Hamilton: Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story? The Broadway musical Hamilton, created by composer Lin-Manuel Miranda, has been

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1 Li!1 James (Xiang) Li Professor John Picker CMS April 2016 Hamilton: Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story? The Broadway musical Hamilton, created by composer Lin-Manuel Miranda, has been arguably one of the most successful and unique musicals of this decade. Based on the life story of first Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, particularly his personal life and his role as an American Founding Father, the musical has received widespread critical acclaim (including the 2016 Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album) and commercial success. How does Hamilton both break from and adhere to the conventions of its genre as a musical? I argue that while its unconventional language and innovative musical style enable it to more effectively convey its message, Hamilton is ultimately also conservative in that it adheres to the conventional and fundamental higher-level purpose of a musical: telling a story for entertainment. The music of Hamilton breaks from more traditional Broadway musicals in its extensive use of modern rap and hip-hop elements, which allow it to more powerfully tell its 18th-century story to a 21st-century audience. Rap and hip-hop are central to the identity of Hamilton; for example, the opening track of the musical employs verses of rap to introduce the protagonist and his background: There would have been nothing left to do For someone less astute

2 Li!2 He would ve been dead or destitute Without a cent of restitution Started workin, clerkin for his late mother s landlord Tradin sugar cane and rum and all the things he can t afford Scammin for every book he can get his hands on Plannin for the future see him now as he stands on The bow of a ship headed for a new land In New York you can be a new man ( Alexander Hamilton, Miranda) The density of information afforded by the lyrical format of rap enables Miranda to summarize several years of Hamilton s background within a mere several seconds of song, with more energy and meaning than would be possible with other musical styles. For example, here the end and internal rhymes found in the first half of the verse between astute, dead or destitute, and restitution are followed by the repeated verbs in the second half of the verse ( workin, clerkin, tradin, scammin, plannin, ) to create a clear distinction between the character Hamilton s hardships and his determined response to rise above his station. Furthermore, Hamilton and many contemporary rap and hip-hop works share a common theme of overcoming personal obstacles through perseverance. The rap of Hamilton is stylistically similar to much of the rap of popular artists; for example, the use of the colloquial workin rather than the more correct and complete working echoes the use of informal language by artists such as Jay-Z and Kanye West. This linguistic likeness reinforces the connection between Hamilton s story and the themes associated with the genre. The format of rap, with its intricacies and contrasts and themes of tenacity, enables Miranda to better communicate the extent of Hamilton s hardworking and

3 Li!3 resourceful nature. In departing from the norms of its genre by telling the story in a distinctly contemporary language, finding a common theme with which to tie the past to the present, Hamilton brings an otherwise distant story fully into the modern world. The message conveyed by Hamilton is further influenced by the diversity in the show s casting. As described in a 2015 review of the show by Ben Brantley for the New York Times, these guys don t exactly look like the marble statues of the men they re portraying for one thing, they re black or Hispanic (Brantley). The decision to cast actors of various ethnicities, rather than only Caucasian actors as might be more historically accurate, means that the characters of Hamilton more closely resemble the people of today s America than those of 18thcentury America. In this way, Miranda presents the story of Alexander Hamilton not just as the story of a Founding Father, but as a narrative of immigrants building a country to call their own. Although the actual Founding Fathers may not have been black or Hispanic, the country that they founded is one whose identity is inextricable from the multitudes of different backgrounds and cultures of its people. Hamilton recognizes this, and seeks to reflect this complex and mixed identity by blending the America of the past with the diverse and multicultural America of today. The diversity onstage makes it clear that Hamilton is anything but a story about old white men. By breaking from the established conventions of its genre in music and in casting, Hamilton makes itself more familiar, enjoyable, and relatable to a 21st-century American audience. In this way, the musical shapes itself into a story about the beginnings of America, in light of the values that America today stands for, told in the language of modern America. Yet for all its innovation, Hamilton in many ways adheres to the norms that define what a Broadway musical should be. In fact, the innovative spirit of Hamilton is in itself not new to

4 Li!4 Broadway: during the 1960s and 1970s, Broadway responded to social changes with responses that were demographic, as in a show like Fiddler on the Roof (1964), which incorporated a more ethnic flavor (specifically that of Russian Jews), or by adapting timeless themes in a more hip way, as in the religion-meets-rock-and-roll shows Godspell and Jesus Christ Superstar (both 1971). Broadway musicals have also previously made use of various musical styles: Jazz was also an important vector in West Side Story (1957), and more recently, the musical Bring in da Noise, Bring in da Funk (1996) demonstrated that hip-hop could be a central element in a Broadway musical (Cullen 74-76). Hamilton may be unique in its contemporary spin on a Revolutionary-era story and in the way it defies traditional notions of what a musical can be, but this willingness to be original and different is not new to Broadway. Somewhat paradoxically, by pushing the boundaries of the Broadway musical as an art form Hamilton only further establishes itself as a Broadway musical; it never transcends or breaks out of the genre. As a Broadway musical, Hamilton exists to tell a story that is engaging and entertaining. This defining purpose shapes the message of the work into the form of a narrative that follows the traditional format of exposition, rising action, climax, and denouement. However, reality is rarely so clean and simple. Practically, the musical cannot convey every detail of Alexander Hamilton s life; in choosing which parts of history to include in the story, Miranda presents a view of history that is shaped by the lens of his chosen narrative. At many points, Hamilton takes creative liberties with history in order to tell a better story. For example, at the climax of the musical, Hamilton is killed in a duel by his rival Aaron Burr; an important element in this interaction is Burr s deep sense of regret immediately after he fires the fatal shot. This regret serves to make Burr more sympathetic, and adds additional drama and complexity to the rivalry

5 Li!5 between the two men. After the duel, Burr s character sings in the musical s penultimate song that I was too young and blind to see / I should ve known / The world was wide enough for both Hamilton and me ( The World Was Wide Enough, Miranda). In a 2015 interview with The Atlantic, Miranda notes that the line The world was wide enough for both Hamilton and me is from a real letter from Burr later in his life, but acknowledges that in Burr s actual telling it s kind of a joke (Delman). Although the line was used somewhat sarcastically by the real Burr and did not reflect a genuine sense of regret, Miranda chooses to employ the line to suggest regret felt by the character Burr, in the process bending history in order to craft a more dramatic and compelling story. There is significant financial incentive for the producers of a musical to tell a story that will have appeal to audiences, rather than attempt to push the envelope with a riskier story that may not connect. According to a 2014 New Yorker article on the failure of the musical Spider- Man: Turn Off the Dark, most Broadway shows lose money less than a third of commercial productions recouped their investors money from the to seasons (Weiss). It is challenging to create one of the minority of musicals that is a success and not a failure, and the large dollar amounts involved in production and showing only serve to increase the stakes of the game. Hamilton is no exception to this high-risk, high-reward business; the $12.5 million cost of bringing the show to Broadway is typical for the business, in which production costs usually fall around $8-12 million (Gerard, Rubino-Finn). Ultimately, the goal of any musical is to attain success through audience engagement and satisfaction; while innovation may help achieve this goal, the sense of innovation on Broadway is tempered by the possibility of financial failure any innovation cannot be so radical it is likely to turn audiences away. In this light,

6 Li!6 perhaps Hamilton is successful because it strikes a winning balance of innovation and convention in its use of contemporary language to tell an engaging and traditionally-structured story. Marshall McLuhan writes in his 1964 essay that the medium is the message because it is the medium that shapes and controls the scale and form of human association and action (108). The musical as a medium has an implication and message that shapes its content: in a musical, telling a compelling (and financially successful) story is the highest priority, above textbook objectivity. The meaning of Hamilton s message is influenced by the ways in which it both defies and conforms to the conventions of the Broadway musical genre. Hamilton breaks from the norms of its form in its use of hip-hop and rap as a crucial linguistic tool, and in its deliberately diverse casting; these changes spin the story of Alexander Hamilton and the founding of the United States as an immigrant narrative that is relevant to today s America and today s audiences. However, Hamilton is at its heart still a Broadway musical and is thus driven by a plot-first, financially-conscious mindset that cleans up the inconvenient parts of history in order to tell a more compelling story; in manipulating the events and figures of the past, it reflects the message of its medium that history can be told as a story on the stage. The final song of the musical reflects on Alexander s death by asking who lives, who dies, who tells your story?. In the case of Hamilton, the telling of the story is shaped and inextricably linked with the simultaneous innovation and conservatism of the show in its medium of the Broadway musical.

7 Li!7 Works Cited 1. Miranda, Lin-Manuel, Daveed Diggs, Renee Goldsberry, Jonathan Groff, Christopher Jackson, Jasmine Cephas Jones, Javier Muñoz, Leslie Odom, Okieriete Onaodowan, Anthony Ramos, Phillipa Soo, Alex Lacamoire, Thomas Kail, and Ron Chernow. Hamilton: Original Broadway Cast Recording CD. 2. Brantley, Ben. "Review: 'Hamilton,' Young Rebels Changing History and Theater." The New York Times. The New York Times, 06 Aug Web. 13 Mar Cullen, Jim. "Notes from the Stage: The Broadway Musical." Short History of the Modern Media, A. N.p.: Wiley, Print. 4. Delman, Edward. "How Lin-Manuel Miranda Shapes History." The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 29 Sept Web. 16 Mar Weiss, Elizabeth. "To Flip a Flop." The New Yorker. N.p., 07 Jan Web. 12 Apr Gerard, Jeremy. " Hamilton Juggernaut Returned 25% Of Its $12.5M Costs In Five Weeks." Deadline. N.p., 13 Oct Web. 12 Apr Rubino-Finn, Olivia. "Broadway Budgets 101: Breaking Down the Production Budget." The NewMusicalTheatrecom Green Room. N.p., 22 Jan Web. 12 Apr McLuhan, Marshall. "The Medium Is the Message." Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. New York: Signet, Print.