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History of musical theatre essay
History of musical theatre essay
History of musical theatre essay
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The History of Musical Theatre
Shows Composer, Lyricist & Librettist
Hamilton was composed by Lin-Manuel Miranda. Lin-Manuel Miranda is an American singer, actor, composer, playwright, and lyricist popular for starring and creating Broadway musicals in the Heights and Hamilton. Miranda was born in 1980, January 16 in New York City, by Luz Towns-Miranda; a psychologist mother and Luis A. Miranda, Jr; a political consultant father, both from Puerto Rican. He and his sister grew up in northern Manhattan. Miranda was exposed to music in his childhood where he took piano lesson. His home setting was also filled with salsa sounds and show tunes. His parents encouraged him to love Broadway music. Miranda watched his first Broadway music; Les Miserables
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Hamilton musical features a poor immigrant who started as a poor boy from Caribbean who later rose to be a senior government official to defend the constitution, fight British, and assisted in the development of the United States. It was also celebrated more due to its great fusion of R &B, pop, hip-hop, and wonderful theater traditions. The unique show extends the Broadway sound, discloses the rap power of storytelling, and claimed the origin of America for a new diverse generation. Hamilton has been cited as significant and exciting music of the decade. Critics have found it to be theatrically vital and sensationally potent. Hamilton is perceived as a source of hope for the musical theater future. Some find it exact in brewing revolution up and hitting its target in terms of raising the theater performance standard in America. Hamilton is one of the landmark productions in the contemporary musical theatre history, due to its ability to create unimaginable fusion of various musical techniques, and the employment of the traditional cultural features in the performance. It is one of the presentations that have effectively captured the contemporary style and integrated it effectively with traditional culture. It acts as a great representation of the American history and modern musical development (Miranda & McCarter,
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.
Lin-Manuel Miranda summed up his feelings about art in an interview: "The ultimate way art can be political is that I think it engenders empathy which is the thing politicians can't seem to do" (Watson). Throughout history, many forms of art have created new ideas in our society and will continue to challenge new ways of thinking and how we communicate with one another. In the last fifteen years, artist Lin-Manuel Miranda has written two Broadway Musicals that have had a major impact on how we historically view our country. By writing stories based on the traditional ideas of the "American Dream" and contemporizing the history of our nation's birth, he has captivated a broad and diverse audience. Lin-Manuel's genius, coupled with his passion for the arts, plays an integral role on how we should view our nation's history, to uphold American values for all of us, not just some of us.
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.
People have dreams of what they want to do or accomplish in life, but usually musical theatre is just pushed into the non-realistic void. It isn’t a dream for me. In the past four years, musical theatre has been clarified as my reality. Musical theatre has been the only thing I have seen myself wanting to do. My first love was The Phantom of the Opera, seeing how I watched it almost every day and it was one of the first shows I saw. Of course, I started doing all of those cute shows in middle school and making a huge deal about it to my family and friends, but I have never felt so passionate about something. The minute I get up on that stage I throw away Riley for two and a half hours and it’s the most amazing feeling! Being able to tell a story
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.
Lin Manuel Miranda is mainly known for his musical contributions to Broadway, which includes In The Heights and, most famously, Hamilton. Hamilton is a revolutionary musical about the founding father, Alexander Hamilton. Manuel Miranda has inspired and taught many people, including me, about the history of the United States, while joining hip-hop and Broadway. I look up to Lin Manuel Miranda’s musicality, being a musician myself, and I aspire to be as great of a musician as him. His lyrical brilliance and interpretation of history educates me each time I listen to Hamilton. It has changed my perception of history. Lin Manuel Miranda has changed the world of music forever, and he has taught me to never throw away my shot.
History is full of great figures whose influence shaped the world we live in today. However, such great figures are kept on books, and people know little or nothing about them. Usually, people do not like to read history books because they provide bleak information. Although Alexander Hamilton is one of the most influential founding fathers of the United States of America, having an insight about him through history books can be a hard process. Therefore, The Hamilton Mixtape by Lin-Manual Miranda offers an interesting and concise alternative to history books. It gives a holistic view on Alexander Hamilton and the founding fathers of the United States in terms of both personal and political lives. The work consists of forty six songs, each
Alexander Hamilton was disliked by many people but, he is now popular because of a hit Broadway show created by Lin-Manuel Miranda. Hamilton was born on January 11, 1755 or 1757 in Charleston, Nevis in the British West Indies. He was abandoned by his father which made him an orphan at the age of 13. Hamilton started attending school in Elizabethtown, New Jersey but, plans changed, and he entered Kings College. At the age of 17 he was already interested in government. Later, in 1776 he was introduced to George Washington. He became Washington’s advisor not long after that. Some main events that changed Hamilton’s life were his family, his accomplishments, and George Washington.
In 1782, Hamilton was officially a member of the Continental Congress. Because he was elected to join the Continental Congress, he had a strong say in how our government was run. One way he used this to his advantage was during the Compromise of 1790. Basically he said he would use his influence in congress to get the nation's capital near the south, as long as his financial plan would get passed, according to the dinner-party compromise that resolved a debt crisis, an article by Sarah Winski. This was one of the greatest quid-pro-quo deals known to America, and it made Hamilton quite popular. Along with that, he also wrote 51 out of the 85 Federalist Papers, alongside James Madison and John Jay. The line, "how do you write like you're running out of time?" is used in the musical Hamilton because he wrote so much. In essence, Hamilton worked hard, and was a dedicated
One of the very first electrified streets in the United States was Broadway. This gave it many opportunities to become a large icon for our nation. As we know now it is one of the most well-known places for great entertainment. However Broadway was not always the iconic entertainment center it is today; it was stolen, had New York City emerge around it, and persevered through many difficult economic and cultural times.
Born in the British West Indies, Alexander Hamilton was a bright and talented young man. In 1772, he moved to the mainland to attended King’s College in New York City. Soon after, he quickly embarked on an extraordinary career. Between his arrival in America and his death, Alexander Hamilton contributed greatly to establish our governmental framework. He fought under George Washington in the Revolutionary war and was a member of the Continental Congress. He was an advocate for the ratification of the Constitution and established a prestigious law career. He then served as the nation’s first Secretary of the Treasury. Hamilton was always one step ahead, his leadership skills and intelligence demonstrated to be valuable in his political path.
Hamilton beloved by a large range of people, from children to the elderly even hip-hop fans and history buffs alike as it tells the complicated relationship of our founding fathers. The use of hip-hop music was a genius idea because it brought in a new audience into the world of musical theatre. It extended the range of the audience to those who have a preference for modern music like hip-hop. The greatest part was the cast diversity in the musical. The original cast were not white men and women, but instead there was Puerto Rican, Hispanic, Asian-American performers that were deliberately chosen. This was most likely done to bring in a larger audience and make the characters look more human than they appear to be. Aaron Burr was no longer a cold prodigy involved with creating our country, but a man who had strong ideas, grudges, and a romantic side. Alexander Hamilton was now a person who came from rags and made many mistakes in his life. Once people saw this they could relate to the characters hardships and accomplishments. This musical expanded the capabilities of storytelling in theatre that our forty-fourth president’s first lady, Michelle Obama complimented the cast greatly, saying it is the best art she has
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...
The musical Hamilton, by Lin-Manuel Miranda tells of Alexander Hamilton’s impressive journey from an all but irrelevant street child, to one of the most important men in American politics. It is based off of a true story of growth, heroism, and determination. In writing this musical, Miranda takes a dry, historic story, and turns it into a captivating performance. His project to take the story of Alexander Hamilton and make it relatable to the average American is extraordinarily successful, mostly because the methods by which he does this are unprecedented. His unique methods and practices have resulted in Hamilton being so popular that it was awarded a record breaking sixteen Tony nominations (Paulson). The musical tells how Hamilton doesn’t
The 2000s/ 2010s brought in a wave of movie musicals- adapted from the stage shows. These brought new audiences into the theatre world, and for the first time in 20 years, brought a love to some of the timeless musicals. With slightly altered songs to appeal to a newer audience, these films brought in much needed money into the industry, with films including: Les Misérables, Phantom of the Opera, Rent, Hairspray, Mamma Mia, Fame- and many more. Together with this, musicals began to push the concept of the songs in them, with a wave of new styles being written. Rap musicals such as ‘Hamilton’ and ‘In The Heights’, Pop musicals including ‘Waitress’ and ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ and Rock musicals of ‘American Idiot’ and ‘Spring Awakening’. Together they pushed boundaries of a ‘traditional’ musical theatre sound, and brought in something never before seen. Due to the influence of ‘Rent’, controversial issues and themes began to be explored more, such as Teen suicide, Murder, Ethnic barriers and everything else, which brought with them, a world of opportunities. It was clear that musical theatre was once again showing for a promising