Lin-Manuel Miranda rewrites history of Hamilton with a modern punch

Lin-Manuel Miranda has done a fabulous job in transforming the history class’ “Hamilton” into a musical theatrical. Hamilton, the nation’s revered Founding Father, the first Secretary of the Treasury, and the Constitution maker of the country, has been portrayed as a born rapper in the act. Hamilton, the face seen on the $10 bill, had laid down the banking system. However, the play lovingly depicts him as a present generation’s immigrant who is a reckless lover and a political rebel.

Miranda has portrayed a humanized view of history, blending it with the world we live in today. The musical theatrical piece is a completely sung-through score. It opens with an arousing number that takes a detailed look at the history but with the author’s point of view.

 

The play is based on Ron Chernow’s lengthy 800 paged-biography of the legendary man, Hamilton. Miranda saw him as a gutsy foreigner who came to North America in 1772. Unlike his birthplace, the West Indies, this new place he found to be full of rebellious firebrands much like his own self.

Miranda has cast the crew very delicately incorporating significant historical figures that tell Hamilton’s story. The cast included George Washington (Christopher Jackson), Aaron Burr (Leslie Odom, Jr.), James Madison (Okieriete Onaodowan), and Marquis de Lafayette (Daveed Diggs). To give the audience an appropriate sense of the place and time of the events, Paul Tazewell marvelously designed the period costumes for both men and women.

The play is narrated with the combination of exhilarating music and surprising lyrics. Hamilton’s plan for the national bank is resented by the use of insulting lyrics and noisy cheering sections via the microphones. The play also has parts of melodic love ballads, jazz, operatic sad songs, and gentle lullabies.

In the end, the story of the individual man becomes the story of the entire nation that is built by immigrants.