The smash hit musical and one of the most acclaimed Broadway productions of all-time comes home with “Hamilton,” an extraordinary document of the hip-hop…
The smash hit musical and one of the most acclaimed Broadway productions of all-time comes home with “Hamilton,” an extraordinary document of the hip-hop musical about the “bastard, orphan, son of a whore and a Scotsman” who became one of America’s Founding Fathers.
It’s not quite like being there, but it’s as close to the real thing as anyone will ever get again, with principal cast members Daveed Diggs, Leslie Odom Jr., Anthony Ramos, Phillipa Soo and creator Lin-Manuel Miranda all present, accounted for and captured in close-up. With so much of “Hamilton” circling around the idea of history and how one’s story is told once they’re no longer around to tell it, this version of “Hamilton” ensures Miranda’s vision will live on and continue to narrate its own story for generations to come.
The 2015 production is preserved here from three live shows from June 2016. By that point “Hamilton” was already a full-blown sensation, as you can hear from the rapturous crowd, who likely paid untold amounts to be in the audience.
Aside from the thunderous rounds of applause, there are moments that help contextualize the societal framework within which we’re seeing the show; the line “immigrants — we get the job done” (from “Yorktown”) gets a huge ovation, a reminder the show was filmed in an election year where immigration had become a contentious, hot button topic.
