'Hamilton' Is a Pristine Musical, and a Powerful Story About Legacy and Grace

Hamilton is one of the best movies of 2020, and it’s not even a movie movie.  It’s a live recording of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s hit Broadway musical about United States Founding Father and first Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton, as inspired by the biography Alexander Hamiltonby Ron Chernow.  Footage is taken from three performances of Hamilton during its June 2016 run in Richard Rodgers Theatre in Midtown Manhattan.

Hamilton has constantly been generating much buzz since its Broadway opening a couple of years ago.  It’s now deemed pop culture royalty at this point.  Thus, I had high expectations for it going in.  And as I discovered, it gives justice to all the hype and then some.

As a musical production, Hamiltonis pristine.  It has no weak link, in my opinion.  All areas of its theatre design and technical theatre are outstanding (its use of the rotating platform for its musical numbers is a treat by itself).  The songs are catchy and resonating, and the choreography is smooth and striking.  The performances are magnetic and phenomenal (my favorites are Daveed Diggs, who plays Marquis de Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson with so much personality, and Frozen’s Jonathan Groff, who is an absolute riot as George III).  Humor and heart are ample but well-balanced.  The storytelling is utterly immersive.  It has a compelling, thematically rich narrative that’s never overshadowed, but rather, serviced impeccably by the spectacular song-and-dance numbers.  Direction is tight.  And you get to regularly pick up details of cleverness popping out during its course – the use of motifs, casting decisions (some actors play dual roles, which establish character parallels), the word play, the multi-layered meanings, the smart gags, the creative choices (e.g. presenting a political debate as a rap battle), etc.  Seriously, I was blown away by how clever Hamilton is.

The terrific cinematography, camera work, and editing involved in turning Lin-Manuel Miranda’s magnum opus into a movie also deserve to be praised.  I would have honestly loved to watch it on the big screen.  Truly, Hamilton is the gold standard of how to turn a stage musical into a movie.  Rather than creating a film adaptation, surely, it’s infinitely preferable to do a high-quality live filming of the theatre performance, for the essence of the art form as it’s originally intended to be presented is retained.  Moreover, this is the best way to preserve stage musicals – not only in the archives, but in the general consciousness of the public as well.

At its core, Hamilton discusses legacy – the legacy of Hamilton, the legacy of America, and simply legacy per se.  Through characters hell-bent on building and leaving a legacy – particularly Hamilton and his rival Aaron Burr – the engrossing story shows how the single-minded pursuit of this goal can bring one to a self-destructive state in which he’s perpetually anxious of the thought of failing to live up to the expectations of others and himself, forgets and neglects the truly important things in life, and becomes vulnerable to situations where his values are compromised, leading him to commit a grave mistake.  Such story arc is done-to-death, really, but Hamiltonis genuinely one of the best to tell it powerfully.

Miranda also once described Hamiltonas “America then, as told by America now.”  Thus, while Hamilton and the other historical figures in the story were white in real life, they are played by POC actors, as America is more racially diverse in the present than it was during its inception.  This also relates to the musical’s celebration of immigrants like Hamilton who came to America to find success while contributing to its success.  However, it’s also worth noting that, by carrying out this vision, the casting process might have been discriminatory to whites, as what many had accused it back then.  For if diversity is the goal, all should have been represented – whites included.  So, why are only non-whites considered for the main roles?  Diversity doesn’t mean “no whites.”  Nevertheless, regardless of whether this criticism is valid or not, there’s no denying that the resulting product – of which the casted actors contributed significantly to (so maybe the casting is totally out of meritocracy after all) – is still entertaining, insightful, and exceptional.

Other from what I got from watching the musical itself, I also had some fun from mentally identifying to myself what details were based on historical facts and what details were results of artistic license.  I’ve always loved history, and I used to be on a phase many years ago in which I devoured as many books as I could get my hands on about American history, particularly around the periods of the American Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and World War II.  Part of my readings was some biographies of U.S. Presidents and other notable American historical figures – one of which was Alexander Hamilton.  So I had fair knowledge of his life story prior to watching the musical.

In relation to this, I appreciate that Hamilton touches a bit the faith aspect – an important aspect – of Hamilton’s life.  He was, after all, a man whose famous dying words were, “I have a tender reliance on the mercy of the Almighty, through the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ. I am a sinner. I look to Him for mercy; pray for me.”  According to what I remember reading from an article a few years back, the death of his son and experiencing his wife’s forgiveness for his infidelity were the two things that led him to Christ.  Now, the musical didn’t explicitly show his faith, but those two aforementioned events were explored in what would be the most poignant moment in the musical.  And through that scene, as the song “It’s Quiet Uptown” was sang, a glimpse of the Gospel’s message of forgiveness and grace was presented, which the lyrics of the song also indirectly but emphatically declare.

Overall, I love Hamilton.  It’s undoubtedly a masterpiece – might even be the best Broadway musical ever made.