During the epidemic, the official filmed version of the Broadway musical "Hamilton", but I am always wary of things that are too popular, so I have not watched it. On the first day of school in September, I had a sleepy blue Monday noon. After watching it, I realized that the success of this drama was no accident.
1. The inevitable result of taking advantage of the "time, place and people"
The title shows that the time is 2016. At that time, it was the last bus to catch up with Obama, the first black president of the United States. He was invited to the White House to sing, and it was the tape that Obama and Michelle appeared on the camera at the Tony Awards ceremony. Along the way, there are all kinds of endorsements from the political leaders in power, which can be said to have taken up all the "time". In addition, on the one hand, this year's epidemic has paralyzed offline theaters across the board, and everyone's demand for theater cannot be filled. On the other hand, racial incidents and populism in the United States Under such circumstances, Disney released this all-colored actor and creation of the stage play online, which can be described as a "place"; finally, the original creative team of "In the Heights" let the main creators Their cooperation can be described as the tacit understanding among friends, which can be described as "human and human".
2. The core of the American spirit is wrapped under the shell of the pioneer
Although it has the right place and the right place, the main group of Broadway ticket purchasers are white women over 40 years old, at least middle-class, and a musical with a different approach may work in the West End of London, but Broadway is a question mark. of. In order to balance this, LMM, as the second generation of immigrants, tries to balance the American spirit with some pioneering elements, takes freedom and equality as beliefs and pursuits, practices and tests the core of the "American spirit", and does not even make the audience feel , the immigrant's adherence to the American spirit is more devoted to the viewing effect than the mainstream group.
By reproducing the life of the founding father, rewriting the history of the founding of the United States, reaffirming the core of Americanness-freedom and equality, and reflecting the immigrant present in history from the two aspects of theme and artistic expression to these two core concepts of Americanness. contribute.
Thematically, the concept of freedom is embodied in the protagonist Hamilton's progress, the justice of the American Revolutionary War and the establishment of the two-party system, as well as Hamilton and Burr's desire to create a legend and transcend the limited awareness of life and Hamilton's awareness of the freedom of life. Pursuit; the concept of equality is embodied in the portrayal of the image of the mother country based on intellectual equality, the presentation of the Americanization process of immigrant groups and their contributions, and the historical awareness of the characters.
In terms of artistic expression, freedom is reflected in the adoption of the African-American literary "meaning" tradition and the African-American hip-hop culture. Both arts are based on the driving force of social progress and freedom—oneness as their core content; equality is It is reflected in the female historical writing consciousness and individual dynamism manifested by a female narrator before the end of the play, as well as the breaking of the conventional casting arrangements during the stage performance of the play, that is, minority actors are selected to play the father of the country, Hamilton and other white roles , as well as the same actor playing two different roles, etc.
3. The perfect combination of groundedness and artistry
"Hamilton" is for the Tony Awards, and "Parasite" is for the Oscars. Unlike the aloofness of European elite culture, all the artistry of American theater and film is for the masses. Perhaps it is the magic of the capitalist market, or the impetus of American civilian culture, the artistic expression of all American theater and film is designed to make it easier for the audience to understand and understand, in other words, to be particularly "grounded". Going back to this drama, this kind of closeness to the people is not only reflected in the rap from the beginning to the end, but also the electronic music scratches that come from time to time, the overwhelmed talk show jokes, the lyrics that keep repeating the main theme, and the melody. The melody and rhythm of the mouth, etc. As a result, from production to distribution, Disney first made an online distribution of an official version of a musical when the theater completely collapsed during the epidemic, because for Broadway, which often costs more than $100, go online. Sounds like a French restaurant with three Michelin stars is going to do takeout. If some people say that this damages the purity of art, then I would like to say that the essence of art is to convey ideas, and there is no where to convey the audience. Therefore, only by letting the audience accept the drama and bringing the audience into the theater can we talk about it. It is necessary to cultivate his artistic accomplishment. After all, expanding the denominator can produce numerators with a high probability, and only with Takashi Murakami can there be more Andy Warhols.
But being so grounded has not affected the artistry of the show. As a musical based on rap, the melody is weakened, but the lyrics are more prominent. The extremely fast rapping spews out like a volcanic eruption. It is said that an average of 6 words can be spit out per second, but when I watched it, it was Instead of being submerged in a waterfall of content, the rhythms, puns, and quotations in the lyrics are tumbling out of the spring like pearls. In terms of rhythm, it is not only the rhyme of the ending words of a single sentence, but also the rhyme in the middle of the rhythm with the rhythm of the rap. It is not only the rhyme in English, but also cleverly uses the rhyme that distinguishes the pronunciation between French and English, such as Lafayette's appearance,
“I dream of life without a monarchy
the unrest in France would lead to 'onarchy
Onarchy? How you say it? How you say it? Oh Anarchy
When I fight I make the other side panicky".
In terms of puns, it is necessary to mention "my shot" which just opened, because shot itself is a rhyme, which further strengthens the audience's attention to the polysemy of shot.
Lafayette, Mulligan, Laurens :it's time to take a shot.
Lafayette: when I fight I make the other side panicky with my shot. (Bullet)
Mulligan: I'm gonna take a shot.
Laurens: have another shot. (have a drink)
Burr: if you talk you r gonna get shot.
Hamilton: laurens, do not throw away your shot. (Bullet)
Hamilton: I am not throwing away my shot. (Chance).
In the citations, such as "We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal", and "Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" are all from the "Declaration of Independence", and some are quoted from other works For the language and expression in the official website, there is also a reference list, so I won't go into details here.
In addition to the lyrics, the artistic expression in other aspects of the play is also worthy of attention.
For example, the stage stage beauty is not as fancy as I watched the scene of "phantom" (the huge curtain instantly turns into alternating downward stairs, the table opens into a small river, etc.), the stage of this play looks simple but has hidden secrets, On the flat table, there are actually two rotating stages inside and outside, which play an indispensable role in expressing time and dealing with the relationship between characters. When expressing time, clockwise represents the forward narration, and counterclockwise represents the flashback, especially in the rewind part of ang's constantly praised, the characters are reversed with the rotating stage, which makes the stage play have a movie-like rewind. There is another use of the rotating stage that may be overlooked, that is, Hamilton's monologue in the final scene of the duel between Hamilton and Burr. Some people say that before death, people always flash back to their minds important things in their life like a movie. In an instant, and in this scene, with the rotation of the stage, all the important characters in hamilton's life appeared like a revolving lantern, as if he himself had already predicted that he was about to die, and also gave the audience the psychology to accept the fate of the protagonist. buffer.
For example, the lights, when hamilton and jefferson disagreed on the idea of governing the country, the lights instantly turned half red and half blue. Although there was no bipartisan dispute when the United States was founded, it undoubtedly implies that these two founding fathers are the future of the United States. The political system has laid a foreshadowing; for another example, when George III made his second appearance after the Battle of Yorktown, he used the word blue to express his sadness. The audience's instant laughter also pushed George III's comical image to another climax.
Take choreography, for example, a highlight of this play’s choreography is the visualization and characterisation of invisible bullet trajectories. For the first time, at the beginning of “Stay Alive”, a British soldier shoots from a distance, and the “bullet” shoots from the table Hamilton, who was writing so hard before, brushed it on his head. The second time was in the final duel between Hamilton and Burr. The moment Burr shot the bullet, time suddenly stopped. The actor who played the bullet on the stage moved forward slowly with an extremely exaggerated dance. The time lapse of the dance steps also became extremely slow, as if watching "Let the Bullets Fly", the bullets really flew. In addition, hamilton's character is rampant and never gives in, so his dance design is all straight. Relatively speaking, Burr's character is as hidden as the "talk less, smile more" he said when he appeared, so Their dance steps are all curved, which always reflects the contrast between the two's personalities. In addition, there is also a letter written by Washington to hamilton, from the first floor to the second floor to the first floor through the process of each actor's hand, showing the long journey; after the battle of Yorktown, the dancers put the chair furniture When it is raised above the head, with the rotation of the stage, it symbolizes the destruction of the old society, the arrival of the new society, and the earth-shaking change of the world; when the identity of the spy is exposed, the actors and clothes that were originally gathered are instantly blown away, etc. Design , are very bright.
For example, the most outstanding character is George III, who used the same theme for his three appearances, and the gorgeous crown costumes from head to toe. But to contrast with the American spirit of the New World, LMM makes every appearance of him dramatic, humorous, and ironic. For example, after the United States won the Battle of Yorktown, George III said unhappily: "cuz when push, becomes to shove, I will kill you friends and family, to remind you of my love" In addition to the lyrics, George III also deliberately paid tribute Queens' lead singer Freddie's singing voice, with a da da da melody added in the second half, is just like a child who loses his temper when he is unhappy, speaks unscrupulously, and is crazy despite his grand ambitions. This way of expressing emotions in a completely opposite way to internal emotions is called "reverse formation", in other words "contrast cuteness". Coupled with the image design of the character, such as catwalking and shaking shoulders, it makes this character come alive. Although he has only appeared three times, it has become the finishing touch.
4. Difficult choices between online and offline
When the new crown pneumonia is raging around the world, when the offline theaters are all collapsed, the success of the online distribution of "Hamilton" has become the best choice for theatrical art during the epidemic period. It also gives viewers perspectives that even the best seats in the theater can't see. For example, the funny expression of George III spit out when he sang, the tears in the eyes of the founding fathers when they sang for freedom, democracy and equality, and the lighting design from the perspective of God on the stage.
But after all, drama belongs to the theater. The audience can control the entire stage from a fixed perspective. They can choose to pay attention to different characters or the details of the stage art at the same time according to the preferences of different audiences. This is the right of the audience. However, after the interpretation of theatrical filmization, there is no doubt that a third party is forced to intervene between the actors and the audience. The director, cameraman, and editor replace the audience's perspective with their own perspective. For example, hamilton asked Burr to come forward and write an article in support of the new US constitution. At the time of the filming, the continuous and rapid positive and negative fights showed their differences, but they forced the existing judgment information of their differences to the audience; for another example, the director chose to use close range in many group scenes. The subjective lens makes people feel forced; for example, in the scene of rewind, the stage is revolving and the characters are being arranged. If you watch from a fixed perspective under the stage, this scene should be very exciting because of the rich changes. However, because the camera was added to the official photo, on the one hand, the movement of the camera offset the movement of some actors and the stage; Dizziness will occur. And all of this is undoubtedly what makes a good stage work less points.
Write here, and talk about something that may be overlooked by many people. Almost all Broadway plays, especially those with such a huge cast, come out in batches when the curtain ends, with the group dancing first and the starring last. But when the play ended, everyone stood in a row and called the curtain at the same time. I think it is undoubtedly another interpretation of LMM's spirit of the United States and the spirit of the show, in order to draw a perfect end to this drama.
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