For the Love of Hamilton, Act I

"I'm past patiently waitin'. I'm passionately 
      smashing every expectation, 
Every action's an act of creation!
I'm laughin' in the face of casualties and sorrow,
For the first time I'm thinkin' past tomorrow."

Those are the words that shook off the vestiges of my resistance and led to what became a probably unhealthy obsession with "Hamilton". There has been a predictably massive amount of coverage of this phenomenon of American musical theatre, much of it from people way more knowledgeable than me, so this will be less review than love letter.

My kids, being both smarter and more clued in to new stuff than I am, had been listening to and raving about the new "hip hop Broadway show" for months but I defaulted to my aversion to hype and actively ignored. They are also hard-core theatre geeks and knew what Lin-Manuel Miranda was capable of thanks to "In the Heights" so had been playing it pretty constantly, while encouraging me - pleading with me - to give it a listen. I had heard bits and pieces of it of course, not being completely clueless, but it hadn't grabbed me as I have to pay fairly close attention to hip hop and rap to separate what feels like small amounts of wheat from immense amounts of chaff. It's not a judgement thing, I just don't have a discerning ear because I haven't heard enough. In what had by this time become an almost constant onslaught, I began to tune in almost despite myself and started hearing things that caught my attention: the quick, sharp one-off laugh lines; the incredibly beautiful voices and harmonies of the Schuyler sisters; the exuberance of Hercules and Lafayette; and the myriad mix of styles and sounds somehow fitting together. So I started to listen and finally actually heard.

The third number of the show, "My Shot" is many, many things. It covers a staggering amount of exposition, introduces three important characters and establishes tone while also teeing up Hamilton for his first big moment. The lines above come at the end of a fast, dense and complicated rap whose structure and technical precision is outdone only by its passion and beauty. Those lines got through in and knocked me over and when I finally fell  I went over the brink of obsession into the abyss.

I listened to it a lot, and by a lot I mean all the time. It was the only thing that came out of the speakers of my car for probably three months, but since I don't often spend more than 15-20 minutes in my car, that wasn't cutiin' it. If I had 90 minutes free, I'd listen to act one, only an hour, act two. If I didn't have chunks that big I would cherry pick the songs I was trying to learn. Yes, because thanks to the Hamiltome (a great book about the history and development of the show and most of the people involved that also included all the lyrics with many footnotes from Lin) and Genius I was dissecting the words. I sought out analysis, criticism and commentary and clung to every word from any of the principles. I became what I thought at the time was a hardcore (turns out not even close) "Hamilton" geek by basically doing what I usually do when something spins my beanie, just to an rarely seen extreme. And I flat-out just fucking loved it!

Wow, wow, wowie wow! The more I dug the more I was blown away, and on so many levels. I was fascinated by the its intense intellectuality, packing history and biography into a remarkably economical format. I was overwhelmed by the great variety of its inspiration, influences and references. I was astonished by its poetry, beautiful use of language and spectacular range of emotion. I was flabbergasted by its accomplished and polished musical prowess. And I was moved. The passion and emotion that is packed into this show is truly extraordinary. Laugh, cringe, reel, wonder and weep - it will make you feel. It all combined to convince me I found myself in the presence of true greatness.

There are many elements to examine in the contemplation of any great piece of musical theatre: music, book, choreography, design and impact to name only some. So since I firmly and deeply believe that "Hamilton" belongs among the all-time greats, and should be mentioned in the same breath as "West Side Story" and "A Chorus Line", I want to take the time to explore those elements with a thoroughness to justify my opinion and to pay it the homage it so richly deserves. This is a labor of love that I do not want to rush. Stay tuned.