Alexander

I Can Die In Peace, Because I Saw Hamilton on Broadway

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I don’t even!  Know!  Where to begin.  Half of me feels very centered and calm, like I could die because life has given me its greatest gift:  seeing Hamilton on Broadway with its original cast.  The other half of me wants to spin in circles shouting into the sky because life has given me its greatest gift:  seeing Hamilton on Broadway with its original cast.

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At this point in the day, Mom’s excitement is a little bit forced.  By the end, she was fangirling hard.

Our hotel is a three minute walk (turn right on 46th) from Richard Rodgers Theatre, so it was a Hamilton kind of day.  We walked past at noon, and I tried to control an intense wave of envy when we saw the lucky 21 lottery winners who would be seeing the matinee in just two hours.  But we had back-row seats for the night’s performance, so I swallowed my jealousy and followed my mom around other, less important areas of New York City.

We were back at the theater at 4:30.  I wanted to be early for #ham4ham, which began at 5:55.  Ridiculously early, but serendipitous.  I asked a woman standing by a barricade if she was in line for the lottery, and she said no, the matinee was about to let out, and this was where the cast came out to sign autographs.  “Okay then,” I said, claiming a front row spot in front of the door.   Continue reading →

How I Got Tickets to See Hamilton on Broadway

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[Editor’s Note:  If at any point while reading this you think, Wow, she’s a spoiled brat, you are correct.]

Yesterday I discussed the process my mom and I went through as we planned to come to NYC (we’re here now!).  I’ll be honest:  I’m always up for a trip, but I wasn’t super excited about going to NYC again (my mom and I went for a few days in July 2010).  The fact that it will be the Christmas season was definitely a bonus, but still, my passion level was at about a 6 out of 10.

AND THEN.  A few days later, I discovered the musical Hamilton, and if you’ve been paying attention to this blog at all, the rest is history.

My brain quickly put together:  Hamilton is on Broadway, and Broadway is in NYC.  Suddenly the trip was a 10 out of 10.  I immediately looked at their website, and my passion plummeted to a 0.  They were sold out.  For months.

This roller coaster of emotion continued.  I discovered #ham4ham, a lottery in which Lin-Manuel Miranda and cast perform a little bit to street crowds, then offer 21 front row tickets in a raffle – if you win, you pay $10 (because Hamilton is on the bill).  Awesome!, I thought.  Until I read on and saw that every single day, an average of 700 people show up to put their names in the raffle.  I calculated our odds to be .003%.  Noooo.   Continue reading →

A Cliff’s Note Version of Hamilton the Musical

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Even though Entertainment Weekly has called Hamilton “the biggest cultural smash on Broadway this decade” it can be hard to convince people to give the two and half hour, 46-song musical soundtrack a shot.  For the sake of the joy and inspiration everyone is guaranteed to find in the story of Alexander Hamilton as told by Lin-Manuel Miranda, I’ve created a Cliff Note’s version of the musical’s story, links to key songs included.

[Side note:  You won’t see the actors while listening to the cast album, but I think it is extremely important to note that the majority of the actors and actresses are people of color.  Miranda himself is Puerto Rican, and the men who play Aaron Burr, George Washington, and Thomas Jefferson are black.  Hamilton’s wife and her sister are played by a biracial Asian woman and a black woman respectively.  I am so in love with Miranda’s goal of telling the story of America’s past with the voices of America’s present.]

Alexander Hamilton was born on a Caribbean island, the bastard son of a Scotsman and a prostitute.  He becomes an orphan when his dad skips out and his mother dies, and the cousin who takes him in winds up committing suicide.  When he was a teenager, a hurricane devastated his hometown, and after writing about his experience, a fund was collected to send him to America.  Dude has a serious chip on his shoulder, and he is determined to prove his worth by demanding everyone’s attention and hiding his self-doubts (“Alexander Hamilton“).   Continue reading →

The Hamilton Musical Is AMAZING

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I’ve seen a lot about Hamilton, the hit Broadway musical, on the Internet.  As more and more people I trust fell under its sway, I side-eyed their good taste.  Before I listened to it, my reservations were mostly: how can a musical about a founding father possibly be interesting? So I watched the video below, and the idea that hip hop is the language of a revolution intrigued me enough to give it a go.

Within the first 30 seconds of the first song, I thought, “Oh no.  This is the beginning of an obsession.”  Within the first few songs, I raced home because I knew I wanted to document my reactions (which were mostly dancing in my driver’s seat and then screaming “AHHH!!!” at the end of the song because I had so many unnameable emotions).

I’m throwing my opinion in with the rest and highly recommending Hamilton.  Buy it on iTunes, Amazon, or listen for free on Spotify, just LISTEN TO IT oh my gosh.  And if you need further convincing, here is me fangirling over every single song and displaying some of the incredible lyrics (songs I especially liked are bolded).   Continue reading →