You dumdums haven't polled the delight cast recording of Hamilton yet; let me help

Lol Abbs p sure this thread is just going to be you and me

I can't pick one though

I voted for this in the ballot poll this year. Would prob say the boring answer: Wait for it.

Hamilton vs. Pippin, a poll I'm eagerly awaiting.

I know this is a big deal and everyone loves it and I'll see it here next year and I'm sure it's good, but I heard someone playing this and could have sworn ... it sounded like a Simpsons parody of musicals?

Some parts of it does. I think the thing with the chorus always mentioning years is from The Simpsons?

'Seventeen seventy six. New York City.'
'Seventeen. Se-se-seventeen eighty-nine.'

There's a specific parody that did this, right?

AT THE MOMENT, I would say it is one of the songs listed below. But I already feel bad about leaving off "Yorktown," "The Reynolds Pamphlet," and "One Last Time"

"My Shot"
"Satisfied"
"Wait For It"
"Guns and Ships"
"Non-Stop"
"Washington On Your Side"
"It's Quiet Uptown"

"Who Lives Who Dies" reduced me to a puddle the other night, though it's probably not the most compelling as a standalone. Tough to argue with "Wait For It."

I'm sure this would be cool to see, and I like Daveed Diggs from clipping, but I heard a couple songs from this and was like...it still sounds like a musical.

it is a musical

yeah that's kinda the point

Hi!!! i love this soundtrack so much all i want to do is a) talk abt it or b) listen to it

My faves:

Helpless/Satisfied
Room Where It Happened
Guns & Ships
You'll Be Back
Burn
It's Quiet Uptown (;_; ;_;)

gaaaahhh all of it tbh

Questlove said their recording process was unusual for cast recordings, apparently it is common for them to be banged out in 1 take & are sort of an afterthought, multiple takes & attention to mixing etc is not normally a thing apparently

i thought that was interesting

Helpless & Satsfied slay me so much tho

"We rendezvous with Rochambeau" ftw.

yeah they usually do them I think the Tuesday after opening night (perhaps the Monday), on a night where the show is dark

Wait For It is really something

I forget about it but goddamn I love the buildup

I really love the "Who're you/Who're you/Who is this kid/What's he gon do" bit right before My Shot

I lol everytime Lafayette says "You are ze worst, Burr"

and when Burr says about campaigning "Honestly it's kinda draining" hee

in terms of small moments, nothing matches the testiness in Miranda's voice at

he looked at me like I was stupid--I'm not stupid?

i identify with that moment so hard

I do think there's an Act II quality dip from "Schuyler Defeated" to "Reynolds Pamphlet," too much exposition and not enough great songs, plus the stuff w/ the mistress is a drag

ooh those clipped "im not yr son" & "CALL ME SON ONE MORE TIME" i love

livestream performance from the whitehouse today at 5:30est :D

At this point I can't even pick my favorite song. A lot of them have had their time at the top for me. Right now I'm digging "Washington on Your Side" because Daveed Diggs gets to really go off and it features my favorite couplet: "Let's show these Federalists who they're up against/ Southern Motherfuckin' Democratic-Republicans!"

I do think there's an Act II quality dip from "Schuyler Defeated" to "Reynolds Pamphlet,"

Disagree. Some of my favorite parts in that span. The quality dip is from "We Know" to "Stay Alive (Reprise)" imo

Well, we have some overlap at least. Act I is basically wall-to-wall greatness tho.

and c'mon, "Burn" does not belong in an accused quality dip section

I know this is a big deal and everyone loves it and I'll see it here next year and I'm sure it's good, but I heard someone playing this and could have sworn ... it sounded like a Simpsons parody of musicals?

― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, February 28, 2016 4:59 PM (2 weeks ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Pro-tip: all broadway musicals sound like Simpsons parodies of musicals. Just saved you $500.

I've begun to really like the stretch Schuyler Defeated->Cabinet Battle II->Washington On Your Side->One Last Time. But after that there's a dip. I don't really like Burn and (sorry) It's Quiet Uptown either.

There are a few structural problems. Like how Angelica gets this show stopping number then dips out of the play for the most part (probably if LMM wasn't sticking closely to actual events Hamilton's affair would have been with her.) And pushing the clash between Hamilton and Adams into a Burr summary.

omg u guys are crazy, Burn is so good

livestream ending up being just the first 2 songs "Hamilton"& "My shot" but it was still v thrilling to see them irl, and in the white house with the obamas bobbing their heads in time in the front row :)

My current fave is "Say No To This" though my all-time is "Satisfied"

just posted for the laffs as i have avoided everything to do with this show so far

America is a place where the poor, through “sheer force of will”, can rise to prominence, and Hamilton has diversity in it. That means you can feel good about seeing it: no guilt for seeing dead white men in a positive light required. It contains hip-hop, an edgy, up-and-coming genre with only 37 years of mainstream exposure. It only costs $1,200 a ticket if you can stand bad seats.

Kings George I and II of England were barely able to speak English and spent more time dealing with their own failsons than ruling the Empire — but they gave patronage to Handel. Ludwig II of Bavaria was believed to be insane and went into debt to compulsively build castles — but he gave patronage to Wagner. Obama deported more immigrants than any other president and expanded the drone program in order to kill almost 3,500 people — but he gave patronage to a nerdcore musical.

https://medium.com/@lowenaffchen/you-should-be-terrified-that-people-who-enjoy-hamilton-run-our-country-a67f4ad11f2b#.9xod1g8jk

God forbid anyone enjoy anything jfc

written equivalent of the phrase "WELL ACTUALLY..."

well i did vomit at your fannish mention of the Obamas nodding so

Hamilton was the literally the original big bank capitalist. He would definitely be pro free trade agreements today.

Since the live stream I've been obsessed with My Shot. The last verse is probably the most impressive lyric in the musical, just the way it goes: where I come from some get half as many' for example. And the way it develops from introspection into pure energy with 'I'm past patiently waiting / I'm passionately smashing every expectation'

xpost you vomit when anyone says their name in a sentence, let's be real

hamilton was a pro-manufacturing pro-tariff protectionist, arguing that he would favor free trade today is about as silly as trying to decide how he would vote in this poll

he would vote for Hurricane imo

Morbs has beliefs, ILX has none

if we stand for nothing what will we fall for?

Manti Te'Os hot g/f

the Hamilton OF THIS MUSICAL would vote for "Room Where It Happens" bcz it's all about watching Burr squirm

say what you want about the oval office performance; i for one thought it was a nice oment to have the Obamas REQUEST omseone come in and sing "Lock up your daughters and horses, of course/It’s hard to have intercourse over four sets of corsets…" in front of some hardscrabble teens
a moment for libertine history

http://the-toast.net/2015/12/17/report-on-alexander-hamilton-written-by-a-kid-who-has-only-listened-to-the-musical/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9O4EKucKv7w

I can't believe how hard all of you are sleeping on "Take a Break."

it makes me want to go on vacation so bad

i voted for Satisfied in the end

the "i know my sister like i know my own mind" refrain gets me right in the feels, the song is a v succinct sketch of an oldest/middle sister dynamic, while also underlining the power of intellectual attraction ... and i like how it works structurally w/r/t helpless

Yeah, "Satisfied" is probably the best overall, especially in the live show (braggin: I was incredibly lucky and was able to see the show in October and I've listened to the soundtrack pretty much constantly since, save a two-week break for Bowie). I have a new favorite every few days.

xpost By Simpsons parody I just meant it seems like such a surreal subject for a hip-hop musical. Sure, I guess all musicals are sort of surreal, but I thought the combination of genre and subject was particularly random. Glad it's doing well, looking forward to seeing it, loved "In the Heights."

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Treasury or State?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1mYfsNFtGI

so good

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

I can't believe how hard all of you are sleeping on "Take a Break."

― kate78, Saturday, March 19, 2016 1:28 AM (1 week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

p sure i am stealing this from an Abbs facebook post, but every time i get really stressed out at work, i start muttering to myself, i cant stop till i get this plan through congress.

say no to this is a well-constructed song, and i love jasmine cephas-jones's voice, but i can't listen to it.

p sure i did not vote because i cannot choose.

also p sure angelica having such a minimal role is supposed to feel janky and off because it's supposed to reflect the mismatch between her talents + potential and her opportunities

these are the things about which i am p sure

also p sure if you don't like musicals, that's fine and valid but gtfo of this thread

GUYS I SAW THIS MUSICAL (don't hate me) AND CAN I JUST TELL YOU THAT CHRIS JACKSON RADIATES GOODNESS AND LIGHT AND THAT "ONE LAST TIME" MADE ME CRY?

so did "Immigrants! We get the job done." it's been a rough campaign season.

i have no use for the historical George Washington but Lin-Manuel Miranda's version, as played by Chris Jackson, is my model for living.

no lie i cried a lot while watching this musical

I cried through much more of Fiddler on the Roof than I expected to, I think there's something about musicals

"ONE LAST TIME" MADE ME CRY

every time I hear this song I feel like MAN, the dude just GAVE UP his seat, how often does that happen
did not like that one at first but now "everyone must sit under their own vine and fig tree" makes me get all sniffle-misty basically every time

washington is my favorite minor-ish character on the whole album, I think
or maybe i jusgt like his voice the best

also i watched red tails recently, after years of telling myself an aaron mcgruder/george lucas collab had to be worth SOMETHING
and i was like 'omg arron burr!'

http://cineplex.media.baselineresearch.com/images/466505/466505_full.jpg

"Hamilton" makes me cry because my mom just spent my inheritance on two tickets.

I cried like the tiniest baby all through the 2nd act. Giant, snotty tears.

Also, not a single vote for King George?

Abbs, I have a theory about why we like George Washington so much (Chris Jackson does have a beautiful voice, though). In his scenes with Hamilton he so often sounds like a teacher talking to a student. Like, the best, kindest teacher ever.

The Washington-Hamilton dynamic reminds me of Jay-Z and Bleek on Coming of Age

one last time is fkn beautiful, i love it

I love Lin and Chris Jackson. I saw In the Heights with the almost original cast (a few regulars had been subbed, but mostly originals), and Lin/Chris autographed my playbill. Lin came out with a Pac-Man shirt on.

wishing I voted for Wait For It

can this be a weekly poll, my fave keeps changing

I'd rather be divisive
than indecisive
drop the niceties!

Lately I've been listening for all the little themes in the music, where they reoccur and how they change. The Duel theme for instance (one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, niiiiine) is also Phillips theme, which makes sense in a cynical sort of way, but it's also repeated in the first cabinet battle. It's a theme, both for violence and competition, but also for education and codification. Civilization just as a more regulated way of doing violence.

2016 Pulitzer Prize in Drama

:D

and if you can name two of the 5 winners before that, you work in theatre.

LMM uploaded some demo recordings to Soundcloud--kind of nuts to hear him singing "Satisfied" and "My Shot" has a bunch of extra Hercules Mulligan lyrics

@tinyrevolution
“A free people ought to be constantly awake” -- actual 1796 Farewell Address of George "Woke" Washington

@dick_nixon
Hamilton was more of a son of a bitch, and thus more interesting, than they make him out to be.

Hamilton was more of a son of a bitch whore and a Scotsman

My wife's the reason anything gets done.
She nudges me towards promise by degrees.
She is a perfect symphony of one.
Our son is her most beautiful reprise.
We chase the melodies that seem to find us
Until they're finished songs and start to play.
When senseless acts of tragedy remind us
That nothing here is promised, not one day
This show is proof that history remembers.
We live through times when hate and fear seem stronger.
We rise and fall, and light from dying embers
Remembrances that hope and love last longer.
And love is love is love is love is love is love is love is love;
Cannot be killed or swept aside.
I sing Vanessa's symphony; Eliza tells her story.
Now fill the world with music, love, and pride.

that was fkn beautiful, my face was made of tears

xxpost fyi that's not really nixon

wait so ilx likes this? it just seems like the worst thing i've ever heard of

it's fucking great get on board

fight me xp

otm

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-h97V3O1jlLw/UQ_qKHtscqI/AAAAAAAAJrA/QNTG7Ebb5LU/s1600/tumblr_lxcv3hSIUo1qlll6ko1_500.png

i'm not really interested in getting into it, i'll leave the thread and you can all enjoy it and i'll continue to watch clips of it on youtube and wonder what the fuck is wrong with everyone

good idea, it was designed to be seen via mobile phone bootleg on youtube, so you're definitely getting a legit understanding of why it is bad and terrible

also when you hate something it's smart and healthy to keep watching it over and over. you can prove how right you are, to yourself!

I really really like Hamilton but don't like the lyrics Frederick B posted, so who do I fight?

lin

it's the sonnet he wrote as his Tony acceptance

earnest note to morbs who prob doesnt care: complaining about historical accuracy wrt hamilton is missing the point.

it's like saying that les miz isnt an accurate portrayal of the french revolution to the ppl bawling at "I dreamed a dream"

it's the sonnet he wrote as his Tony acceptance

Oh that's why it didn't sound familiar!

Don't care for it but I mean obviously my standards for award acceptance speech are a lot lower than my standards for actual writing so I withdraw my objection. Lin lives to fight another day.

I'd go if this actually happens.

it me

http://youtu.be/4mrN_Bx9H2Q

It's not the best sonnet ever, it's really not even a sonnet, but he wrote it in a day, where he also had a lot of other things to do. So, like, points to him. I think the punctuation is off in what I quoted, btw. Or, I can't really get all the lines to make sense at once.

ilx takes a break from GoT teleplay workshopping to try out some Award Show poetry workshopping

it's really not even a sonnet

otm

Here's the link I took the transcription from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/theatre/playwrights/the-english-poet-who-inspired-lin-manuel-mirandas-tonys-sonnet/ Even though it's kinda not strictly speaking their 'content', I should probably still have offered up the link. The writer argues, that it's a 'literary masterstroke', because the wrong way Miranda writes the sonnet is like some other poet, who wrote about love differently. So it's 'subversive' or something. Honestly, I think he just wrote 16 lines because it's easier, and he did it in one day.

It didn't help the form that LMM just started repeating "and love" in the middle of the poem

But you know maybe he'll polish it up and read the revision when the adaptation wins an Oscar

No no, you don't see, he repeated love because it's so important that it breaks the meter of the sonnet!

more likely he did it because it made the audience whoop

(I suspect that he got lost and repeated it a few times to many, though. We'll see. There's talk of using it on prints to raise money for charity, somehow, then we can see how it's supposed to read)

And love cannot be killed or swept aside.
I sing Vanessa's symphony; Eliza tells her story.
Now fill the world with music, love, and pride.

scans a bit better than:

And love is love is love is love is love is love is love is love;
Cannot be killed or swept aside.
I sing Vanessa's symphony; Eliza tells her story.
Now fill the world with music, love, and pride.

Yeah, but:

This show is proof that history remembers.
We live through times when hate and fear seem stronger.
We rise and fall, and light from dying embers
Remembrances that hope and love last longer.
And love cannot be killed or swept aside.
I sing Vanessa's symphony; Eliza tells her story.
Now fill the world with music, love, and pride.

Seems quite lacking.

I suspect it's meant to be:

And love is love is love is love is love is
Love cannot be killed or swept aside.
I sing Vanessa's symphony; Eliza tells her story.
Now fill the world with music, love, and pride.

We'll see. Or better: Poll!

sometimes you guys really are the fucking worst

pull off the wings and peel away the layers and "well it's not really very good at all is it"

i mean fuckin god forbid it moves someone in its imperfect form

It moved me! And not 'in spite of' but kinda because of it's imperfections. I love how spontaneous, how honest, how in the moment Lin-Manuel Miranda always is. He is one of my very big idols at the moment.

sorry, that was a pre-coffee rant lol

I taught kids how to write sonnets last year and some went the lazy route of literally writing like
dog dog dog dog dog dog dog dog dog dog
friend friend friend friend friend friend friend friend friend friend
frog frog frog frog frog frog frog frog frog frog
end end end end end end end end end end end

so the "love is love is love is love" part made me giggle to myself a little for seeming at first to channel a lazy seventh grader
but in the end I think it worked and it's in the SMALL POWERFUL WORDS and STRENGTH THROUGH REPETITION categories

also why am I not married to that romantical fucker

i'd see this if it were possible for reg'lar humans to get/afford tix

I have to live with it through cast recording like all us yokels in flyover country do w/Broadway

me too

soundtrack is closest thing to seeing it most of us can get

Veg, as i told j0rdan a couple weeks ago, only movies have soundtracks (protip)

i'm not a pro but you know

A copy of Burr is going for $2.76 in good condition on Amazon.

save yourselves the $500

i bought it for $6

ok fine ORIGINAL BROADWAY CAST RECORDING jeez

i mean fuckin god forbid it moves someone in its imperfect form

I am cool with you being moved by it and I have no issue with whether it exactly meets the sonnet form or not. My issue is that the words of this poem just kind of lie there, flat, dead, and preprocessed. It could have been written by anyone about anyone. It totally lacks the specificity that he nails in the play itself, where the characters feel like individual people who have real, particular feelings. No doubt Miranda loves the hell out of his wife but you wouldn't know it from this poem, is all I'm saying.

I don't know why I'm making a point of this, it's not really important, obviously it doesn't affect what I think of LMM as a writer, this is just something he tossed off.

http://www.playbill.com/article/watch-highlights-from-encores-modern-day-1776

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVuPC2gpA9w

xpost

i want to let it go i really do
i get we all dont like the same things
but at least watch him deliver it
https://youtu.be/pi44405wMoI

i think Hamilton lacking (for many, apparently) "authentic" rap is as irrelevant as the music for 1776 being diluted Gilbert & Sullivan / Broadway balladeering. It's popular theatre, ya know? One doesn't watch the movie (or subsequent pointless Broadway adaptation of) Victor/Victoria and expect Henry Mancini's songs to sound like actual Parisian cabaret tunes of the early '30s.

agreed

i think Hamilton lacking (for many, apparently) "authentic" rap is as irrelevant as the music for 1776 being diluted Gilbert & Sullivan / Broadway balladeering. It's popular theatre, ya know?

Agreed -- the first time I heard it I was like "wait, I thought this was gonna be hip-hop but it sounds like a Broadway musical" and then about 30 minutes later I was like "well yeah because it IS a Broadway musical and what's more it's the best Broadway musical I've heard in a really long time." But yeah. That is what it is and it's really awesome at being that.

yeah, it's def way more traditional in its style & structure than ppl would lead you to believe

the dumbest stuff I've heard about Hamilton is from white rap bros about how this isn't "real hip hop" so therefore it's corny. Fuck yeah it's corny. Plus, how are Daveed Diggs parts not "authentic"? I was listening to clippng a few years before I knew what Hamilton was.

my husband was kind of interested when i first brought it home & played it, but after a few songs he was like "ehhh, it still sounds super-broadway to me, i dont think i can hang"

months later i think he's still hoping for me to lose interest lol

Mr Veg loves you in the extreme :)

lol there's no better proof

i think Hamilton lacking (for many, apparently) "authentic" rap is as irrelevant as the music for 1776 being diluted Gilbert & Sullivan / Broadway balladeering.

otm

Ha I've played the album in the car so much that my 18 month old walks around singing "nah na na na nah nah Shot!"

i made my friend from Australia listen to it for a week whenever we were in the car, she said she got off the plane back home humming "Wanna be in the room where it happens" :D

I know this is a big deal and everyone loves it and I'll see it here next year and I'm sure it's good, but I heard someone playing this and could have sworn ... it sounded like a Simpsons parody of musicals?

― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, February 28, 2016 9:59 PM (3 months ago)

still can't imagine why this would be a bad thing!

would u pay $900 tho

nah, but i prob wouldn't pay $900 to see elvis

musicals in self-awareness! xxp

did i post this already, sorry if yes

the line "I'm looking for a mind at work" in the Schuyler Sisters song is also quote from mfing Sam Seaborn in an early episode the West Wing

dude is so nerdy it's unreal <3

I was jokingly wondering if having angry Washington saying "These men don't speak for me" after Ten Duel Commandments was a conscious echo of Chuck D being mad at having his voice sampled on Ten Crack Commandments. Lin is so nerdy it was probably intentional.

I saw the show without hearing the soundtrack, and thought that was a Chuck reference

you and your humblebrags i should fp you for that

Hey You Guys!

Did you know LMM was on the 00s revival of The Electric Company?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hTWuN0WCu4&feature=share

I was watching this with my toddlers and paused the playback when I realized who that was. Also, that revival was so terrible and his song fit so well into the overly corny try-hard vibe that my interest in Hamilton nosedived and it wasn't until the Tonys broadcast that I got interested in it again.

djp you gotta get on this train plzzzzzxx

alright so i saw a few freestyle love supreme shows in passing back when i was working at a place they played and man i just really don't like miranda's style. i missed out on early opportunities to see hamilton in workshops/at the Public so i didn't hear it until the cast recording and oh boy it is frankly unlistenable to me. but i'm happy so many people like it! the fact that it's a huge hit helps keep a number of people i care about reasonably paid! almost everyone whose opinion i respect loves it! i dunno what's wrong with me! it's just flat and terrible to my ears.

"simpsons musical" is otm and it's not to my credit that don't work for me. I like corny! this kind of corny i can't countenance. i don't wanna be contrary about it. it has been bothering me.

i'll probably hear it at some point and it'll click and i'll completely fall for it. this is what happened with adventure time. until then, mystified.

on the other side of the spectrum, former vintage-classic-rock-DJ and musical-theatre-baby Jonathan Schwarz was saying on his 'American songbook' radio show last Sunday that old-timey Broadway vets were all "It's rap! Get it away from me" etc.

in my experience of old-timey broadway vets this is true

"simpsons musical" is otm

Lyle Lanley Miranda

It's rap!

Hear this in the voice of "It's Pat!" for some reason

I saw the show without hearing the soundtrack, and thought that was a Chuck reference

― glandular lansbury (sic), Wednesday, June 15, 2016 2:56 AM (18 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

you and your humblebrags i should fp you for that

― Flamenco Drop (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, June 15, 2016 3:40 AM (17 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

He forgot to mention that he also saw it for free.

>:(

His drinks were also comped.

permaban & nest of fire ants imo

sic actually is LMM

sic is dead to me iirc

no news there

sic you also used "soundtrack" incorrectly

<3

Language is alive.

is that from Hamilton?

Language is a virus.

sic you also used "soundtrack" incorrectly

the correct term is "delight cast recording"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u138i26a0IY

LMM announced he's leaving the show July 9 :( and that they are filming 2 performances before he leaves, which is promising :)

not a huge shock, everyone p much knew he was leaving in july. and javier munoz is great. but it will be kinda sad to see him go

pbs doc is supposed to air in October, that should be cool

It would be cool if they did one of those live events simulcast in movie theaters around the country before he left. Seems like they could pull in quite a haul of cash.

yeah i was thinking the same thing!

@dick_nixon
Can you imagine the assholes in those $850 seats? Straight up from Wall St. in a black car, whore on his arm, dope up his nose.

Mr. Miranda said he would turn his attention to other projects, including finishing work on the score and songs for “Moana,” an animated Disney film; completing an album of “Hamilton” covers and “Hamilton”-inspired songs called “The Hamilton Mixtape”; and preparing to begin rehearsals for a live-action sequel to “Mary Poppins,” which he will star in alongside Emily Blunt.

“I’m leaving because I have other opportunities that are going to need my mental real estate,” he said.

He said he expected to spend much of next year in London, where the movie will be filmed. And he said he planned to cut his hair, which he had grown out for the role of Alexander Hamilton.

He said that before he leaves the cast the current production of “Hamilton” would be filmed for preservation purposes but that he was not sure when or how the film might be available to the public. He also confirmed that a documentary about “Hamilton” would air on PBS this fall.

He said he expected to rejoin the cast of “Hamilton” at times, either in New York or elsewhere — the show has announced productions in Chicago and London and two North American tours — but that he is not sure when, where or for how long he would do that.

“This is a role I am going to be going back to again and again,” he said. “I plan to revisit this role a lot.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/17/theater/lin-manuel-miranda-confirms-hes-leaving-hamilton-on-july-9.html

i still find a reason to listen to this at least once a week

i have not listened to anything this much since i was 15

did I already point out "blow us all away" is a rare triple entendre?

I have to admit that the first thing I thought upon hearing the Brexit vote result was "You're on your own. Awesome. Wow."

lol

do whatever you want I'm super dead

Both John Kerry and Jane Fonda were in the house for Miranda's last performance! It musta been Ex-Radicals Night.

@dick_nixon
It doesn't surprise me that the "West Wing" theme was played at "Hamilton." It seems apt. That is not a compliment.

It interests me that Hamilton, who knew the game as well as anybody, should get swept up in a lot of phony hand-on-heart fantasies.

It musta been Ex-Radicals Night.

Was Gregg Alexander there as well?

can we not with the snide @dick nixon twitter quotes anymore?

please

i dont know why but that twitter account just makes me ia

yeah it's weird there's the fake account for will mcavoy from the newsroom too, so like randos just become twitter pundits now by pretending to be someone dead or a TV character?

yeah idgi

those are two of my least favorite twitter accounts for sure

morbs posting obnoxious fake richard nixton tweets in here is Very Morbs

Morbs should create @alex_hamilton

someone mentioned "that musical the politician rapping" and it took me like 10 minutes to realize he didn't mean BULWORTH
i was like

WHO AM I ANYMORE

lol

dick nixon was better when it was less pundit-y

Every friend who's been able to catch it has left amazed, but I've been reluctant to even listen to the soundtrack. I should get over it, right?

Besides, we all know Burr was the real song and dance man.

get that shit off my hamhams thread
only lin man-m tweets ONLY

Real talk Hamilton probably exists because I had this poster on my wall throughout my teen years
[/img]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CmuBHOIXgAAGS-O.jpg[/img]

omg his twits icon is jim davis drawing of garf as ham

o
m
g

Besides, we all know Burr was the real song and dance man.

Harsh zing on this show that definitely doesn't find any room for Aaron Burr to do any vocalising or choreographed movement, sir

lin cut his hair last night, twitter freaked the FUCK out it was hilarious

his new haircut looks great

going back to the protoham look

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNFf7nMIGnE

^^that vid kills me, performance fire but also so much of cat clock eyes

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_luyoyfn9GH1r3qz1no1_1280.gif

nixon twitter is definitely a sock

xpost haha! yes! cat clock eyes!

This is goddamn lovely imo

https://youtu.be/pBbgdno5uwo

i meant to embed dammit: it's the 'schuyler sisters' cast singing billy joel's for the longest time

nixon just hating because his face will never be on any money

I've been reluctant to even listen to the soundtrack.

do i even have to say it? or is it still PEDANTIC to use the accurate term?

nixon not hating

@dick_nixon
Mrs. Nixon and I long ago saw "Hamilton" and enjoyed it. We have not, as yet, ascended into heaven.

I can't wait until the movie comes out and I can listen to the cast recording

history has its eyes on you, tricky dick

take a break

how does a jowly, nervous, son of a mom, and a
Quaker, dropped in the middle of a
Forgotten Yorba Linda lemon ranch by providence
Impoverished, in squalor
Grow up to secretly bomb Cambodia?

That was my rat you decided to fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

I’m writin’ a letter nightly
Now my life gets better, every Checkers that you buy me
Respectable Republican cloth coat is so darin'
I’m just sayin’, if you really loved me, you would wear 'em

Extorted me
Recorded me slyly and and when she had me in a corner
That's when Rosemary bent her knee
And the tape was free
of a few minutes of history
I may have mortally wounded my records
But my story is orderly!
As you can see I kept a record of every tape in my secret
History. Check it again against your list n’ see consistency
I never broke a law that wasn’t mine
You sent the dogs after my scent, that’s fine
Yes, I have reasons for shame
But I among them are not my TC-800B tapes
As you can see I have done nothing to provoke legal action
Are my answers to your satisfaction?

when all is said and all is done
Kennedy has beliefs
Nixon has none

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Tv3hrZmcEk

If I could spare that play
If I could trade George Allen's move for mine
The Redskins would've won right now
And you would smile, and that would be enough

I love u :D

I haven't seen this assuming the first line of the opening song is "Name is Alexander Hamilton and I'm here to say..."?

"I like to rap in a Treasury way"

the second song does have an 'i am the A-L, E-X' bit

it's interesting, if you watch the proto-hamilton clip of lin-manuel performing above, that while still obviously earnestly meant, he's playing up a lot more the irony and ridiculousness of the project. whereas the musical as it came to be is this far more populist thing.

yes everyone busting into laughter! instead of loud drunk shouting it at pool parties with a bunch of overemoting women because it means SO MUCH ~~~ if u r me

I think the show plays with a lot of these ideas---like having JL rap "I'm John Lawrence in the place to be" like he was Barney Rubble. But then contrasting that with Hamilton and Jefferson who have a Jay-Z vs Nas level rivalry.

My baby does the A-l-e-x-a-n-d-e-r part all the time now

Oh man I'd love to walk past a pool party of drunks shouting Hamilton lyrics

lin-manuel said having the rap get more complex and move from old school to more complex rapping was a characterization move!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wboCdgzLHg

I'm the A-l, e-x,
a-n-d-e-r
every other day I buy a brand new carriage

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8aqAgtwqcU

has there ever been an in-depth study of the "...and I'm here to say" trope and how it spread as a corny "rap" trope in pop culture...I think saw it in a Geico commercial this year still

not in-depth exactly but
http://www.villagevoice.com/music/the-history-of-raps-oldest-cliche-6625926

http://www.feralaudio.com/2-try-n-raps/

Also not in-depth, but pretty fun

thanks for both those links!

"this rhyme has become the default archetype for how people who don't listen to rap think rap begins."

I would say it's how people who listen to rap think people who don't listen to rap think rap begins

https://www.currentaffairs.org/2016/07/you-should-be-terrified-that-people-who-like-hamilton-run-our-country

is he more upset by loads of ppl liking something or a rapping musical, i can't tell

seems like a fun dude

I'm seeing "Hamilton" tomorrow night, and have tried to stay in the dark, but am already a tiny bit sick of it, because my kids (and everyone) are constantly playing the music, or talking about the music, or blah blah blah. I just want to see it, as a person, and enjoy it without feeling like I'm the last on the block to see it, when in fact I'm getting to see it here the first week and obviously the vast majority of people will literally never get a chance to see it. So weird to feel lucky and late to the game at the same time.

Anyway. I was complaining about its overexposure (not its fault for apparently being great) and my wife pointed out how unusual it is for a Broadway production to cross over into the broader pop culture, and to an extent, she's right. I went through the last couple of decades, and it seems at least for the '80s, '90s and '00s there are really only one or two musicals per whose songs crossed over and remain, to some extent, prevalent. Les Mis, Wicked, Rent, um, Book of Mormon (maybe?) Hamilton, a couple of others. That said, an overwhelming number of hit musicals are either revivals, jukebox musicals or adaptations of movie musicals, so they've kind of had a head start on the ubiquity front. Which makes the breakthrough of original (enough) stuff like, well, Rent, or Wicked, or especially Hamilton more impressive.

totally!! i'm excited for u - i love what i have seen of the new chicago castmembers, i bet it will be great

you left out Rock of Ages, Jersey Boys etc.

(xp)

Well, Jersey Boys is jukebox musical, right? Rock of Ages, do kids sing along with that stuff? I'm not sure I've heard a song from it.

it was a big enough hit to get a shitty movie made from it

Rock of Ages is hair metal jukebox

I guess I'm unclear on the definition of jukebox musical tbh

I don't think Rock of Ages had original songs, unlike Hamilton etc.

Haven't heard jukebox musical but I would use the term "revue" = existing songs pasted together with some plot. Like Moulin Rouge.

Everything in Hamilton was written to be in Hamilton.

ah. yeah seems like the big hits from original material are p few and far between these days.

The last pop hit I can think of that came from an original musical was "One Night in Bangkok."

wasn't Avenue Q a big hit? seems like it was around for awhile. I never heard/saw it or any of the material as it seemed like an aggressively lame ripoff of Meet the Feebles

My wife loves all those recent rock(ish) musicals - Rent, Passing Strange, Avenue Q, Hamilton, American Idiot, Book of Mormon.

As a result I have seen or listened to those, and I am generally lukewarm (at best) about them. Hamilton strikes me as the least flabby of that lot, with comparatively little American Idol-style melismatic wankery.

For me, "musicals" invokes more mid-20th-century stuff. Rodgers & Hammerstein-ish. Sound of Music, King and I, My Fair Lady, Oklahoma. I like Guys & Dolls, Gigi, Damn Yankees. I like Godspell okay but start to lose the plot with Jesus Christ Superstar. Once Sondheim and Lloyd Weber get their fucking mitts on the genre I tune out. The Miserable Cats of the Opera can just fuck right off as I'm concerned. So it takes A LOT to get me to New York or into a theater these days.

All that said, we'll probably see Hamilton in DC, despite my lukewarmth.

I know a lot of people went to Jersey Boys, Avenue Q, etc., but I have never heard anyone mention these except in the literal context of "I was in New York so I went to xxxxx." I think this level of cultural footprint is Les Miserables, Rent, and Hamilton, and that's it. Cats, probably yes, Phantom of the Opera, probably no.

My partner is a high school teacher, and had to accompany a class trip to see Jersey Boys. I made her a bet that there'd be a line in the show "A lot was changing in the '60s...and the Four Seasons had to change, too." I won the bet.

(thought, to be fair, she didn't strenuously disagree about the possibility of such a line)

Avenue q, which is imo garbage as a whole, has the "everyone's a little bit racist" song that seemed to have a life outside of the show, so I'd count that as a non-broadway impact

Taking a trip to Chicago specifically sto see Hamilton for my wife's birthday this weekend, it's pretty exciting. Never seen a lavish musical in anything even close to the "early" part of its run, just seen, like, national touring companies in Tempe Arizona. I'm assuming this will be better!

Get dinner at Revival, around the corner!!! http://revivalfoodhall.com

I think this level of cultural footprint is Les Miserables, Rent, and Hamilton, and that's it. Cats, probably yes, Phantom of the Opera, probably no.

And "Wicked."

^^Yeah, "Defying Gravity" has become a standard in the theater kids world.

Les Miserables, Rent, and Hamilton

bodes well

Theater kids world, gah. I did enough HS theater stuff to be intimately familiar with this type, even though I had and have my reservations about full participation in all the folkways.

If you ever ran through the halls of your high school singing something from "Hair" or "Rent" I have intensely mixed feelings about you. If you had a jean jacket with a glow-in-the-dark Phantom logo I probably hate you a little bit, but you were also pretty much the only people who didn't stuff me in a locker or beat me up for fun.

So you were basically my tribe by default. There is a chart somewhere of fandom snobbery (Trekkies regard themselves as less geeky than furries; furries regard themselves as less geeky than people who write Star Trek fanfiction in which all the characters are furries, and so on and so forth). I think about this sometimes: in my high school the theater kids were called drama queers or DQs; band fags were overlapping but slightly lower on the food chain. The only way to go lower was to ride the short bus.

Our local middle school has a huge and hugely lauded theater program that keeps winning various national awards. I've seen several of their productions, which have been excellent, not just by middle school standards but full stop 100 people choreographed and singing and dancing excellent. Just great stuff. Damn if they aren't all such total theatre kids, but nothing compared to this national wannabe "Up With People" crew I just saw there (who did, among other things, selections from Hamilton, not too long after their selection of great songs - John Denver, Billy Joel, James Taylor, "American Pie" and other shit that no kids want to hear):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9CW6HJ7W_s

the weird thing for me is I have always dug/got along with theater people on a personal level, their eagerness for art projects/crafty stuff, good design sense, ability to improvise solutions to things, partying, sense of humor/drama, etc. but when it comes to like actual Broadway theater I'm like gtfo. I do enjoy small theater productions, have fond memories of seeing friends put on goofy zombie musicals, fake game shows.

Maybe things have changed since 1985 - hard for me to imagine Biff Tannen-style jocks stuffing Lin-Manuel Miranda into a locker. But what do I know, I'm like a thousand years old.

I'm willing to bet jocks are still assholes, and that teenagers are assholes is general

I was obviously not a theater kid (and I didn't go full-band kid, quit after one year) I was more of a garden-variety nerd/outcast

I know a lot of people went to Jersey Boys, Avenue Q, etc., but I have never heard anyone mention these except in the literal context of "I was in New York so I went to xxxxx." I think this level of cultural footprint is Les Miserables, Rent, and Hamilton, and that's it. Cats, probably yes, Phantom of the Opera, probably no.

― Guayaquil (eephus!), Thursday, September 29, 2016 2:08 PM (two hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

shows that have come to my city, sometimes multiple times, and sold out at the very least the weekend evenings:

- Phantom of the Opera (three times maybe?)
- Cats (fucking ALW)
- Book of Mormon (twice?)
- Avenue Q
- Les Miserables
- Rent
- Wicked

There are a handful of others that are big w/original music but these are the ones that I either heard about repeatedly or was dragged to by family/friends. Even the musical true believer friends hate crap like "Mamma Mia!" and the other "let's create a musical out of a handful of pop songs" crap. There's some Beatles tribute thing coming through, too.

Oh yeah, Jersey Boys falls somewhere in there, too. I know people who have made the "I was in NY so I went to.." claim but all the stuff I listed played really well in Des Moines (literally)

people are hyped as fuck for Hamilton

I got dragged to Book of Mormon and I'm probably done with musicals for another few years

Huh, I thought Book of Mormon was great.

jeez louise you musical haters need your own thread lol

my australian sister in law came to visit for a weekend a while back & i successfuly got her hooked on hamilton in a mere TWO days
#gooblegobbleoneofus

I thought it was fine, I just don't really like musicals! And I have too much familiarity with too many of them!

One of the characters straight-up being Cartman was some lazy scripting

i'm in-and-out of theater-world: i work at one so often do tech work for this or that; i rly love doing shakespeare (as documented in a shakespeare thread) and last christmas was a slacker seven-year-old (named "herb" -- much backstage mirth) in a kids' show; there are musicals i would try out for; but all the friends i've made through this stuff do it much more consistently than i do.

and yeah they like way more musicals than i do.

like shakey tho i share their values.

musicals are gr8 for many reasons. i highly recommend d.a. miller's place for us as an exploration of one of the dimensions of why.

i am not a theater kid, really. too prudish, too judgmental, but i do love the american musical.

I like musicals, but I'm always creeped out by the tacit breaking of the 4th wall, when they perform with that dead-eyed focus at the back of the house or when they freeze and stare after each number, waiting for the applause.

jeez louise you musical haters need your own thread lol

we really need a poll about whether or not ILXors like musicals because it's a very interesting topic

then I'd like to hear everyone's opinions on contemporary poetry

I had two coworkers spontaneously perform a duet from RENT at a work retreat thing once. the horror.

SIDDOWN JOHN! YOU! FAT! MOTHERF-!

okay, i mean, rent is terrible. i'm talking about the good ones.

breaking of the fourth wall is part of what's interesting about broadway musicals, when they're interesting!

I am really into earnestness and aspiration and emotion & musicals deliver all of that to me in songs that I can loudly & tearfully in my car or when I'm doing the dishes <3

tbh it's why I love Springsteen & Meatloaf too lol

*loudly & tearfully sing in my car

VG otm; Springsteen is basically a one-man Broadway musical

Just was talking to a really smart guy I know asking his opinion of Springsteen and he just can't get past the themes and presumably the earnestness. I was going to try to make the case that he is more of an "earnest formalist" but then I decided not to bother.

Anyway, came to post that one time I saw Lin-Manuel Miranda in Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Along and he was awesome.

VG otm; Springsteen is basically a one-man Broadway musical

huh maybe that explains why I don't like Springsteen either

Born to Run, the album, sometimes sounds like West Side Story to me tbrr

Easy, Action!

earnestness really bugs ppl apparently

imo these ppl also hate fun :D

Bat Out of Hell is one-third as long and at least three times better than 99% of musicals

you are both otm and not otm

Ok, so, yeah, this was some sort of virtuoso masterpiece. Good for you, "Hamilton."

Born to Run, the album, sometimes sounds like West Side Story to me tbrr

John Sinclair said the same thing in 1975, at least in part to get a dig in at his former protege Dave Marsh. But all it said to me was that John Sinclair must've never heard anything produced by Phil Spector.

Yeah, that seems sort of a lazy reduction of the album. In the making-of doc Bruce makes a point that the opening fanfare of each of the songs was supposed to set the stage like a movie score more than a musical. And it really only sticks around for that one album, too. Before that he was all hyper-lyrical Dylan, after that he transforms into the Bruce he's more or less remained since. Simpler, tougher, more working man stuff than dramatic backstreets mythology.

(Incidentally, I sometimes think of "Darkness" as emo-bruce. Years ago my friends and I almost recorded a cover of "Streets of Fire" as Rites of Springsteen.)

lol

okay, i mean, rent is terrible. i'm talking about the good ones.

― horseshoe, Friday, September 30, 2016 9:17 AM (four weeks ago)

same but I will still sing seasons of love at any time

the PBS special was v good & i cried like a dumb baby at the end

I cried like a baby when that dude called LMM the greatest voice of the people since Shakespeare.

that was Oskar Eustis! artistic director at the public theater.

imo he can say whatever the hell he wants, his support was half the reason Hamilton got off the ground

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/parenting/wp/2016/10/21/my-non-verbal-son-communicates-through-hamilton/

that is so great! (I love that line too, kid is otm)

http://consequenceofsound.net/2016/11/mike-pence-attends-hamilton-immediately-regrets-it/

<3 i love them for making the speech afterwards

i ordered Leslie Odom Jr's Christmas album bcz I am a huge dork and I heart him

Maybe things have changed since 1985 - hard for me to imagine Biff Tannen-style jocks stuffing Lin-Manuel Miranda into a locker. But what do I know, I'm like a thousand years old.

― wookin pa nub (Ye Mad Puffin), Thursday, September 29, 2016 5:38 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

http://www.vice.com/read/chris-hayes-confirmed-the-story-about-immortal-technique-bullying-lin-manuel-miranda

Yeah in the 80s you were more likely to be bullied by conscious rappers

i never had any interest in this whatsoever but finally heard some songs and bg on a podcast yesterday and frankly it was upsetting as fuck. this is a musical about the founding fathers where the topic of slavery is given little attention and Sally Hemmings (Jefferon's slave who irl was basically raped for 40 years resulting in 6 Jefferson-Hemmings children) is featured in a non-speaking role doing a little sexy-funny dance solo? for fucking real?

also the rapping is awful

i bet the musicals you like are super fun

Someone should adapt "Hamilton" into a book, like a biography or something, with all the details put back in.

The rapping stays--Kids love it!

Slavery is mentioned in the very first verse, and repeatedly throughout, and I doubt any retelling of the revolution has ever foregrounded race and class to the extent this musical has. Have you ever even seen a cast photo, Adam? Or are you just white-splaining the show based on a couple of excerpts and what some pod-people has told you?

Adam's post in the running for dumbest thing written on ilx

when you are concern-trolling musicals it's time to take a step back

"The Schuyler Sisters" is a jam and a half

My daughter's fave

We like "Helpless"

“Wait For It” is my current favorite

The first time my kid brought home the cast recording and played it I was enjoying it and then "You'll Be Back" came on and I just bolt-uprighted, what the hell is THIS?! and I still feel that way -- the whole thing is great but "You'll Be Back" is the masterpiece that towers above the rest (and which, on stage, is in some ways the hub around which the show revolves)

Apparently this is going out direct to Disney Plus on July 3. Smart move.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/12/movies/hamilton-movie-disney-plus.html

god I am re-obsessed all over again

(have never seen it live, these are my first full viewings)

“One Last Time” fucks me up now watching Chris sing his entire face off at the end

And “Quiet Uptown” is a whole new level of sad now watching him fall apart

Leslie Odom Jr has so much to DO in this whole thing jesus I dont think I fully appreciated that til now

And “Burn” is even more devasating now

sorry

sorry

but also huge shoutout to Anthony Ramos for actually ~seeming~ like a 9 year old? crazy

Ten Duel Commandments feels clunky and out of place. It's as if Lin needed us to understand how duels work for the rest of the show but decided a show-don't-tell way of getting there wasn't worth it, so he dedicated a song to it instead. The song made me cringe and the conflict was super low stakes.

Not gonna lie tho, this was my first time seeing Daveed Diggs in anything and he got me feelin helpless.

Satisfied stands out to me as a high point, the scene is incredible too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYb_8MM1tGQ

^^

oh boy, i just heard 10 duel commandments for the first time
i will refrain from further comment

I don't think the Biggie homage justifies its inclusion.

idk I think Ten Duel Commandments is important not just for duel background but it provides the 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9 refrain that becomes Philip’s theme (the use of which i love) and gives you a template for how the duels in the future don’t go as planned etc

I enjoy the song & its reprises too

I dont find it clunky but mileage varies etc

Just finally saw it. Loved it.

Thoughts on this thread?

why puerto ricans don’t claim lin-manuel miranda and why you shouldn’t support him [thread🧵]:

— lizdanelly ☭ 🇵🇷 (@lxzdanelly) July 4, 2020

the lefty political twitter hate for Hamilton is pretty amusing. But what the fuck was up with Tim Faust photoshopping Lin into a picture of the Epstein procurer, and then putting it back up again after it was pulled down?

I need to do a lot more reading with regards to that Twitter thread--I'm very out of this loop. My gut says to be aware that the initial framing (e.g., "why puerto ricans don't claim lin-manuel miranda") speaks for Puerto Ricans as a monolith. The links provided in that thread are informative, but it's hard to engage with the topic because it sits atop a mountain of developed discourse covering a lot of areas: schisms in Puerto Rican identity, saviorism, colonialism, class issues. I think the thing I was most able to wrap my mind around comes at the end of this article: https://www.80grados.net/miranda-an-american-tragedy/

There exist multiple Puerto Ricos within Puerto Rico—stratified and segmented by class, race, region, gender and sexuality, age, immigration-background, religion, political and ideological affiliations, the list goes on. Luis Miranda, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s father, explained that his son’s initiative “was not only to experience Hamilton in its artistic value, but also to leave Puerto Rico a little better than we found it.[28]”

Whose or what Puerto Rico did they “leave a little better”?

some art students got displaced

i never had any interest in this whatsoever but finally heard some songs and bg on a podcast yesterday and frankly it was upsetting as fuck. this is a musical about the founding fathers where the topic of slavery is given little attention and Sally Hemmings (Jefferon's slave who irl was basically raped for 40 years resulting in 6 Jefferson-Hemmings children) is featured in a non-speaking role doing a little sexy-funny dance solo? for fucking real?

Still trying to understand what the hell is being referenced here with Sally Hemmings. Just the most baffling thing.

my problem I had with the thread was that there was a lot of bad faith engagement with teh topic ("lol u say don't support Lin BUT U OWN AN I-PHONE OMG HYPOCRITE"), so that when someone actually tried to have a real discussion on it, it usually got shut down with "omg did you READ the articles", as if someone couldn't fathom that there are people out there that have read the same articles as you and drew separate conclusions.

someone else hilariously referred someone to watch teh musical 1776 instead, as if that musical doesn't even further whitewash/sanitize our Founding Fathers (much worse in that regard actually). and the OP also posts pro-Lenin things frequently which is a little o_O, but that's no diff than my pro-Che Guevara phase in my early 20s I guess.

the Hemmings bit is people being unable to comprehend that the musical they wanted about our Founding Fathers would be 10 hours long and narrated by Ken Burns

like it's fair to call out sanitization of the time period, but the musical never promised to be edutainment. it's about as accurate as The Greatest Showman, which doesn't get anywhere near the same flack (well, no slaves, but PT Barnum was a bit of a prick).

anyway feel free to add other thoughts, I can't join the thread on twitter as my burner account is now banned

I'm just trying to figure out if I completely spaced out on a "sexy-funny" Sally Hemmings dance both when I saw it live and when I watched it this weekend.

the only thing I remember is DD singing "Sally be a dear and hand me the letter" and a woman (dancing, as is everyone else in the scene) giving him a letter.

1776 had some catchy tunes.

It does. I wanna be in it

it's about as accurate as The Greatest Showman, which doesn't get anywhere near the same flack (well, no slaves, but PT Barnum was a bit of a prick).

1. Disagree; greatest showman took way more liberties

2. No there were no slaves in TGS but there should have been one - "He began his career as a showman in 1835 when he was 25 with the purchase and exhibition of a blind and almost completely paralyzed slave woman named Joice Heth, whom an acquaintance was trumpeting around Philadelphia as George Washington's former nurse and 161 years old. Slavery was already outlawed in New York, but he exploited a loophole which allowed him to lease her for a year for $1,000, borrowing $500 to complete the sale. Heth died in February 1836, at no more than 80 years old. Barnum had worked her for 10 to 12 hours a day, and he hosted a live autopsy of her body in a New York saloon where spectators paid 50 cents to see the dead woman cut up, as he revealed that she was likely half her purported age."

3. So, more than a prick

to be honest I want to cancel TGS more because I HATE THE FUCKING SONGS

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Do-Hum-Me

Do-Hum-Me was the eighteen-year-old daughter of Nan-Nouce-Push-Ee-Toe, a chief of the Sac and Fox Nation* who traveled east in 1843 from their native lands in Iowa to participate in treaty negotiations with the federal government. The occasion resulted in her meeting and marrying Cow-Hick-Kee, a young warrior, who also participated in the sessions.

The delegation later visited New York City, where the presence of Native Americans was met with great excitement and quickly attracted the attention of showman P. T. Barnum. His American Museum was located in lower Manhattan at the corner of Broadway and Ann Street across from St. Paul’s Chapel. Recognizing the potential for increased ticket sales, Barnum persuaded fifteen members of the delegation, including Do-Hum-Me and Cow-Hick-Kee, to perform daily war dances and wedding ceremonies for museum goers. Tragically, Do-Hum-Me, known to New Yorkers as the “Indian Princess,” died five weeks after her wedding date. Without immunity to the diseases brought to America by immigrant Europeans, she succumbed to the fate that ultimately befell millions of indigenous people. Do-Hum-Me died inside Barnum’s Museum. Barnum was to record that her grieving father and young husband cooked food and ritually placed it on the roof of the museum so that Do-Hum-Me’s spirit would not go hungry as long as her Native American brethren remained at the site.

yeah PT was appalling, woulda been good to stop that film beyond its sonic crime

this soundtrack has been stuck in my head for a week

make it stop

please make it stop

anGELicAAAAAA, eLIIIzaaAAa

(and peggy)

Lol my 5 yo has been playing the soundtrack non-stop and yelling, “LADIES!” And “This kid is insane man!”

this still has a few jams but none of them involve rapping

I am listening to this whole thing again and damn, this is a work of art

I love the hip hop references, like the Mobb Deep "I'm only 19 but my mind is older" line

How much money do I have to pay Renee Elise Goldsberry, Phillipa Soo, and Jasmine Cephus-Jones to sing "LOOK AROUND, LOOK AROUND" for me for about 45 minutes?

LMM totally missed the opportunity to have Burr say to Hamilton, "Damn Homie, back in the cabinet you was the man homie. What happened to you?"

Okay I know this is probably played out by now but it's screamingly funny

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZzDP-vQXao

I have not made it past "The Schuyler Sisters"

Animal as King George is inspired

The entire casting is incredible

Camilla as Angelica is the funniest fucking thing I've encountered this year

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gGwhSE0nvo

My kid just got into Hamilton, as kids will apparently do (it's my first exposure to it). "Helpless" is a jam, I'll say that!

:D yay!

Easy to make fun of him, but dude is so talented. Hamilton is ace, songs from Moana are strong, and clearly the great songs from Encanto are connecting as pop music in a way since no Disney stuff since ... the '90s?

Don’t forget Vivo, which my daughter has watched / listened to the soundtrack 1,000 times

I'm not sure I've seen it, but now that I think of it I think I've heard one of my kids singing one of the songs. "Turn Up the Tempo?" Is that one of them?

My kids are super into Encanto at present; we just had a boisterous breakfast singalong of "Surface Pressure"

absolutely hate the encanto songs, this guy is such a fucking dweeb, the one the swole sister sings makes me writhe with secondhand dork agony.

I think his dweebiness is a positive attribute.

and clearly the great songs from Encanto are connecting as pop music in a way since no Disney stuff since ... the '90s?

Hmmm maybe we have differing definitions of Pop but "Let It Go" was massive no?

the swole sister song is good not bad SITO

According to the wiki, "Let It Go" (for sure cultural touchstone) was indeed a hit, "the first song from a Disney animated musical to reach the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100 since 1995." "Encanto" soundtrack hit number one yesterday, but I guess the "Frozen II" soundtrack did, too, in 2019. Interesting stat stuff here:

https://www.billboard.com/music/chart-beat/encanto-soundtrack-number-one-billboard-200-chart-1235016951/

Including:

Encanto is just the sixth animated film soundtrack to hit No. 1 since the Billboard 200 began regularly publishing on a weekly basis in 1956. Encanto follows Frozen II (one week at No. 1, 2019), Frozen (13 weeks, 2014), Jack Johnson’s Curious George (one, 2006), Pocahontas (one, 1995) and The Lion King (10, 1994-95). (All but Curious George are Disney films.)

But I guess “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” also just topped the top 200 and Spotify.

Interestingly, "Dos Oruguitas,” the Spanish-language song from "Encanto," was reportedly the one submitted to the Oscars. If "Encanto" stays strong, I wonder if that will finally get him his EGOT. I mean, "Dos Oruguitas" is really pretty for sure. I just learned that there have been two previous non-English songs to win Best Original Song (and four previous non-English nominations).

Should say I don't usually care about this chart and awards stuff, but I like Lin Manuel.

I liked Hamilton well enough, but the more I see of this guy's work since, the less I like him. He definitely seems like a nice guy and I don't begrudge him his success, but seeing In the Heights just revealed how narrow his palette really is. The same song structures, flow and construction over and over again, with different lyrics. I haven't seen Encanto yet, but I definitely prefer the work of Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez (Coco, Frozen) if we are talking contemporary songwriters for animated films.

That’s funny, I said the same thing to my wife (“He’s no Kristen Anderson-Lopez…”)

I’m not a big musical theater guy, but I don’t see what there is to hate on about this guy? (granted, I don’t know much about him; though my son read me bits of a LMM biography he took out from the library)

Yeah, to be clear, I don't hate him either, he seems to be a genuinely nice guy even if he's a big ol' theater dork. I've just got a big sense of diminishing returns with the more of his stuff I see.

I effectively file him in the same category as Dave Grohl - I wish he'd stop popping up in every damn thing, but he comes across as so damn likable that I can't hate him.

I don't know, I kind of get more traditional musical theater vibes from them, by way of Evanescence. Lin, he does seem operate pretty consistently, but I think his stuff is more diverse than people sometimes give it credit for. He's much better than Grohl, who's not even remotely clever about his middle of the roadness.

Like, I am not a musical theater guy at all and a lot of the stuff drives me nuts, but Lin's stuff doesn't bother me. Which might explain why it bothers some other people, lol.

I get the feeling with him, because he is so successful and so high profile that people have been trying to instigate a backlash for years - like the folks who consider Hamilton overrated and not nearly as groundbreaking as it was - but as of yet it's just not taking.

There is a backlash, mostly from dirtbag left, but it’s a lame and hilarious backlash

Hmm, thinking about it a bit, I wonder if LMM's additional abilities as an actor/performer/director/writer (as in the script) give him a leg up that makes up for any (real or perceived) lack of versatility? Whereas Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez's perhaps more conventional Broadway inclinations given them their own set of advantages when it comes to their more limited focus? For example, I could totally see both LMM coming up with successful songs for "Coco" or Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez doing "Moana" or "Encanto." But I don't know if LMM can be Broadway broad and *big* enough for something like "Frozen," and likewise if I was at ground zero for something like "Wicked" I would have called Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez before LNN. But they might ever come up with something personal and idiosyncratic like "Hamilton."

Anyway, I guess LMM and Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez teamed up for some Netflix Schoolhouse Rock sort of thing?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tBPgDBDKnE

It's not that good.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/10/arts/music/encanto-soundtrack-billboard-chart.html

The soundtrack to “Encanto,” the new Disney animated film, has reached No. 1 on the Billboard chart, displacing Adele’s “30” after a six-week run at the top.

The “Encanto” album, with songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda that draw on salsa and hip-hop and are performed on traditional Colombian instruments, came out in November — initially landing at No. 197 — and has had a steady climb to the top. After the film’s streaming release on Disney+ on Christmas Eve, the soundtrack entered Billboard’s Top 10.

One of its numbers, “We Don’t Talk About Bruno,” is currently the most-streamed song on Spotify, beating out a slew of new tracks by the Weeknd. (The Weeknd’s surprise album, “Dawn FM,” released on Friday with just a few days’ notice, is expected to open with huge numbers on next week’s chart.)

The “Encanto” soundtrack, which also features pieces from the film’s score by Germaine Franco, had the equivalent of 72,000 sales in the United States last week, according to MRC Data, Billboard’s tracking arm. That total includes 88 million streams and 11,000 copies sold as a complete package. “Encanto” is the first soundtrack to reach No. 1 on Billboard’s chart since “Frozen 2” in late 2019.

Ooof, 72k in sales is all it takes ...

The consensus in this household seems to be that Encanto isn't a great movie (I haven't sat and watched it, just seen bits in the background) – but that Bruno song is pretty undeniable. I also like the big song the main character sings as she walks around doing magic or whatever ("something something open the dooooooor...")

I thought "Encanto" was better the second time. Definitely one of the prettier ones in recent memory, and does a few things to counter Disney cliches. For example, no dead parents, no epic quest, no princess, single location (more or less), um, first lead character with glasses? Doesn't quite stick the landing (imo, for reasons I won't spoil), but it has a nice emotional payoff nonetheless.

Cool / good to know (the criticism voiced here was that it's too short or moves too quick, you don't really get to know or care about the characters?)

Yeah Encanto's a very enjoyable film.

xpost I can see that, at least the first time around. There are 11 or so major characters, but only about 4 get their own songs, and of those the relationship between each other and with Mirabel probably could have been developed a bit more to enhance the payoff at the end. (The rest of the 11 are fun but tend to fly by pretty fast.) Second time around I felt there was more than enough meat to convey the movie's message, though, and perhaps not knowing some characters as well as others may be part of it.

no dead parents

dead abuelo though.

It happens.

MOANA IS GREAT

xp: grandpas usually keel over from heart disease or cancer or something, not getting cut down by a death squad. It's still traumatic, although maybe not the same as Nemo's mom getting eaten. Still think it fits into the trope, although more of a generational trauma thing.

Maybe. But he died many decades before Mirabel was born, so it's not really her (the protagonist's) trauma. Moana, she's got her mom and dad, but grandma dies on her watch and follows her around as a force ghost.

absolutely hate the encanto songs (...) the one the swole sister sings makes me writhe with secondhand dork agony.

Ha ha - I heard this for the first time in the car; knew exactly what it was (I remembered the above comment); and had to keep listening on my own (after dropping the kid off), to see how it "developed." It's... quite a song

lol I actually like that one. but having a 9-year-old daughter playing/singing/karaoke-ing/dancing to the whole soundtrack constantly may have skewed my perspective a bit. and agree that overall the music is super weak

the movie itself is solid but there's way too much going on - plotlines, themes, characters - for it to get the kind of traction it would need to be as memorable as say Moana (which I agree with everyone above is the GOAT of modern CGI Disney)

Ehh, Frozen II is modern GOAT imo

there's a lot going on in encanto but perhaps even more fatally it doesn't support anything substantial. there's magic, it goes away, it comes back. the climax is a quiet conversation! which maybe in one way is an admirable change from an epic action setpiece but it's not really compelling viewing.

xp, i thought frozen ii was a trying-too-hard mess.

Yeah, really didn't like Frozen II.

More importantly, how did "You'll Be Back," the best song in Hamilton, not get a single vote in this poll?

I mean, even Frozen I is better than Moana... (IMO, of course)

Just saw a group of elementary school kids singing "We Don't Talk About Bruno," in unison... the guy can write a hit.

Fwiw, I don't hate the "swole sister" song; it's kind of fascinatingly grating (...it's a choice, anyway). It also apparently hit #10 on the Billboard Hot 100 this week(!):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErY3eeRFTFg

Speaking of which, you guys also gotta hear the big showstopper from Vivo (just as I had to hear it, about 10x/day last month):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lPPysB6bGA

(seems there's also a remix w/Missy Elliott)

I think the Surface Pressure song is great.

I dunno, I don't get the hype over "Bruno", tbh. I thought "Surface Pressure" was the best song in that flick by a wide margin.

"Bruno" is kind of its "Agatha All Along."

The opening song was really busy, and I wasn't sure I'd like the movie, but "Surface Pressure" and Isabella's song were better, and I got more into it. I really liked that the story and the conflict were almost entirely within the house, within the family. But it's still a lower tier Disney movie - Frozen 2 is the only recent one I recall liking less

So, "Bruno" is the first Disney song to hit number one in 30 years, and the first number one song in four years with only one songwriter. And, needless to day, Lin-Manuel's first number one. Also apparently a record for most number of credited performers on a number one, too (6). Add it to the list.

The opening song was really busy

It always makes me think of the "Tiny Toons Adventures" theme! (rapidly listing off the characters and their attributes, etc.)

otm, a lot of cartoon theme songs did that. I think I was probably overwhelmed by those songs the first time I heard them too - probably more fun the second and third time you watch it

I was just talking in the music theory thread about how Waiting on a Miracle represents everything a lot of things I hate about modern broadway composition, the melody sounds so noodly and random. We Don't Talk About Bruno is certainly catchy but I can't really say it's *good*, same with the Family Madrigal song. Overall agree that the movie was kind of a mess but the kids loved it. Definitely underwhelming. A lot of the family seemed like assholes tbh.

I guess in that sense it was a realistic portrayal of a family, except then it set itself up for the impossible resolution that everyone in the messed up family just learns to stop being messed up.

Ooof, 72k in sales is all it takes ...

it says 11k in the bit you quoted!

except then it set itself up for the impossible resolution that everyone in the messed up family just learns to stop being messed up.

Yeah that bothered me a bit. I mean it's a kid's movie whatchagonnado but I couldn't believe in particular that the grandma would do such a 180

xpost I think it said "had the equivalent of 72,000 sales," whatever that means.

150 streams is the equivalent of one song sale. So like 10.8 million streams.

Wtf

https://onlysky.media/hemant-mehta/a-texas-church-illegal-performed-hamilton-to-spread-anti-gay-bigotry/