Theater History and Mysteries
The deepest dives you can find anywhere into the history and backstory of the great musical productions. Dense content...for people who aren't. And, I’ll never miss an opportunity to pursue any mystery, bizarre coincidence, improbable event, or supernatural suggestion along the way because, in the words of Dirk Gentley, it is all connected.
You can contact me directly at theaterhistorypodcast@gmail.com
Released every other Tuesday.
Music by Jon Bruschke and Andrew Howat, arranged, performed, and recorded by Andrew Howat.
Check out the interview on Musical Theater Radio, episode 404: https://www.musicaltheatreradio.com/podcast
Theater History and Mysteries
Hamilton -- The show and why Hamilton might be even more impressive that you think (Hamilton 1 of 12, episode 38)
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Alexander Hamilton did some major things that still impact the world we live in today...but you might not really get what those are from watching the musical. Today's episode is designed to review those things and figure out what the musical focuses on, what Hamilton really did, and why it might be even more impressive than you might think.
My goal is to tell you something you don’t already know about Hamilton the musical, and Alexander Hamilton the guy.
Here’s an opening: Grew up in Utah. We had the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Donny and Marie Osmond, a very LDS influenced state legislature, and we did NOT have underground hip hop scene.
You would have bet me in 1994 that this would have happened, I would have told you that you were crazy:
“Consider the following. On March 9, 2016, Utah State Senator Jim Dabakis, an openly gay Democrat and founder of an advocacy group called Utah Progressives, and Utah State Representative Ken Ivory, a conservative Republican best known for urging state officials to seize federal land, donned eighteenth-century costumes to extol the virtues of Hamilton to their fellow lawmakers. With Dabakis dressed as King George III and Ivory as Hamilton, they urged their peers to pass a resolution honoring Lin-Manuel Miranda and his historically inspired musical. Despite their many political disagree-ments, these legislators’ love of Hamilton had brought them to-gether. Their resolution praised the musical for capturing “the human drama, intrigue, passion, perplexity, and promise of Ameri-ca’s founding in a way that resonates with a modern and ethnically diverse America” and for captivating audiences “regardless of eco-nomic circumstances or political stances.”1 The resolution easily passed in both the House and Senate, and was quickly signed into law by Utah’s Republican governor Gary Herbert.”
From Historians on Hamilton, chapter 14.
That is mind-blowing. I want to tell you more things you don’t expect.
I’ll start with the BASIC history about Hamilton. Pretty sure that I can do it at least once in this episode of THM.