Wednesday, December 15, 2021
To "Hamilton" last night. Some thoughts. First, I was struck by how much of it has already passed into our language. "I'm not giving up my shot." "The room where it happens." That's pretty remarkable. Second, maybe it's because Stephen Sondheim's death sent me back to his work for the first time in quite some time, but it seems to me that "Hamilton" builds on Sondheim's work in some interesting ways. American musicals evolved from European operettas, with one of the most notable differences being that shows like "Oklahoma!" merged the book with the music.
Sondheim's shows curved back to the European tradition in that the score and the lyrics mostly became the book. Instead of a play with songs where the songs moved the story along Sondheim's work is very nearly all songs, and so too with "Hamilton". What Lin-Manuel Miranda accomplished was to bring African-American forms to the table- or, more broadly, other American musical forms. This is particularly notable because that's the great accomplishment of "Hamilton"- it is a musical about the invention of America that looks like America.
Post a Comment