My initial reaction when hearing about the Broadway musical Hamilton was surprise that all these historical characters were being played by non-white actors. How was this better than having a white actor play a real black person? How would black people feel if they did an all-white version of Roots? Pissed, that's how they'd feel, and with good reason. (There are white actors in Hamilton, my favorite being the guy who plays the sometimes villainous, but mostly confused King George III.)
But that comparison is not the same. Stay with me; I'll get back to that.
Hamilton is not a movie version of the Broadway musical. It's the Broadway musical itself, filmed for release on Disney's very own streaming thingy that I got because I wanted Star Wars stuff. (The Mandalorian, see it!) In addition to my initial issue, Hamilton seemed over-hyped, had a lot of that rapping and hip hop stuff I never cared for, played fast and loose with history, and seemed a pale, puny thing beside my favorite musical, "1776". (Which also plays fast and loose with history, but never mind.)
But I watched it.
It is not over hyped. Oh, it is so very not over-hyped.
Spectacular, energetic, emotional, and wow. Sure, if you hate musicals you won't like it, but what kind of monster are you, anyway? (Sorry, William--inside joke.) I don't ever recall watching a musical that had me sitting on the edge of my chair. I don't recall the last time a movie made me tear up--more than once. And, having left drama club myself many years ago, I'd forgotten about the pure joy of a stage show.
Oh, and what's the show about? Well, shame on you if you don't know your history. (Which is why inaccuracies shouldn't be an issue--you people should already know this stuff.)
It's all about the life of future first U.S. Treasurer Alexander Hamilton, who as an orphan worked his way up from his dirt-poor beginnings and arrived in New York at an interesting time--just before the outbreak of the American Revolution. He meets future statues such as Aaron Burr, the Marquis de Lafeyette, and those Schuyler sisters, and eventually becomes the right hand man of the Continental Army's steel-willed commander, George Washington.
You've heard of Washington, right?
That's all covered in the first act. After all, there's a country to build in the second.
The story, in the end, is about Hamilton trying without much success to balance family and his own ambitions, which are pushed by memories of his impoverished childhood. His chief nemesis is future Vice-President Aaron Burr, and their power struggle fuels much of the conflict until an ending that you should have seen coming, if you cracked that history book. On the other side we have Eliza Schuyler, whose love for her husband Alexander causes her joy and pain over the course of their lives, and who provides much of the emotional center for the show.
Which is spectacular. Did I mention that?
Hamilton is mostly sung (or rapped) opera style, and there never seems to be a moment when the cast, and even the stage, isn't on the move. It's almost exhausting, while also hilarious, heart-tugging, and engaging. Maybe it'll even get some people to pick up a history book.
And what about the color of the actors' skin?
Well, in short order you just don't notice it. Still, I think my comparison of white actors playing the black parts in Roots is unfair. There's a thread here, of people freeing themselves from the chains of another power, of the underprivileged trapped by their surroundings who fight to bring themselves up. Sure, lots of white people have been slaves through history, but rarely here, on the American continent. That's the story of black people, and it has its parallels with both Hamilton himself and the drive for American independence. Maybe someone at first just wanted to hire the people they knew for this play, or maybe to some it was a great gimmick, whatever ... but it works.
It hasn't pushed "1776" out as my favorite musical, but it's an apples and oranges thing anyway--and Hamilton is a solid number 2. And regardless of whether it makes you think, it sure makes you want to dance in your chair.
On a related note, keep this in mind for your Christmas list: I want the soundtrack.
http://markrhunter.com/
https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0058CL6OO
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/"Mark R Hunter"
Well, I don't know what kind of monster I am, but I never cared much about musicals. Or Rap. So in this case, I may not care twice, if that even works.
It does not mean, however, that I don't see the art in musicals - if its well made - but it just appears weird to me to present a story that way. Especially something with a serious, if not real, background like this history based story. Other stories may fit into the musical presentation better, like the Rocky Horror Picture Show, or other fictional stuff like Cats or such.
But even there it seems kinda strange to me when they start singing and all. Except in the Rocky Horror Picture Show, because that is totally weird in every aspect, so the singing does not really surprise somehow.
But that thing about black people is getting totally out of hand, same as some other matters of pc. I think they are doing themself a bad service, by acting stupid that way. Next they demand that George Washington has to be played by a black woman - since using a man would be sexist, right?
You know, all this talk lately reminds me much of the student movement in the 60s in Europe, with its Mao and Che Guevarra fan clubs, and student commitees that would debate for days on demands that had no relation to reality what so ever. They also used to complain that the "masses" - the working class people - didn't support them. They blamed all sorts of reasons for that - except the one, that they appeared like idiots to the average people.
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I suspect musicals are simply a love it or hate it kind of thing--no in between. So for everyone like me, there has to be someone on the other side. I guess that's you!
Well, the working class people are usually busy working, and they tend to dislike people who can also be working, but aren't. That probably says a lot about it, right there. As for the color changing, I usually think it's a dumb thing, but it really didn't bother me in "Hamilton". The other time I remember not minding is the comic book character Nick Fury--who was a white Army sergeant when I was reading him in comic books, but became a black secret agent in the Marvel movies. Now I can't picture anyone else playing that part. But yes, I think that crowd is going too far, which is what a lot of people predicted when they began pushing various issues to begin with. Turns out that "slippery slope" thing is real, and it's getting awfully slippery here in the States. I'd really like to find a compromise and stick with it, but nobody's in the mood to compromise over anything here.
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Well, I'm not sure where my musical allergy comes from, but it's nothing recent. Thinking about it, I already cringed when they started singing in the old movies, with Fred Astair, Doris Day and so on. This could ruin a perfectly good comedy movie for me, because it makes things look surreal somehow.
It may be a completly different feeling to watch a musical live on stage, because that gives it a entirely different context. May be - I never been to such a show yet.
Yes, that political correctness hype is getting totally out of hand. Here in Germany its not so much the race thing, but the gender equality pushing.
You perhaps know that in the German language gender plays a important role, different to the English language. Lots of words have a gendering prefix like "der" (m) or "die" (f). That makes a tree male: "der Baum", and a castle female "die Burg". I know, this may seem weird - but its even sillier to try to tweek this into a political correct form, so that every thing could be male or female at the same time. To make things worse, there are now people demanding that there are other gender options that need to be catered for.
Yeah, the slippery slope is slowly turning into a black hole, from which there is no escape whatever you do.
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Ah, Fred Astair! I mean, yeah--ruined. ;-)
I was actually in three musicals in addition to seeing several, and it is different--but I think musicals in general are "you like it or hot it" kind of things. I was referring in my column to a Canadian friend who absolutely loathes musicals. What the heck, we all have our things.
German sounds like Spanish in that way--masculine and feminine versions of words, and such. It's getting ridiculous with the hoops they're jumping in English, so I can only imagine the problems the PC crowd is having over there.
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Well, I don't feel like wanting to spend a lot of money to see a proper live musical. They show mainly in the big cities, like Berlin, Hamburg and so on, so its quiete a job for me to go there. And that was even in normal times - I don't know if they are open at all now, with the Covid scare and all.
Yeah, it is pretty crazy with the remodelling of the language to make it PC. Just as crazy as some other stuff that is criticized, thing that were appearantly wrong for decades, without anybody noticing it.
Some you may have heard as well, like the movie "Gone With The Wind" being racist, or the "Tom&Jerry" cartoons. It wouldn't surprise me if Twain's "Tom Sawyer & Huckleberry Finn" needs to be censored soon, too.
Here in Germany some companies had to rename products already, to avoid being boycotted by activists.
There are some words for black people that cannot be used any longer, like the oldfashioned word "Mohr". A chocolate manufacturer, Sarotti, had a trade mark for hundred years or so - but now they are getting so much flak for it that they consider to change it:
Another issue was caused by those:
Forever and a day those were called "Negerküsse" (negro kisses) - not any longer! The manufacturers had to come up with some silly replacement names, to avoid getting hassled. May be someone should have told the PC guardians that "negro" is just the spanish word for black...
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Yeah, Broadway's shut down--the cast of "Hamilton" has been getting together to do singalongs online.
Those Negerkusse's look delicious! I'd try it whatever the name. Over hear we have a brand of butter that's had a Native American woman on the packaging for many decades, and now she's gone, leaving only the landscape behind. So the joke is, once more white men kicked out the Indians and kept their land! I'll bet anything that if the company removed her without saying anything about it, the PC types would be attacking them for that, too.
As for Mark Twain, various people, libraries, and groups have been trying to ban his works ever since he first wrote them.
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I guess such events are closed here as well, especially since things are going south again and new restrictions are being issued. Its all drifting towards a new total lockdown again. Well, at least I have enough toiletpaper this time.
Negerküsse are delicious! Only, they are for calories what white dwarf suns are for matter - extremely high density on a small space.
I wonder if you can't find them in the US, I think they would fit the taste quiete well. Its a thin wafer as a base with white, soft, foamy... stuff on it. I don't know what it actually is made of, but lots of sugar is in it for sure. And then the whole thing is coated very thin with choclate.
I just checked, you can get them - but only really expensive:
https://www.germanshop24.com/sweets/perishables/super-dickmanns-9-pack/
In Germany they cost about $2, for the box of 9.
Yes, I know Twain was much criticized - but mainly for the opposite reasons. Well, and because he was not a big fan of the church, politicians ect.
Someone who demands to ban his books for racism just shows that he has not understood what he said. It wouldn't surprise me if some of those people have not even read his books.
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Oh, I suppose I'll pass on those things--the last thing I need is still another high calorie treat I'm supposed to be avoiding!
Mark Twain poked fun at politicians a lot, so I'm a big fan. His most banned book is "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn", which has a lot of talk about slavery and throws the "N" word around a lot. Of course, anyone who actually reads it discovers it's an ANTI-slavery story, but everyone's too busy getting attention by being offended to realize that.
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