fledgling country by fighting in the New York militia; to serving his community as a lawyer and as a national tax agent; to beginning his political career as a representative for New York at the National Congress. Though most would agree his most important contribution to our struggling republic was to spearhead the project which formed the doctrine helping to establish the foundation in which modern democracy is based, the Articles of Confederation.
Of the many figures in American History, Alexander Hamilton has proven himself one of the most versatile and influential. His policies and ideals have helped the United States blossom into a prosperous world power. Through his power as secretary of Treasury and his convincing intellectual efforts, he was able to dominate the nations early political environment. Hamilton’s patriotic endeavors have proven themselves to be durable and in the best interests of the United States.
The book was the biography about one of our founding fathers and our first Treasury-Secretary. While reading the 800-page book, Manuel stated: "Hip-hop songs started rising off the page" (PBS). Alexander Hamilton was born in the Caribbean and was raised in a broken family surrounded by slavery. His father left him, his mother passed away and there was a devastating hurricane on his home island of St. Croix. Alexander Hamilton put pen to paper and wrote a poem and as a result of his writing, won a scholarship and found his way to America. Lin-Manuel describes him as "An immigrant and an outsider who writes his way in" (Keeper of the Flame). When Lin-Manuel read that Hamilton wrote a poem to get off the
If you don't think this is romantic, consider that Jonathan Larson's sensational musical is inspired by Puccini's opera "La Boheme," in which the lovers Mimi and Rodolfo are tragically separated by her death from tuberculosis. Different age, different plague. Larson has updated Puccini's end-of-19th-century Left Bank bohemians to end-of-20th-century struggling artists in New York's East Village. His rousing, moving, scathingly funny show, performed by a cast of youthful unknowns with explosive talent and staggering energy, has brought a shocking jolt of creative juice to Broadway.
Alexander Hamilton was born a bastard child in the West Indies and demonstrated great intellectual potential at an early age. He was sent to New York City for schooling and studied at King’s College, now Columbia University. His vision of America took a more capitalistic tone and “he was determined to transform an economically weak and fractious cluster of states into a powerful global force” (Tindall & Shi, 2010). Hamilton advocated a strong central government. He was bold and persuasive and his philosophies quite extraordinary for his time.
After his death, Hamilton’s legacy was mainly carried on by his wife, Eliza, who dedicated her life to preserving his legacy and making sure that he was not forgotten while she was alive. After Alexander’s death, Eliza told his story through doing things such as helping raise money for his mentor and friend, George Washington’s, memorial, and founding the first private orphanage in New York City which paid respect to her late husband who was an orphan. She also made Hamilton’s life and letters accessible, so that Alexander’s history would be easier to trace back to. She also spoke out about issues that Hamilton felt strongly about, such as slavery. Eliza made it her life goal to continue Hamilton’s legacy onto generations to come, which, indeed it has. Since Alexander’s death, his life has been documented through several biographies, most popularly, Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow which inspired the Grammy and Tony award winning Broadway show, Hamilton: An American Musical. Since Hamilton first came to Broadway, Alexander and Eliza Hamilton have been given the recognition that they had not been given, but rightfully deserve.
This book may be aimed towards the audience of adults, but I hope that soon teenagers will soon become interested in History. I have alway been a huge fan of American History, but I do not like to read. This book though I do want to read, because of the amazing explanations of “The Duel.” Ever since this broadway show Hamilton by Lin Manuel Miranda I have wanted to learn more about the life of Alexander Hamilton,. Whenever I find a book that describes Hamilton’s life I want to read it, and i'm glad I read Founding Brothers. Within this book Ellis uses many quotes from Hamilton and Burr which is personally one of my favorite parts. The quotes of Hamilton is one of my favorite parts of the book because of Hamilton's amazing skills with a paper and pen. Another element of the book I enjoyed is the still problematic conclusion of Hamilton's death. In “The Duel” there were two shots fired, one by Hamilton and one by Burr. There are two hypothesis’ shared in the book on who shot first. This is important to me because the author was not biased and did not only include one option, I feel like in doing this they gave the reader a choice of which conclusion they want. Joseph J. Ellis did not only stay unbiased he also included some fun and interesting little tidbits throughout the story. When I say this I mean when he described the connection between the weapons used in “The Duel.”
“If you stand for nothing, Burr, what will you fall for?” Lin-Manuel Miranda raps at the beginning of his hit musical, Hamilton. This sentence truly epitomizes the ideal that governed Alexander Hamilton’s life; that is to say that he was always a weighty advocate for the things in which he believed. His accomplishments range from orchestrating the Bank of New York to being a delegate for the Continental Congress, proving him to be a well rounded Founding Father. Nonetheless many would like to discredit Hamilton because he, like all human beings, had significant flaws; he had an affair, he had trouble keeping his head, and many other countless flaws. However, does not every human being have a multitude of shortcomings? From the perspective of
Lin-Manuel Miranda was inspired to write the musical because of Ron Chernow’s book, Alexander Hamilton. He was on a vacation and picked the book up for a light read. (Lin-Manuel Miranda). According to the Smithsonian Magazine, this is how it played out: “In a white hammock under a blue sky beneath a hot yellow sun he reads the defining work
The broadway hit play Hamilton, written by Lin Manuel Miranda, is viewed as an educational play about Alexander Hamilton, one of the United States’ founding fathers and the first Secretary of the Treasury. The play captures the spirit of Alexander Hamilton’s ambition, eloquence, and mistakes in a revolutionary format-as revolutionary as Hamilton himself! Combining rap, musical theater, and history, Hamilton is an enthralling and entertaining play that is mostly accurate to the real Alexander Hamilton. The details of Hamilton’s life and relationships that were misrepresented in the play to achieve the theatrical flair.
In conclusion Alexander hamilton greatly affected american battles, part of the economy and the documents that hold our country together. Without Hamilton George Washington may have never become president and helped out our country. So I think the most basic thing you do in life change so much in the world and hamilton did a good job in his life to make america a better for everyone by working hard and not giving
RENT is only a musical. It was written by a man that was passionate for life. Jonathan Larson took his dream and made it a reality for everyone that sits in the audience. That passion is the reason it remains one of the most influential productions in Broadway history. If it weren’t for his dream and devotion, it would not be what it is today. That passion is what changed my life and the lives of thousands of others.
Hamilton found a job as a merchant’s apprentice with the help of his aunts. By the time he was fifteen, his employers paid attention to his honesty and intelligence and they were impressed. Therefore, they collaborated with his aunts to send him for a formal schooling in New York. First, he attended Francis Barber's Preparatory School in Elizabethtown, New Jersey. Hamilton always displayed an unusual capacity for impressing older, influential men: so he gained his social footing in Elizabethtown with the surpassing spe...