Hamilton, the musical that won a total of eleven Tony awards, was produced by Lin-Manuel Miranda. It has an amazing script in addition to an excellent music album. Lin produced these songs with intent that the listeners would react differently. Piano plays recurring roles in emotional songs, and drums help lighten the mood in others. Each song contains historical facts inspired by the author Ron Chernow, who wrote a biography on Alexander Hamilton, one of America’s founding fathers.
Lin-Manuel Miranda succeeded in telling the story of Alexander Hamilton, a man who has been long dead, and still moving people’s hearts. Songs such as “Aaron Burr, Sir,” and “My Shot” have an energetic beat that’s bound to make the listener hum along and enjoy it. Other songs like “Stay Alive (Reprise)” and “The World Was Wide Enough” would make some listeners cry (as I did) over the deaths of two important characters.
The entire Hamilton playlist includes a total of 46 songs. The album is a big melting pot of emotions, rhyme schemes, and beats. Each song seems to have its own personality and story behind it. In, “Farmer Refuted,” Lin plays with homonyms, different words that sound similar. The song quotes, “He’d have you all unravel at the sound/Of screams but the /Revolution is comin’/The have-nots are gonna win this/ It’s hard to listen to you with a straight face” (said by Hamilton) and, “Heed not the rabble/Who scream/Revolution, they/Have not your/Interests/At heart” (said by Seabury). Lin methodically places the words so they use the same rhyme- “heed” and “he’d”, “rabble” and “unravel,” etc. These lyrics are set for the purpose of an argument being fought back and forth. The characters use the same words at times and interrupt each other’s arguments. In this case, Hamilton is arguing with Samuel Seabury, who is loyal to King George III.
All 46 songs in sequential order tell how Alexander Hamilton’s life unravels. This playlist has an introduction (to introduce Alexander Hamilton), exposition (to begin telling the story of Hamilton’s life), rising action (to show his life is about to fall apart), climax (to explain what Hamilton did and how that affects the government, even today!), and conclusion (to show that his legacy lives on). Some of these songs also describe certain personalities of characters. For example, “Schuyler Sisters” describes Peggy, Angelica, and Elizabeth Schuyler, who all play important roles in the life of Hamilton.
This musical playlist has risen in popularity since it debuted on Broadway in the February of 2015. This playlist is unique due to the fact that it contains many genres of music. Songs like “Guns and Ships,” as well as “Washington on Your Side” are mainly rap, but “What’d I Miss” falls in the category of jazz. Even though many categories of songs are included in this playlist, Lin manages to bring it all together in order to create an educational and entertaining experience.
