http://www.npr.org/2015/09/16/440925873/first-listen-cast-recording-hamilton#playlist

Next level shit. Brilliant.

The best way to explain this is cultural misappropriation of its HIGHEST form.

Hip hop is too tied into the 4 pillars. It's not the forum to use in a Broadway format unless the usage of the art is DIRECTLY related to its origin.

Alexander Hamilton wasn't spitting no struggle bars to 3rd tier beats, B.

The snippets I heard sounded like a piss poor after school special. I can imagine this KILLING as a Elementary School Field Trip that the teenagers ridicule mercilessly on the ride home.

I'm sorry....but if your play isn't a direct product of the art, it's some bullshit. They were going for the "novelty" factor...this ain't nothing but a glorified Hip Hop McDonald's commercial.

First off, Lin-Manuel Miranda's "In The Heights" was the best hip-hop musical before this. He's not someone attempting to capitalize on an idea the world deems commercial. He's literally the only one who has ever made it work before. No one else has or can successfully do what he's doing when it comes to taking hip-hop and utilizing it within a Broadway storytelling structure. He's brilliant.

Second off, re: cultural misappropriation, the play pretty directly ties why hip-hop is an appropriate form of expression for these people. The characters were all young angry writers who were being oppressed and wanted to fight the power. He's trying to cut past the notion that the Founding Fathers were some untouchable deified figureheads. They were scrappy upstarts with a pen and a dream, willing to speak out against the power and fight for their causes. It wasn't just some dumbasses in a room pitching "what if it's history but FOR RAPPERS YO?!" It's thought through.

Third off, by having black and Latino actors play the Founding Fathers and their wives, he's breaking down the notion that historical figures have to be played by racially accurate actors, which is... just goddamn revolutionary, when you consider that it's never really been done before, in movies, TV, or stage. At least not in something that's meant to be taken seriously. It makes people look at these historical figures in a whole new light. Not to mention it teaches young actors of color that they too could play George Washington one day. (Not to mention it's an original Broadway show, a massive hit original Broadway show at that, led by male and female actors of color, which is also a welcome change.)

I'd listen to the whole show and give it a chance before lobbing "cultural misappropriation" at it. Try to understand what it's doing instead of blithely dismissing it.

And also, you're dead fucking wrong about kids mocking this show on field trips. First off, kids can't get into it on field trips right now cuz it's the hottest show in New York. Second off, I took kids to see In The Heights when it was on (for years), and kids fucking *love* it. They relate to a well-done hip-hop musical way more than they do to Cole Porter and shit.

I've been wondering about Hamilton for a while. It's an interesting concept and so many people whose cultural opinions I respect are all over this. But I heard a little bit of Ten Duel Commandments and I had a lot of the same thoughts as DVS (minus the cultural appropriation, because what I know of Lin Manuel Miranda, that's not him at all.)

But it just sounded so aggressively corny. Is it actually worth listening to if you haven't seen the play and don't have the full context? What is it that makes this *so* good in your opinion?

>Is it actually
>worth listening to if you haven't seen the play and don't have
>the full context?

It's the type of musical where 95% or more of the dialogue is song. So you get more or less the full show.

What is it that makes this *so* good in your
>opinion?

Too much to type. Just listen to it, beginning to end, and be surprised. Any feelings of "corniness" (outside of the usual musical theatery stuff) should vanish after a couple of songs.

largely because of how much backstory is included in the first two songs.

But "Stay Alive," "Satisfied," and "Wait for It" absolutely hold up as songs on their own if you're looking for an entry point. Also, go check out "Guns and Ships" for Daveed Diggs as Lafayette bringing the damn building down.

the amount of work, research, and passion that went into this is undeniable. i get how tying the founding fathers to hip-hop sounds eye-roll-worthy on paper, but it makes complete sense in context. Frank already laid out why.

if you're listening/watching expecting world-class hip-hop, of course you'll be disappointed, but if you're open to a completely fresh take on a historical bio it's fucking undeniably a work of genius.

and just from a lyrical standpoint, there's some serious fucking bars.

the whole thing's on Spotify now too, btw:
https://play.spotify.com/album/1kCHru7uhxBUdzkm4gzRQc?play=true&utm_source=open.spotify.com&utm_medium=open

~~~~
When you are born, you cry, and the world rejoices. Live so that when you die, you rejoice, and the world cries.
~~~~
You cannot hate people for their own good.

Regardless of quality, Hip-hop as an artform is no longer tied to telling a specific story or perspective.

smh

I didnt listen to the above, but I saw the piece 60 minutes did on it and that has me curious. But the reviews of the show I been seeing you either really love it or you hate it.

Honest question.

It's a lock for Best Musical at the Tonys and almost certainly a Pulitzer. Are there outlets panning it of which I'm unaware?

I'll have to try to find them. And its not that they hated it, but that they found it boring and the raps repetitive. Basically they expected more.

... is that those must've been music critics, not musical theater critics. He does loop in melodies and rhythms from previous songs as reprises within other songs throughout the show, which is all super-brilliant from a theatrical perspective, but for those who are interested more in a music perspective than a storytelling or musical theater perspective, then maybe-- *maybe*-- I can see why they'd be dismissive.

I can't imagine a musical theater critic finding this boring. Not a one.

it's wonderful

been a hip-hop head since as long as I can remember and i couldn't help but feel pride at seeing the music I loved so much being treated with such energy, respect, and a palpable love in a venue not known for progressive thinking. I understand the charges of appropriation or gimmickry for those who haven't seen it or even have just listened to it. I get it. But I think it's misplaced skepticism.

nm

Tickets are SO damn expensive
I really want to see it
~~~~
When you are born, you cry, and the world rejoices. Live so that when you die, you rejoice, and the world cries.
~~~~
You cannot hate people for their own good.

Guess I'll have to wait and hope it goes on the road and by some miracle hits philly. smh

>Guess I'll have to wait and hope it goes on the road and by
>some miracle hits philly. smh

Last Broadway play I wanted to see this badly was fishburne as thurgood



~~~~
When you are born, you cry, and the world rejoices. Live so that when you die, you rejoice, and the world cries.
~~~~
You cannot hate people for their own good.

I'm not even gonna bother with the lottery or with an attempt to save money.

I'll just dip into my savings, say "fuck it," and enjoy the night.

Where? I've set a $350 budget and am barely in the theater.

If you buy online anywhere, you'll be massively ripped off.

Go to the box office in person and ask if they have any individual seats for that week. They almost always have one or two. That's how I saw Book of Mormon multiple times during its peak. I just had to pay a fuckton to do so.

You could have gotten limited or obstructed view tix for waaaay under the $200 price.

My wife and I got tix that way, and we waited until late into Tuesday evening.

It's good.

Disc 2 on Saturday.

The first half is rousing. The second half will make you sad.

They skip a lot of the real life beef Burr and Hamilton had, but it's covered well enough. Burr seems more sympathetic in this musical than I recall from history books.

I never recall the name Hercule Mulligan though - maybe my local city council voted that out of the text book. (Interesting that I do remember Cato - who's not in the play.)

Pretty good. Too bad I'll never see it (or not until it hits the road.) And I can't even get tickets to the touring show in San Diego for Book of Mormon without subscribing for the entire season. So probably will never see it.

i think the only things i have seen have been

The Book of Mormon
Ms Saigon
and Beauty and the Beast

I would really like to check this out. Have not listened yet, because i want to see it so bad.

I've been playing/rapping The Schuyler Sisters since last Sunday. Gonna run the whole soundtrack this week. Can't wait until the PBS doc.

Main cast is going to be gone in a few weeks
And so will my interest in seeing it

Was never into musicals to begin with
This is literally the only modern one past 1980 I've ever truly wanted to see

Hopefully a film version will come out
Looking forward to the documentary
Ugh
~~~~
When you are born, you cry, and the world rejoices. Live so that when you die, you rejoice, and the world cries.
~~~~
You cannot hate people for their own good.

broke my heart
*sigh*
~~~~
When you are born, you cry, and the world rejoices. Live so that when you die, you rejoice, and the world cries.
~~~~
You cannot hate people for their own good.