2015, New York City. Over two centuries forward in time, our nation’s Founding Father boomed in popularity when Lin-Manual Miranda transformed the historical tale of Alexander Hamilton into a global hip-hop phenomenon. Fans worldwide made the holy pilgrimage to Broadway, shrieking as Lin-Manual Miranda stepped into the spotlight as Hamilton himself. How does Hamilton, an arrogant immigrant orphan, still captivate an audience hundreds of years later from the grave?
Hamilton is a masterwork comprised of modern hip-hop and touching lyricism, from rapid-fire rap pieces such as “Guns and Ships” during the Revolutionary War, to poignant melodies like “It’s Quiet Uptown” when Hamilton’s child tragically died. Flawlessly sewing together ingenious rhymes and wordplay, the tracks are endlessly catchy, embedding themselves forever in the minds of their listeners. “Every year, I try to remove Lin-Manual Miranda’s majestic voice from my mind, and yet, every year, I find myself sinking deeper into his trance. I have known every word of Hamilton since I first saw it on Broadway all those years ago,” said Hunter Vann, 12th grade.
It is wildly impressive that some old, otherwise boring, Founding Father could be metamorphosized into a timeless figure, bursting with charisma and clever comebacks to Aaron Burr’s antics. What once was a lengthy and convoluted story about two men and their decades-long conflict, destined for a fatal finale, suddenly transitioned into a universal narrative about humanity’s ceaseless longing to leave a mark on the world. We can all relate to Hamilton, with his youthful ambition and desire to form a legacy, but we can also resonate with his counterpart, Aaron Burr, who yearned for the spotlight in a life where he was forever resigned to the shadows. “If you stand for nothing, Burr, what will you fall for?” Lin-Manual Miranda quipped.
In the end, Hamilton did leave his legacy after all, planting seeds in the ground he never got to see. Only, it was not simply in the world of politics, but he also left an indelible mark on art, performance, and literature. When you watch a musical, you don’t expect to gain an entire U.S. history lesson, but the beauty of Hamilton is that it doesn’t feel like such.
“Let me tell you what I wish I’d known when I was young and dreamed of glory: you have no control who lives, who dies, who tells your story,” stated Lin-Manual Miranda as Alexander Hamilton.
