hamilton + dear evan hansen lecture Flashcards
hamilton billed as
american musical
is hamilton a mega musical
yes
Hamilton is…
■ A musical about how history is written and the importance of “who
tells the story”
■ A hip hop musical
■ A gateway musical for people who are new to musicals
■ In Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda’s words, Hamilton is “a
love letter to both hip hop and musical theatre
What is Hamilton about?
Hamilton is about history and race. Its cast, originally made up of
mostly Hispanic, Black, and Asian actors, offers a different version of
the story of the founding of America. Miranda: “It’s the story of
America then told by America now”
Carefully taught”: American
history through musical
Show Boat
■ Oklahoma!
■ Love Life
■ South Pacific
■ 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
■ Assassins
■ Hamilton.
Lin-Manuel Miranda (b. 1980)
American composer, lyricist, and
performer
■ Wesleyan University, B.A. where he
founded Freestyle Love Supreme, a rap
improv group
■ Supply teacher
■ Composer, lyricist, bookwriter, and star
of Hamilton
■ MacArthur Fellow (2015)
Ron Chernow
Author of biographies
including Alexander
Hamilton (2004), Titan:
The Life of John D.
Rockefeller, Sr.,
Washington: A Life (won
Pulitzer Prize for
Biography)
■ Recipient of 6 honorary
doctorates
■ Consultant for Hamilton for
6 years
Alex Lacamoire
Cuban-American musician, composer,
orchestrator, arranger, musical director
both on and off Broadway
■ Experience with Miranda: In the Heights,
Bring It On, tick…tick…BOOM!
■ Sesame Street, including “First Second
Third”
■ Also orchestrated Dear Evan Hansen
Alexander Hamilton”
sung by the company
no overture
Opening number and establishing number that sets out many of the main
characters, themes, and the type of music that fills so much of the score: hip
hop
The characters function as narrators and sing directly to the audience, which
makes the number diegetic
takes place in limbo bs unspecified
Lyric motives in hamilton
Miranda uses lyric motives as a
unification device across the whole
Hamilton score
■ “Just you wait” (also My Fair Lady)
■ “Wait for it”
■ “Blow us away”
■ “Isn’t this enough?”
■ “Never be satisfied”
■ “Helpless”
■ “Look around…”
■ “Not throwing away my shot”
■ “History has its eyes on you”
■ “Rise up”
■ “I wrote my way out”
■ “Talk less, smile more”
Musical styles and pastiches
Hamilton is through-sung with 34 numbers and little dialogue
■ Hip hop including references to Biggie, Mobb Deep, Eminem, DMX,
Beyoncé…
■ Broadway ballads, love songs, production numbers, including
references to Rodgers and Hammerstein, Gilbert and Sullivan,
Stephen Sondheim…
■ Jazz (“What I’d Miss”), soul (“One Last Time”), pop (“Helpless”)
■ Note: Several reprises help hold the score together
“
My Shot”
Sung by Hamilton, Laurens, Lafayette, Mulligan, Burr, and Company
“I am/I want” song
– Production number
■ Rap as the language of revolutionaries
– Compare Hamilton’s use of language vs. other characters
■ What is the significance of Burr’s reference to “You’ve Got To Be
Carefully Taught”? “Geniuses, lower your voices. // You keep out of
trouble and you double your choices. // I’m with you, but the situation
is fraught. // You’ve got to be carefully taught: If you talk, you’re
gonna get shot!”
Diversity hamilton
The original Broadway cast included Hispanics, Blacks, and Asians;
only King George and the Tories were played by white actors
■ Criticism: Hamilton’s casting practices have been selectively
diverse
– Where are the Asian and south Asian actors?
– For interest: In January 2019, actor Marc delaCruz (top) became the
first Asian American to play Alexander Hamilton. In January 2024,
Trey Curtis (bottom) took over the role
■ Politics of cultural access
– The cast performs for a mostly white, middle-aged, affluent
audience
– There are low-cost options and a nightly lottery
Hamilton’s Women
■ Despite its
revolutionary approach
to storytelling and form,
Hamilton falls into the
trap of having too few
women (Eliza, Angelica,
Peggy/Maria), and they
play largely
stereotypical roles
■ Hamilton barely passes
the Bechdel test (see
next)
The Schuyler Sisters”
Sung by Eliza, Angelica,
Peggy, Burr, and
Company (with lyrics)
■ Counterpoint song (starts
at 2:14) when layers of
previously heard musical
material sound
simultaneously (recall
“Getting Married Today”)
– Angelica’s “I’ve been
reading…” rap
– Eliza and Peggy’s “Look
around” theme
You’ll Be Back”
Sung by King George III
(with lyrics)
■ “I am/want” song
■ Pastiche number that mixes the
Beatles with Mozart (harpsichord)
■ Metadramatic effect of
mismatched music and lyrics
Satisfied”
Sung by Angelica (with lyrics)
■ “I am/I want” song
■ Plays with time (“Rewind!”)
■ Use of repetitive textual devices help characterize Angelica as highly-
educated and affluent
■ What is the musical form? Does it follow standard AABA popular song
form?
– Literary model: basic structure of an essay with an introduction, thesis
statement, 3 points, and conclusion
Critical Reception of
Hamilton
Hamilton has received nearly unanimous praise:
“I am loathe to tell people to mortgage their houses and lease their
children to acquire tickets to a hit Broadway show. But Hamilton might
just be worth it—at least to anyone who wants proof that the American
musical is not only surviving but also evolving in ways that should allow
it to thrive and transmogrify in years to come.”
–Ben Brantley, New York Times
Sondheim on Hamilton
Sondheim mentored Miranda;
they worked on the revival of
West Side Story
■ Sondheim: “Hamilton is a
breakthrough…There’s always
got to be an innovator,
somebody who experiments first
with new forms.”
What is the significance of
Hamilton?
As a hip hop musical
■ As an example of a diverse Broadway cast
■ As an historical account that will change the way we look back on the
real Hamilton and the making of America
■ As a gateway to American history and larger cultural concerns
■ As an introduction to American musical theatre for a new generation
of audiences
Musicals about young people for
young people
- Several recent musicals have put young people front
and center: DEH originally starred 23-year-old Ben Platt
as 17-year-old Evan, Mean Girls, The Prom, Be More
Chill, SIX… - Musicals about mental health: Next to Normal, Fun
Home, Dear Evan Hansen…
Composers and lyricists for dear evan hansen
Benj Pasek and Justin Paul
book dear evan hansen
steven levenson
source of dear evan hansen
orinignal
