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Asia Anderson

Frances Ray

English 102-146

19 April 2020

Hamilton and Its Success

Hamilton: The Musical has made an exceedingly large amount of success. However,

looking from the outside in it is difficult to know what that success is a testament to. There are a

multitude of aspects that lead to the success of this hip-hop musical. In this essay I will be

questioning and analyzing the success of this world renowned musical. To the best of my ability

I will be thoroughly dissecting the success of this musical. There are four main aspects that

undeniably set Hamilton apart from other musicals. This musical’s ability to fuse American

History with currents American topics, its diversity of its music and the genres it portrays, very

intentionally diverse cast, and the show’s digital presence are all key components to Hamilton’s

success.

One aspect of this musical’s success is that Hamilton fuses American History with

currents American topics. It is very much reflective of current times. The story of Hamilton is,

in its essence, about immigrants, and the musical has helped to bring the conversation into the

spotlight even more (Flomberg). Certain themes strung through the performance are reminiscent

of current events in American society, including the “repeated effects of speaking one’s mind,”

the clash of immigrants and the elite, and the promise of the “American Dream” (Perez). The

result is that nearly every song in the show works as a complex historical concert, layering

musical pasts with the musical present, just as the historical past mingles with the political

present (Churchwell). Hamilton is a great attempt to reach out to communities and identity
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groups that wouldn’t typically see a musical or be interested in it. Hamilton gives younger and

also simply unreached minds the opportunity to be interested in something bigger than them. It is

also done in an effective and entertaining way that has never been done before. It is done through

the music, the references and even the diversity of the cast. It gives the people of these unlikely

groups something that attracts them and their interests. Attendance at live theatre has been up

and down over the past few years, but not since “The Book of Mormon” in 2011 has any

Broadway musical been so in demand and talked about (Flomberg). Hamilton calls for young

[and neglected] voices to take an interest in politics, use their voices, and get things done. In an

article analyzing Hamilton: The Musical’s success it is said that, “Miranda is [essentially] putting

immigrants and the descendants of slaves, black people, Latinos and Asians, low-income kids

with little hope for the future, in the room where it happens” (Churchwell). The stigma that

surrounds musical theater is that it is not something that younger people watch of take interest in

because of the long drawn out time-frame of one single musical, or even because of the pop and

girly feel of the songs that were in the musical, but now Lin-Manuel Miranda has recently been

able to change that stigma. “[Now] Fans of all ages are flocking to the theater, buying the album

and watching the online videos like crazy. The album launched at number 12 on the Billboard

charts, which is the highest debut for a cast recording since 1963” (Flomberg).

Another aspect that leads to Hamilton’s success is its music. From its diversity in genre to

its ability to interweave it so neatly with more traditional musical fare (Petridis). [Because of Lin

Manuel Miranda’s work on the scores of shows like Hamilton and In The Heights,] musicals can

be edgy, fast-paced, hip-hop infused works that get even the toughest audiences on their feet

(Flomberg). He uses rap, jazz, and pop styles of music to tell the story of a founding father and

very important historical time of our country’s history. He does this while he also uses references
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to songs that have already previously existed. “Hamilton reverses [the] process [of the

mainstream’s appropriation of minority cultures through musical theatre] , exploring mainstream

history through the music of [minority’s] subcultures.” Much has been written about Miranda’s

wide-ranging but acute musical references,the three Schuyler sisters singing about New York in

the manner of Destiny’s Child; from the Notorious BIG to Kander and Ebb. Pretty much anyone

with a passing interest in pop could presumably spot the refrain from Grandmaster Flash and the

Furious Five’s groundbreaking 1982 “The Message” interpolated into “Cabinet Battles”. [On the

other hand] more dedicated hip-hop fans might notice straight away that the title of “Ten Duel

Commandments” is a deliberate echo of the Notorious B.I.G.’s “Ten Crack Commandments”.

Hamilton’s preponderance of lyrical references really shows is author Lin-Manuel Miranda’s

profound love and understanding of hip-hop (Petridis). Miranda’s talent lies in turning boring

historical details into fascinating stories. His rap battles condense hours of political speech into

minutes of point by point verbal fighting (Pan). Due to Lin Manuel Miranda’s musical genius we

are confidently able to say that throughout this musical you [will be] learning valuable and

unforgettable lessons about the history of the United States of America, from the comfort of your

seat and to tunes that make your tiptoes dance with glee (Perez).

Hamilton has a very intentionally diverse cast and because of this it has increased the

amount of genuine diversity on Broadway. Since Hamilton’s premiere it has sixteen Tony Award

nominations in 2016. Of those sixteen nominations seven of them were nominations of people of

color on Hamilton’s cast. Hamilton fills its stage with a panoply of races and ethnicities, many of

whom have not been afforded the same opportunities as their non-white counterparts (Soloski).

The cast is led by almost all Latino and Black actors. “Our cast looks like America looks now,

and that’s certainly intentional,” It’s a way of pulling you into the story and allowing you to
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leave whatever cultural baggage you have about the founding fathers at the door (Flomberg).

Because of its diversity, it has even caught the eyes of many political figures and influential

celebrities. Over 40 extremely influential and well known celebrities are ranting and raving about

Hamilton and its impact on musical theatre. A mutual love of Hamilton is perhaps the only

conceivable overlap among Beyoncé, Bill Clinton, Amy Schumer, Dick Cheney, Michelle

Obama, Paul McCartney and Busta Rhymes (Soloski). Also, practically all of them are

convinced that this musical is gonna have a huge impact how kid’s of all colors and backgrounds

recieve history.

Hamilton has raised the bar for a Broadway show’s digital presence. It is the last show in

the world to need viral marketing, but twitter and Instagram feeds by the show and its

participants, have made the show an online phenomenon, too. So much so, that the well known

and revered company, Disney, will be releasing a Hamilton movie. The 160-minute film was

shot in 2016, two weeks before the original cast left the Broadway show and is being described

as a cinematic stage performance that will combine “the best elements of live theater and film”.

It’s based on three live performances that will allow for multiple angles (“Disney to Bring Hit

Musical To The Big Screen”). There is no doubt that this will do well because of hamilton’s

success in live theatre, but also because people will finally be able to see this amazing work of

art in a way that won’t result to audiences [having to] respond with their wallets, [for] tickets

[that] are being resold for more than $2,500 per pair (Flomberg). Disney’s CEO, Bob Iger, even

said that, “Lin-Manuel Miranda created an unforgettable theater experience and a true cultural

phenomenon, and it was for good reason that Hamilton was hailed as an astonishing work of art.”

I have come to the conclusion that Hamilton has seen the success that it has because of its

originality and disregard for traditional musical standards or rules. Because of Lin Manuel
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Miranda’s fearless effort to make a difference in musical theatre and the world in general, he has

seen an ample amount of success and praise from all sorts of people in the world. These four

main aspects that undeniably set Hamilton apart from other musicals have taken Hamilton from a

musical to a world changing movement.

Works Cited

Churchwell, Sarah. “Why Hamilton Is Making Musical History.” The Guardian, Guardian

News and Media, 5 Nov. 2016, www.theguardian.com/stage/2016/nov/05/why-hamilton-

is-making-musical-history.
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Flomberg , Deborah. “Why Hamilton The Musical Is Important To Our History.” CBS Los

Angeles, CBS Los Angeles, 16 May 2016, losangeles.cbslocal.com/top-lists/why-hamilton-

the-musical-is-important-to-our-history/.

Pan, Pamela. “Why Is Hamilton so Popular? From a Writing Perspective.” Medium,

Medium, 23 Aug. 2018, medium.com/@pamelapan/why-is-hamilton-so-popular-from-a-

writing-perspective-c8a8abfeb071.

Perez, Talia Klein. “Hamilton - Overrated or Worth the Hype?” Theperspective.com/, 15

Sept. 2017, www.theperspective.com/debates/entertainment/hamilton-overrated-worth-

hype/.

Petridis, Alexis. “Break It down: How Hamilton Mashed up Musical Theatre and Hiphop.”

The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 1 Dec. 2017,

www.theguardian.com/stage/2017/dec/01/hamilton-mashed-up-musical-theatre-and-

hiphop-lin-manuel-miranda.

Soloski, Alexis. “Sixteen Ways Hamilton Transformed Theater – and the World.” The

Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 3 May 2016,

www.theguardian.com/stage/2016/may/03/hamilton-tony-awards-broadway-lin-manuel-

miranda.

staff, Guardian. “Disney to Bring Hit Musical Hamilton to the Big Screen.” The Guardian,

Guardian News and Media, 3 Feb. 2020,

www.theguardian.com/stage/2020/feb/03/hamilton-musical-cinemas-disney.