Founding Fathers are Surprisingly Relatable

                I will admit it: I am a HUGE musical theater nerd. My parents have season tickets to the theater in Cleveland (which has won Tony awards and is the second largest theater district in the country!); my dad constantly references show tunes; in addition to dancing for 18 years, I was a stage manager for 3 years in high school…basically, my life is saturated with drama. Because I am so interested in theater, I am aware of the ways in which the medium has been revolutionized and reimagined. Hamilton is fascinating because of the revolutions in casting and composing, but also in the way that it presents time. It is linear, but skips over chunks of time; it follows the true historical events, yet tweaks the details to better work in the dramatic form; most of all, it presents the past in a way that has captured the attention of the present in a manner that has never been done before.

            The commentaries from Miranda and McCarter provide some fantastic insight into the choices that went into making the musical.  They quote Tommy Kail, who said, “This is the story of America then, told by America now” (Miranda and McCarter 33). They tell history through a lens that allows people who had once been on the margins to be included as the center of the story.  Miranda is playing with time, merging the events of the past with the reality of the present. Mixing these two periods sends a message to the audience: the events of the past may be gone in the time before us, but that does not mean that they cannot be intensely meaningful to us. Those who were left out of history can still connect with it, and the events may be relevant to the current state of affairs as well.

            Another interesting way that the musical uses time is through motifs in the music. This is a common practice in musicals: music from previous numbers is incorporated throughout the show. The number “Non-stop” is a fantastic example of a motif, and it is brilliantly described by Lin-Manuel Miranda as “a colonial clusterfuck.” (Miranda and McCarter 136).  Almost every song from the first act of the musical makes a reappearance to close the act. Eliza sings a bit from “Helpless,” the company repeats the line, “History has its eyes on you,” which looms over Hamilton throughout the first act, and Hamilton restates his name, all in less than a minute (Miranda 145)! He quickly recalls the whole show, not only to remind the audience of all of the things that happened in the last hour, but also to clearly illustrate how all of the events are connected.  Everything that has happened before fed into that moment. Miranda is making the point that the past can be brought back up because it has an impact on the present.  All moments in life are connected in a significant way, and we must recognize the patterns in our lives.