Today, I decided to straight up watch the infamous Hamilton Broadway on Disney Plus. My mom had just recently renewed her account, so I knew that I could easily have access to doing so. For background knowledge, I had definitely heard of this Broadway before, I had even heard some of the songs on You tube. Even in my 7th grade English class, I remember learning about this play. This was just the first time I had seen the actual play though, not just some music cover on another app. This is a musical that was made by a man Named Lin-Manuel Miranda, who even acts as the main character, Alexander Hamilton.
I turned on the TV in my room, laid in my bed, logged into Disney Plus, and finally put on Hamilton. I immediately noticed that this was a recording from a live performance, so it was not just the actors and the play, but there was also a crowd in the background that would cheer occasionally. After about thirty or so minutes, I ended up hearing several of the songs that I had heard when I was younger. Some I had even remembered the lyrics, such as “Alexander Hamilton”, or “My shot”. The way that each character would be introduced in the play or performed on stage was pretty entertaining to see.
This Play manages to tell the tale of Alexander Hamilton, A man who was a founding father, orphan, war veteran, secretary of Treasure, he is even on the ten dollar bill. It all starts with his childhood, which was not great. We learn through the songs that he was abandoned by his father, his mother passed away from illness, he lived with his cousin after he lost his parents, only for that cousin to commit suicide later on. He experienced many hardships and losses throughout his life, but still managed to become a man of great importance in American history, and even got a play named after him.
Each segment of the musical would introduce a different song, that would go along with a different scene of Hamilton’s life, whether it was him meeting Aaron Burr, meeting his wife, going to war, or even cheating on his wife. I did notice however that there was a lot of repetition throughout the play, lines from certain songs being repeated in new ones such as “I’m not throwing away my shot” or “How does a bastard, orphan”. Its almost as if each song is connected in some way, and can be used in multiple scenes, or even have a larger meaning in the story.
After watching this musical, I certainly understand why it was seen as such a popular and incredible form of art to watch. The songs, the choreography, the storytelling mixed with the performances, it was really impressive to see it all. I’m sure it would have been even better to see in person no doubt, but they still did a good job making the whole play look very appealing on TV.
