Hamilton, An American Musical: Anticipation Building

1.172693

I am seeing it on September 13 and I cannot wait.

I fear I will faint.

I’ve been watching the progression of this extraordinary show over the last year, and hearing the buzz of it shivering through the air. The buzz is now deafening.

Lin Manuel-Miranda is a genius. I mean, I too read Ron Chernow’s magnificent biography of Alexander Hamilton, Alexander Hamilton, (I’ve read it twice), but I didn’t then sit down and write a hip-hop musical about it. That’s what Manuel-Miranda has done. And he looped in Ron Chernow, as historical consultant. It’s been a collaboration, which makes it all even more thrilling. What an artistic process!

Just in case you are unaware of what the hell I am talking about (if you are in New York, you can’t avoid it – it’s Hamilton-Hamilton-Hamilton all the time, which I suppose is appropriate, seeing as he lived here!), here’s a great in-depth piece on T-Magazine about Hamilton. Beautifully written! It brought me to tears.

Recently there came the news that Hamilton was getting bumped off the tenner to be replaced by a woman. Or, at least, he would have to share space with her, whoever she was. People cheered far and wide about how great it was. Yay for the Ladies! I did not join in that chorus. I’m a Hamilton fan from way way back. He should own that tenner. I’ve written more about Alexander Hamilton than I have about Cary Grant, and that’s telling you something.

Hamilton was a great man, who had a talent for pissing people off. Born illegitimate in St. Croix, his father abandoned the family, and his mother was shunned from her own family and “polite” society, due to having children out of wedlock. She was imprisoned for a time. She died when Hamilton was 14, and he then had to make his own way. Rejected by his father, rejected by both sides of his family (he was the child of a “whore”) he stayed with a cousin for a while (who lived in utter squalor), and the cousin committed suicide, Hamilton witnessing the blood-soaked aftermath. He was a child. He went to work as an apprentice in a shipping company and ended up practically running the damn joint. He was 15, 16. He was brilliant at math. He could speak French. He was confident, aggressive even. Early on, a kindly Pastor recognized that this young man was brilliant, and took up a subscription fund to send him to college in the new colonies up north. Originally, Hamilton was going to Princeton, but on his first day there he informed them (he didn’t ask them, he just informed them) that he would like to go at his own pace with his studies (i.e. as quickly as possible). They said, “No.” Hamilton, always in a hurry, ended up going to King’s College (now Columbia), where they let him go as fast as he wanted. He didn’t really graduate though because the Revolution arrived. New York was in the thick of it, and Alexander’s presence began to rise. He was a prolific and brilliant writer. His writing got the attention of General George Washington, who hired Hamilton to be his secretary. Hamilton was Washington’s right-hand-man as well as his voice. He wrote all of Washington’s correspondence. (He would end up being Secretary of the Treasury in Washington’s cabinet. He also wrote Washington’s famous farewell address.)

He died, as we all know, in a duel with Vice President Aaron Burr.

Hamilton was Secretary of the Treasury. Hamilton created the U.S. Bank. Hamilton wrote the lion’s share of the Federalist Papers (although James Madison wrote my favorite, which is Federalist #10), arguing for the Constitution. He walked us through the very first sex scandal, complete with open letter of apology. He was a brilliant writer. He was a lawyer. He married well and was devoted to his family. He was a prodigy. He was vain (he lied about his age). George Washington hand-picked him to be his secretary. He was against mob-rule, and actually stopped a revolutionary riot in New York, sticking up for law and order. Of all of the Founders, he was an abolitionist, straight-up. He created a school for freed slaves in New York, and was on the board of the Manumission Society (which he helped create). In his wretched childhood in the Caribbean, he witnessed the selling of humans up close as a little boy. Unlike many Americans, who would be financially ruined if slavery ended (it was an intractable problem, so intertwined with every aspect of life), he could see no justification for slavery, even economic. (Many of the men who owned slaves knew it was a sin. Let’s not forget that Thomas Jefferson wrote once about slavery: “I tremble for my country when I remember God is just.” He knew.) Hamilton had none of those prejudices or intellecutal/imaginative impediments: he did not think the slaves were incapable of education/accomplishment: give them better opportunities and they would rise. Remove the barriers, and they would be able to compete. It was a no-brainer for Hamilton. After all, hadn’t he emerged from nothing? He saw the Industrial Revolution coming before others did. Land was wealth at that time and most imagined that that situation would continue. He knew it would change and wanted the economy to be ready for it. His independent status, his lack of connection to anything other than his own ambition to do well in the fledgling country, helped him see things in a clearer way. He was unburdened with other attachments. He is one of our most famous and illustrious immigrants. He founded the New York Historical Society. He founded The New York Post. He started the first bank of the United States. He created the first law book for the State of New York. He had no “people,” no money, no nothing. He was a completely self-made man. We are living in Hamilton’s world now, not Jefferson’s, Washington’s, or Adams’. I mean, for better or worse, I suppose, but whatever: He flat out saw farther than other people. Perhaps that was because of his immigrant status. His nasty childhood. As John Adams sneered about him: he was “the bastard brat of a Scotch peddler.” Some person on Twitter was saying why don’t we bump Andrew Jackson off HIS bill instead, and then wrote: – “I mean, Hamilton wasn’t great either …” I wanted to say: “On what do you base this opinion? Please enlighten the class. And be specific.” But I don’t argue with idiots on Twitter. Hamilton was a complex figure, for sure, but also a great one. And a doomed one. He made enemies. He had a self-destructive streak and you read of some of his decisions and think, “Hamilton, WHAT are you doing.” He was a vicious hater. He couldn’t let things go. He burned bridges. He died young. And when he died in such a scandalous way, his reputation was left in the hands of his enemies. They assassinated his character. (Granted, Hamilton gave his enemies a warehouse of ammo in that regard.) And that opinion of Hamilton – that he was scary, dangerous, out of control, another Napoleon (Abigail Adams’ assessment) passed down through the years, 200 years, until our time, until Ron Chernow came along and said, “Hang on a second …”

Richard Brookhiser (whom I met at the Hamilton-founded New York Historical Society during a book-launch party/Hamilton celebration – you see how deep the geekery goes?) also wrote a very good book about Hamilton: Alexander Hamilton, American – Brookhiser (who has already seen the musical and sang its praises) contextualized Hamilton, putting him where he belongs, in the pantheon as a major major figure.

But it’s Chernow’s biography that is the one to beat. Any biography that comes after will have to contend with that one.

And now comes Hamilton, An American Musical.

It’s been Hamilton’s “time” for a while now. But this musical just solidifies his stature, and I couldn’t be happier. For him. The man I have referred to as “my dead boyfriend” on more than one occasion. I live near where his duel with Aaron Burr took place. Occasionally I run by his statue. Here’s a picture I took of it (when we still had that hole in the sky in Lower Manhattan).

2194595599_92d92f53f1_o

Already counting the days.

This entry was posted in Founding Fathers, Theatre and tagged , . Bookmark the permalink.

8 Responses to Hamilton, An American Musical: Anticipation Building

  1. John Vail says:

    Hey Sheila,

    Thankfully, my sister bought tickets for when I’m back at Christmas. I am equally excited to see the show and just amazed that they hadn’t all sold out. I will clip and save any review you do and then save until after I get to see it myself. And with your inspiration, I’m going to pick up the Chernow biography and save it for the plane ride across the pond. Best, John

    • sheila says:

      John – Very excited you got tickets too and will be getting a chance to see it. I mean, I suppose I am just ASSUMING now it’s going to be great. :) But we shall see.

      The Hamilton book is so good – especially if you’ve read the other Founder biographies where Hamilton is basically a bogey-man. Slight exaggeration, but still … Once he takes center stage, you can see what a phenom this guy was. And he knew it. He lied about his age for his whole life so that people believed he was younger than he was. You know, he had THAT part of him too, the ego performative part.

      One of the great things about Chernow’s book (as well as his other biographies – I loved his Rockefeller one) is he makes complex financial situations seem comprehensible to someone like me, who can pretty much balance her checkbook but that’s it. He is very very elegant and good with making these bank plans/bank panics/corporate shenanigans – clear. And that was really where Hamilton shone (other than his writing – he’s my favorite writer of the bunch, and they were all pretty damn stellar).

      It’s such a wonderful book and I am not surprised at all that Manuel-Miranda would find it inspiring. But the form that inspiration has taken … it’s just thrilling!

  2. Patrick says:

    I’m with you on the biography, probably my second favorite bio ever, I think I learned more about that era from that book than any 2 or 3 other books I can think of. Somehow though I can’t quite picture it as a musical…..

    • sheila says:

      I can’t quite picture it either – especially not hip-hop. But I am so excited to check it out!

      Just curious: what’s your first favorite bio ever?

      The Hamilton bio is definitely in my top 5.

  3. Patrick says:

    My all time favorite is “Peter the Great” by Robert Massie. Big scale, learned a lot, Massie is one of those gifted writers who makes pretty much everything he writes about entertaining to read. Have you tried this one?

    I have Chernow’s Washington biography queued up.

    • sheila says:

      I haven’t read Peter the Great – thanks for the recommendation. I loved his Nicholas and Alexandra – that’s the only one of his I’ve read.

  4. Lisa says:

    Flip out.. Understatement

    By far, the most amazing production of any kind I’ve ever witnessed.

    I will see it again, again and again for nothing else can compare.

    I purchased the novel from B & N as it was sold out at our performance. The cast album is being recorded as I type–it will be available in October (I pre-ordered). The show program won’t be available for a few more weeks. Until then, I’ll just have to drool over all things Hamilton.

    The NYT article whets my thirst for all things Hamilton. Your blog my quenched it.

    http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/08/16/theater/lin-manuel-miranda-creator-and-star-of-hamilton-grew-up-on-hip-hop-and-show-tunes.html?referrer

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.