The Review of Atlantic Monthly said that this movie is like a time capsule from 2016.
I feel the same way.
The performance status of everyone is excellent. In addition, in the Public Theater, to prepare for Broadway rehearsal, to the official performance for nearly a year. The video was taken in June 2016, three days before the main cast’s departure. Two performances, no audience for one day, special close-up shots. For example, Alexander Hamilton's sentence is particularly obvious, because of the Live performance, after this sentence, because the audience's response was too enthusiastic, I had to add two more bars to pause. In the recording version, there are no cheers, no pauses, and some unaccustomedness. The rest are very seamless.
Leslie Odom Jr. let the audience who couldn't go to the scene see that it was so intuitive and hard to sing and jump. It is worthy of taking Tony's best actor to accompany LLM to run.
Lin-Manuel Miranda played better in the first half than in the second half. Lin was good at rap and made up for the lack of singing skills from a non-professional background. The two more obvious performances of Hurricane and It's Quiet Uptown overwhelmed the singing.
Renée Elise Goldsberry's "Satisfied" stunned four people. It switched the perspective and narrative of Helpless. The choreography rewind time was jaw-dropping. The whole song was completed in one go, finally letting us see the charm of the "live" stage.
All actors are remarkable. The interaction of stage, lighting, choreography, costumes and hearing is finally presented. For the ingenuity and creative concept of production, as well as the cultural influence, you can refer to "Hamilton: The Revolution"; about Alexander Hamilton, you can read Ron Chernow's biography. There are so many different things.
Half a year after the performance was recorded, the leftist bubble was punctured by Trump's election. It was like a vigorous, passionate first half, and a gloomy second half in a blink of an eye, with traps everywhere.
I witnessed Obama's election just two months after I arrived in the United States, and left the United States on the same day that "Hamilton" was previewed on Broadway. To mention these, of course, is not to put me in their narrative, nor is it to reconstruct and explain my own life, but, without these time nodes, I don't even know where I came from or where I have been. "Hamilton" is naturally the legacy of Obama's administration. This video also leaves this legacy intact to the United States five years later, the world five years later, and us five years later.
When we opened this time capsule, we found that "Hamilton" was still relevant, even more relevant than the overly optimistic world (Let us not pretend it is not political). I want to quote another Ham ( #YayHamlet! ):
The time is out of joint.
This is why I am really worried. In the past few years, Lin, his works, and those who paid for it have conveyed sincere tenderness and power. Sophistication and ridicule are invincible, and it is not a fake gym chicken blood. So don’t forget, there is the second half.
O cursèd spite, / That ever I was born to set it right! (Ham 1.5.188)
Is there any power to recover?
PS Everyone remember that after reading credits, there are exit music at the end that has not been included in the official album (really unreserved!). Ham4ham also performed once before ( youtube link ).
PS2 In the process of watching, I remembered the three tracks that were cut and did not enter the final version, and I liked it very much, so I want to take this opportunity to mention it. These tracks are included in "Hamilton Mixtape".
1. Valley Forge This song is about the American army spending the winter in Valley Forge, which is the most difficult moment of the independence war. A large number of lyrics are taken from the original words in "American Crisis" published by Thomas Paine, and even poems by Allen Ginsberg are used. Howl ("I am seeing the best minds of my generation..."), in the end also showed Hamilton's hot temper. It is a pity that it was deleted, and part of it is still in Stay Alive and other tracks.
2. Congratulations This song comes from Angelica scolding Hamilton for acting recklessly, and the scolding is very pleasant. I especially hope this song will appear during the viewing process. But unfortunately, because the focus of the audience at this time should be on the relationship between Alexander Hamilton and Eliza, if you keep it, it will be overwhelming, so I shortened it to the only few remaining sentences in The Reynolds Pamphlet. Renée Elise Goldsberry performed once in Ham4ham ( youtube link ).
3. Cabinet Battle 3 The two existing Cabinet Battles are I think Lin played the best and most freely in the second half, without losing any confidence. Using Rap Battle to discuss politics is also a very easy way. The third Cabinet Battle that was deleted focused on slavery. A part of the audience responded that the show discussed the issue of insufficient slavery. I disagree, and Lin himself has responded. Again, it’s a pity to be deleted. Some of the lines related to slavery have been incorporated into other repertoires. I also understand that the emotional core of the second half lies in the double failure of Hamilton's political career and private life and Eliza's salvation.
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