When a Broadway ticket can be scalped for more than $1,000 and the White House arranges a command performance for the president and first lady (who have already seen the production multiple times), there are no clearer signs that a show has attained rarified popular culture phenomenon status.
In the fanfare that greets “Hamilton” for its uniqueness and the praise reserved for its chief architect and star Lin-Manuel Miranda, it is easy to overlook the everyday, very practical lessons that the musical offers theater artists and audiences. Here are three of them.
Theater Takes Time“Hamilton” did not emerge Athena-like, fully formed from the brain of Miranda. It developed over time, slowly. Back in 2009, Miranda presented an excerpt from an in-progress concept album on the life of Alexander Hamilton at a White House event celebrating poetry and spoken word artistry. The virtuosic artist performed what we now recognize as an early version of the opening number “Alexander Hamilton.” Six years later, “Hamilton,” as a musical, premiered at the Public Theater. Although considerable buzz preceded its debut and seemingly everyone knew that it was destined for Broadway,
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