My husband doesn’t always remember the Hallmark holidays (Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day, etc.). Often he gets a card — usually a terrific one. But once in a while there is a gift — and it is sometimes spectacular.
In May of 2016, on Mother’s Day, he outdid himself. He knows I am a musical theater nut. Few activities make me happier than live plays and I’ve been lucky enough to see quite a few on Broadway. He knew that I was dreaming of seeing the show "Hamilton"— and being the aspirational person that I am — the dream included seeing it on Broadway starring the writer and director of the show, Lin-Manuel Miranda. Lin-Manuel was leaving the show in June of 2016, so I thought the likelihood of that happening before he left was small.
Inside the Mother’s Day card that year were two tickets to the Broadway show of "Hamilton" — for the end of May 2016. Mind you, these tickets were a ridiculous extravagance. But, several factors mitigated this.
First, my son is a pilot for a commercial airline — so we get plane tickets free on a standby basis. Second, my oldest friend lives in Manhattan and I’ve used her guest bedroom so often, she could call it the Elayne Bedroom. We saw the show, sitting in some of the worst seats in the 1,300 hundred-seat theater.
It didn’t matter.
It was wonderful and the electricity in the theater heightened the experience. All around me (in the cheap but oh-so-expensive seats), people were mouthing the fast-paced songs. I saw many people in tears.
Then, over this July Fourth weekend, Lin-Manuel Miranda and the Disney+ streaming service gave all of us another gift. A movie made of the 2016 production of "Hamilton," when Miranda was still starring, was released nearly two years earlier than planned. It is said that the production team felt that America needed a lift this Independence Day.
Between the COVID-19 pandemic and the despondency caused by the videotaped murder of George Floyd — evidence of more systemic racism in our country — some good news was needed for America’s birthday.
And, in so many ways, it is a gift. Yes, first one must download Disney+. That’s not free; it costs $6.95 per month. And, unless you want to watch it on the small screen of your computer, you have to have the right cable provider, a “smart television” or be technically gifted to use one of several workarounds.
But, then sit back and enjoy "Hamilton."
There are so many reasons that the show resonates right now, when we need it. As the story of the framers of our U.S. Constitution, it is a great history lesson. We get to learn what hard work, inspiration and perspiration went into creating a country from scratch. Through the dramatized facts of U.S. history, we get to see the flawed young people who fought the Revolutionary War to separate from England and the monarchy — and struggle with how something called a democracy would actually look.
However, the revolutionary aspect of this play is how Miranda uses contemporary language, music and dance to tell the story; and, most significantly, how the show is cast to look like the America of today.
Black people, brown people, Latinx people are playing the roles of Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, Aaron Burr, Marquis de Lafayette, George Washington and Eliza Schuyler Hamilton.
All colors and genders have a seat at this 21st century table. They sing in hip-hop and rap at a furious pace. They dance the dances of young people on Tik-Tok or on the streets of America. Why not? It makes perfect sense. America is no longer a society of white men in powdered wigs. And some of the very same issues sung about in the play are issues of today.
When Lin-Manuel Miranda (who is the son of Puerto Rican immigrants and who plays Hamilton, himself an immigrant from the Caribbean) sings the line: “Immigrants, they get the job done!” the audience whoops with an understanding laughter.
At this time of learning what Black Lives Matter really means, to have a play celebrating the diversity of America is all too perfect.
Slaves, already well entrenched in America when our Founding Fathers were writing the Constitution, did not participate in its writing. Neither did women or Asians or Latins or Native Americans — the original people of this country.
But in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s retelling of the story of the Founding Fathers and Mothers, a bigger, broader and more inclusive view is shown and sung and danced. At the end of "Hamilton," the question is asked, “Who will tell your story?” This play shows us that a story can be told in many ways, depending on who is doing the telling.
I hope as many of you as possible get to view "Hamilton." The $6.95 to Disney+ seems pretty reasonable.
Elayne Klasson, PhD in psychology, is a writer and recent transplant to the Valley. She was formerly on the faculty at San Jose State University. Her recent novel, Love is a Rebellious Bird, was released in November 2019.