Hamilton Bio

[pelagius]

Given Hamilton's asymmetrical life story, he seems to be a peculiar choice.

Well, it can't be a southern planter. You also need a cosmopolitan ethos; hence probably not someone like Adams. Hamilton works better. So the cosmo gloss is easy and then you stretch the gloss with modern New York sensibilities for Hamilton (but I think it generally works). Hamilton also allows you to create a Hamilton as immigrant gloss (this is a bigger stretch but it still generally works).

[pelagius]

I will own that (sorry p-lag!). But if you google "hamilton soundtrack" you will find it is a very widely used expression.

I will concede it's colloquial (roughly equivalent to using irregardless). Actually, it's mostly just a reaction to my wife and daughters correcting me over the years (I've been conditioned).

[Topper]

Well, it can't be a southern planter. You also need a cosmopolitan ethos; hence probably not someone like Adams. Hamilton works better. So the cosmo gloss is easy and then you stretch the gloss with modern New York sensibilities for Hamilton (but I think it generally works). Hamilton also allows you to create a Hamilton as immigrant gloss (this is a bigger stretch but it still generally works).

He was born in the Caribbean IIRC.

[Donuthole]

I read the Chernow bio a couple years back and have been patiently waiting for the show to come to Vegas. It finally did, and we went last night. It was marvelous. I had avoided the cast recording entirely (I just re-read the thread and saw that Drum did the same thing) so I could experience it for the first time at the play. I'm glad I did. I listened to the entire thing again today as I ran errands and worked in the yard, and with each song, I could easily replay the scenes from the play in my mind.

As for those who dislike the music, I get it. Sort of. Look, I'm not a rap fan. I've never owned an album by Biggie, Tupac, Snoop, Dre, or any other iconic rapper (ok, i owned the first album by Puff Daddy (or was it Puffy? P diddy? Sean?) but only because my little brother wanted the song that heavily sampled that creepy song by the Police. So I used one of my free Columbia House CDs to order it. And Diddy's not an iconic rapper anyway, so I digress). I think the Beastie Boys are talentless hacks. I don't know many of the lyrics to Ice Ice Baby beyond the first few lines. The only rap song I know word-for-word is Gangsta's Paradise, and that's mainly because it got played at every single stomp/dance I went to for 3 years of high school and my first year of college. Simply stated, I listen to a LOT of music, and rap really just isn't my thing. Even at that, I can appreciate the brilliance of the Hamilton music. So if the music isn't your thing, I get it. But to say it's awful? Don't be dumb. It's very good. It's better than very good. And it's probably more effective at conveying the story than many other Broadway musicals.

Mrs. D was not familiar with the story at all, but she followed along just fine. That, to me, is a testament to how well it was done. I came home from running someone to the airport today, and Mrs. D was on youtube showing our kids some of the songs. Needless to say, the story resonated with her and she said she liked it almost as much as Wicked (this is high praise, believe me).

As for last night's cast, I think some of the cast from last night was every bit as good or even better than the original cast recording, but I don't think last night's Burr comes close to Odom's version, vocally speaking. And while the guy who did King George last night was very good, i'm sort of blown away by the cast recording versions of his songs. Not sure if it's the same guy or not (probably not), but wow, the original guy nailed those songs.