Streaming
Services: Disney+
Movie
Name/Year: Hamilton
(2020)
Genre: Biography, Drama, History
Length: 160 minutes
Rating: PG-13
Production/Distribution: Walt Disney Pictures, 5000
Broadway Productions, RadicalMedia, Nevis Productions, Disney+, Walt Disney
Studios Motion Pictures
Director: Thomas Kail
Writer: Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ron
Chernow
Actors: Daveed Diggs, Renée Elise
Goldsberry, Jonathan Groff, Chris Jackson, Jasmine Cephas Jones, Lin-Manuel
Miranda, Leslie Odom Jr., Okieriete Onaodowan, Anthony Ramos, Phillipa Soo, Sydney
James Harcourt, Thayne Jasperson, Jon Rua, Ephraim Sykes
Blurb
from IMDb: The
real life of one of America's foremost founding fathers and first Secretary of
the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton. Captured live on Broadway from the Richard
Rodgers Theater with the original Broadway cast.
Selina’s
Point of View:
When Hamilton first came out, I had no interest. If you’ve
read this blog for a while, then you know me. I just don’t go for historical
dramas. I like musicals, but if they’re about something I’m not interested in,
I don’t tend to care. I put off listening to the soundtrack for a long time, even
with my husband nagging me to give it a shot.
I fell in love when I finally heard it. Historical dramas
are still not my thing, but I’ll be damned if this one doesn’t speak to me on
every level of my being. Alexander’s rough childhood, his unpolished demeanor
in a situation where it’s deemed unacceptable, his ability to rise above his
situation and press on… it all hits me so deeply that just listening to the
soundtrack was practically a religious experience.
Needless to say, I watched it the second it came out on
Disney + (and several times since). It’s long, but I don’t feel the time as it
goes by.
As amazing as the soundtrack is, I couldn’t imagine I was
missing anything. After all, it was already my favorite thing ever. But you do
lose some of the experience when only listening to the soundtrack. The play
opens up so many other aspects of the story. Facial expressions, the way an
actor walks, the placement and motion of the characters… everything adds
something more.
The performances are incredibly important.
The way Lin-Manuel Miranda (Do No Harm, Speech & Debate, His Dark
Materials) expresses Hamilton’s quest for satisfaction, his desperation,
and even his hopelessness, brings the character further to life. Leslie Odom
Jr. (Harriet, Only, Central Park) portrays the ambivalence, the envy,
and the delirious desires of Aaron Burr in a way that makes the audience
understand why the man thought himself a hero right up until the end. Daveed
Diggs (Ferdinand,
Blindspotting, Snowpiercer). goes from the rebellious French soldier Marquis
de Lafayette, to the amusingly sarcastic and impossible-to-look-away-from Thomas
Jefferson. Renée Elise Goldsberry (Altered Carbon, Waves, The Good Wife)
is a firecracker and a role model as Angelica Schuyler while Phillipa Soo (Here
and Now, The Code, Smash) is poised and brimming with resilience as Eliza
Hamilton. Jonathan Groff (Frozen, Mindhunter, Looking) really puts forth
the intensity of King George’s insanity, while Chris Jackson (Bull, Moana,
Tracers) offers a much more logical and honest performance of George
Washington – one that doesn’t hide the flaws of the person the character is
based on. Anthony Ramos (A Star is Born, Monsters and Men, Patti Cake$)
is hilarious and tragic as both John Laurens and Philip Hamilton. Finally,
Okieriete Onaodowan (A Quite Place Part II, Station 19, The Super) is the
embodiment of a call to action as Hercules Mulligan – whenever he sings you
have no choice but to root for him. Is he sewing some pants? Is he a spy? Either
way, you wind up demanding his success because he just goes so damn hard. Later
on, he flips and offers a regal and politically minded performance as James
Madison.
There is not a single actor that flubs any part of their
performance. There is no ‘meh’ song on the soundtrack (and there usually is at
least 1 in every musical I’ve ever seen). Even the ensemble is perfectly in
sync and adds an ambience to the play.
When the song ‘Hurricane’ starts, the ensemble is seen
lifting furniture in the air all around Hamilton and it gives a significant
feeling of chaotic stillness to the scene. It FEELS like the eye of a
hurricane. The way it’s done ensures that the audience knows something’s
coming. It’s the perfect song to warn you that it’s time for your emotional
preparations. It breathes out dread and is the epitome of that moment of calm
before things go wrong.
I’ve seen a lot of movies. I’ve read a lot of books. I’ve
never seen a story told that had such a clear moment that warned audiences to
prep for disaster. No story hits this moment quite as well, in any medium.
Listen to it, and when it comes on – prepare. Because devastation comes
barreling after it. I’m always a wreck when Hamilton ends, even with
preparations.
I don’t think it’s possible, in the current climate of our
nation, to not talk about race here.
Hamilton is the best example of a creative project that
proves – beyond a shadow of a doubt – that it doesn’t fucking matter what race
the actor that plays a character is. Not only that, but it proves how much
talent is out there. There wasn’t a single actor in this movie that pulled me
out of the story, regardless of their race or who they were playing. Who cares
that George Washington wasn’t black? Chris Jackson was THE pick to play him.
I’m forced to ask why, then, is it harder for Black, Asian,
Native American, and other non-white actors to find work in Hollywood? Facing
the racial bias in one area is not enough, we have to face it everywhere. Head
on. In the words of this films, we should “rather be divisive than indecisive.”
I want to see Idris Elba as James Bond. I want to see films celebrating the
culture of Native Americans in various situations – such as in Blood Quantum
(2019). We need more of stuff like Crazy Rich Asians (2018) and Get
Out (2017).
This play coming to Disney+ right now serves as a reminder that
standing up to injustice is our legacy. It’s our duty. When the media stops writing
about it and the hashtags are no longer trending, standing up to discrimination
should still be your first instinct – right up until the rules change and privilege
is no longer an issue because we’re all truly equal in the eyes of the system
and each other.
Hamilton took the bar and threw it into outer space. It
excelled at storytelling, casting, stage set, direction, and flipping
discrimination on its head. Nothing can compare. It is the best creative
project ever brought to life.
Cat’s
Point of View:
The first thing
that comes to mind when I begin to make an attempt at relating my experience of
Hamilton to you is – it was more than worth the wait.
I can’t say that
I’ve been this profoundly moved by a piece of musical theater since I watched a
live performance of The Phantom of the Opera (1986-) at the Pantages
Theater in Toronto my sophomore year of high school.
The music soared
and the message was profound. I laughed, cried, and sang along in some places
even though this was my first time hearing the majority of the music. I said it
in this month’s Top 20, and I’ll say it again. Lin-Manuel Miranda is a genius.
I am in awe of his compositions and his lyricism.
The first time I
heard about Hamilton, and that it was a hip-hop musical about one of the United
States’ Founding Fathers, I admit I was a bit skeptical. Then the next thing
you knew, everyone was talking about it. It was the hottest Broadway ticket and
there were tales of people going to extreme lengths to afford tickets to the
constantly sold-out shows. It was clear that there was something to this
phenomenon. I’m just weird and wanted to be able to see the show before I went
after the music. I don’t like knowing what I’m missing and pining away for
something I felt was unattainable – namely Broadway tickets and the
accompanying trip to New York City. It’s a dream of mine, but just not one
feasible for the moment.
You can imagine
the internal cartwheels that happened with the announcement that Hamilton would
be hitting Disney+.
The whole
production was brilliantly orchestrated. The scene transitions were fluid, and
the messages rang loud and clear. I loved all the little modern pop culture
nuances that were laced into the production. They just help draw in the
audience, pulling them even further into the action taking place on stage.
The stage is also
a major sticking point here. I’m grateful that the powers that be chose to keep
this film a recording of a live stage performance, rather than shooting a
standard movie adaptation. That doesn’t always turn out as hoped, and there
would be too much room for the messages to get muddied. There’s something to be
said for the feeling of watching a live performance as a member of a stage
audience. This film gives you the best seat in the house.
This music is
powerful. We’re still trying to navigate today some of the same problems that
the founders of our country faced hundreds of years ago. It is my hope that it
works its way into school curriculums at some level. The PG-13 rating may make
it hard for it to reach younger audiences, but Miranda and company did
purposefully censor a couple of f-bombs out of the final product so that they
could meet those rating criteria.
If I had to pick
a favorite character other than Alexander Hamilton, I think it’d have to be
Thomas Jefferson, as played by Daveed Diggs. I adored the flair he brought to
that role. The whole cast was magnificent, however, and shone in their
diversity as a good example of great things that can be done when we just all
work together.
What we do with
our time on this earth matters. What will each of our voices say?
I would recommend
this musical to everyone in a heartbeat. Have you watched it yet?
Rotten
Tomatoes Critic Score – 99%
Rotten
Tomatoes Audience Score – 94%
Metascore – 90/100
Metacritic
User Score – 7.9/10
IMDB
Score – 9.1/10
CinemaScore – None
Trust
the Dice: Selina’s Rating – 5/5
Trust
the Dice: Cat’s Rating – 5/5
Movie
Trailer:
I am am so excited to see this show.You both have made it impossible to miss. Thank you.
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