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The musical theater world is a very dynamic and changing environment that makes it difficult for shows to survive. The musicals are competing with each other for ticket sales, the best soundtrack, best actors and actresses, making this entertainment much more complicated than it seems. Hamilton, however, has been able to thrive in this world compared to other lesser known shows like Waitress which premiered in this past year, too. I argue that the reasons why Hamilton has been able to dominate this scene is because of its unique soundtrack that combines learning with music.
The article published in Opposing Viewpoints in Contents, written by Tara Helfman, a teacher at the Syracuse University College of Law, titled Why Hamilton Matters: the Broadway triumph is the antidote to our identity-obsessed culture, states, “ This is why Hamilton is so important. It both depicts and embodies the dynamism and synthesis at the heart of America's founding”. It further discusses the genre of music Hamilton’s soundtrack is composed of. Hamilton uses rap music to help the watcher understand that Alexander Hamilton was a spitfire man; he came from nothing and used his drive and dedication to America to become someone important in American History. Rap music is the only genre that would make sense for this specific musical because classical music is not able to convey the urgency of his short life to accomplish all he wanted to do. Traditionally, in rap music, the artist says their verse and doesn’t repeat it like a chorus. This is utilized in Hamilton to show that Alexander Hamilton never looked back at his actions and kept progressing forward. He didn’t hesitate or miss a beat. There has never been a musical like Hamilton where rap music is used to convey the story, and this fresh musical draws people from all over purely because of its ingenuity.
Music in this show is used not only to progress the story but also to show symbolism. Great Britain, during the time of the Revolution, was stagnant and didn't want to reform to please the colonies. This can be seen in King George lll’s songs, where all three of his songs are in the same key, follow the same chord progression, and are predictable. Comparing the King’s songs to the other songs, it is easy to see this was done on purpose to show a difference between what the colonies wanted and what Great Britain wanted. Lin Manuel Miranda, the composer, director, and star, of Hamilton also dedicates some of his songs to people that shaped his musical life. The song Ten Dual Commandments is dedicated to The Notorious BIG's song Ten Crack Commandments. The viewers are drawn to this musical because it is appealing to a younger crowd. The youth in America are not interested in seeing a musical with classical music, but instead a musical where they are being targeted as the audience. By creating music that the intended audience listens to, it makes it easier to learn and have fun while doing it.
Each decade or so, there is a great, life changing musical. Rent was able to transform the original Broadway environment by talking about controversial topics, like AIDS, sex, homosexuality, and much more. On top of that Rent was one of the first rock musicals that took stage, creating a new idea of what it was like to go see a Broadway Musical. For millennials, Hamilton is musical that has changed Broadway. Hamilton draws crowds from all over the world because their viewers know that this is now creating a historic musical theater era, and everyone want’s to be involved in its iconic rise of fame.
Future Research: I will research more how Hamilton has changed the musical theater world and how it has become a historic movement.
