What's the Big Deal About Hamilton?

For the last five years, the hottest ticket on Broadway has been for Hamilton: An American Musical. The Lin-Manuel Miranda show has been the most sought-after theatrical production since it premiered Off-Broadway to both critical and audience acclaim, as well as record-breaking award nominations and wins at the Tonys. The show even received a Pulitzer Prize for Drama!

What does this have to do with us as performers? Why is this even relevant? Three things: Value vs. Accessibility, Influence and Inclusion.

Broadway tickets are expensive. On average, a ticket to a Broadway show will cost a theatregoer $125. To see Hamilton, face-value tickets range between $200 and $900 and they are nearly impossible to get unless you order them roughly nine months in advance. Seems steep, right? It certainly isn't accessible to a lot of people who are out there. Last week, Hamilton was released on Disney+. This allows people who can't afford the steep ticket prices, or who can't get to New York City (or a relevant location for a national touring cast) to see the show. The show is so popular that it isn't expected to diminish the value of seeing the show live and the availability of a streaming version of the show might allow people who didn't think they would be interested to see it and expand the audience who will want live show tickets. 

It also keeps Hamilton front-of-mind during this unexpected live entertainment shutdown.

Can you find creative ways to make yourself accessible while also showing your value? Can you be like Hamilton and find a way to become in-demand enough that your price reflects the value that you deliver?  How are you adjusting and staying front-of-mind at this time?

In Hamilton, Lin-Manuel Miranda consciously chose to use hip hop and rap when forming the show for two reasons: He wanted to pay homage to music that influenced him growing up, and he felt that the speed and cadence of the style of music lent itself the best to telling a detailed story in the timeframe of a standard musical. Analysis has determined that if Hamilton was performed in the style of other classic musicals, the show would last for four to six hours!

In the video linked here, you can see Lin-Manuel Miranda talking about how he modeled his songs on the styles of prominent rap and hip hop artists from the 80s through to the 2000s to convey information about his characters in a way that shows a lot of care and respect for his chosen style of music.

What are your influences? How do those influences inform the choices you make during your performances? Are there gaps in your knowledge that could help improve your quality of performance?

One of the big surprises about Hamilton was the fact that the cast is mostly made up of performers from minority communities. While that in itself isn't exactly a first in Broadway shows, it is the first time that it was done intentionally as a way of showing "America now, playing America then".  It is an intentional choice to show that anybody who works and trains, and has the talent, can play the strongest and biggest roles available. It also shows the importance of representation for communities that aren't straight and white. Don't believe me? Take a look at how important it is for this little girl to see Phillipa Soo as Eliza Hamilton.

We can't change who we are and that's not the point of these examples. What I'm asking for is a bit of reflection: Are your events and performances inclusive, open and welcoming to all? Are you projecting that you are welcoming to all? Is there potentially work to do in this area?

After all, as the character of Aaron Burr says, "I am the one thing in life I can control."

This post was originally published in the July 12, 2020 weekly news memo for the Canadian Professional Disc Jockey Association