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Lin-Manuel Miranda's Broadway hit Hamilton became a worldwide sensation when it opened back in 2015, and won countless awards in the process. Now Disney+ subscribers can be in the room where it happened, as a filmed version of the play starring the original leads has been released on the new streaming service. The show tells American history, but Miranda recently spoke to how the show changes depending on what's happening in politics IRL.
Hamilton tells the story of America's inception, and the personal and professional life of Founding Father Alexander Hamilton through hip hop and a diverse cast. The show covers decades of time, and has been running while tow different Presidents were in the White House. Ahead of the show's release on Disney+, Lin-Manuel Miranda spoke to how the show unknowingly changes due to the politics of the time. As he put it,
One of the great surprises of Hamilton is that it doesn’t change. We haven’t changed the text of the show since 2015 and yet it feels like it changes because the world around it changes so fast. Things that popped out when Obama was President may not be the things that get a reaction when Trump is President. ‘Immigrants we get the job done’ certainly has a different reaction. If there’s anything political about the show Hamilton, it’s thesis is everything good or bad that was present at the founding at the roots of the birth of this country are still present. The fights we have then are the fights we still have now.
It's almost hard to believe, but Hamilton has already been running or five years. The world has changed in this time, which affects the way both the audience and cast reacts to Lin-Manuel Miranda's Pulitzer Pride winning material. And in that way, Hamilton is altered without a single lyric of dance step changing on stage.
Hamilton is available exclusively on Disney+. You can use this link to sign up for the streaming service.
Lin-Manuel Miranda's comments on WIRED highlight how much Hamilton has pierced the pop culture lexicon, and what a conversation started the Tony Award winning musical continues to be. The show itself is consistent, but it changes based on what's happening in the real world, as well as who is in the audience. While there's no doubt countless example of this, Miranda specifically mentions one lyric from the song Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down) about immigrants that has gained more popularity as a result of current events.
Later in his same conversation, Lin-Manuel Miranda further explained the way Hamilton is changing based on history, as well as the perspective of the audience. As he put it,
I think one of the biggest themes of the show is ‘You don’t get to control how you are remembered.’ You don’t get to control how you are remembered and who survives you. And the show doesn’t escape that fate either. And so different things within it will rise and fall based on where we are.
Since releasing on Disney+, more people than ever will be able to watch Hamilton than ever before. As such, there should be even more conversations about the Broadway musical's themes, as well as America's history. Hamilton's appearance on Disney+ has resulted in downloads for the application skyrocketing, and the filmed performance essentially broke the internet over the past week.
With Hamilton now available to watch and showing no signs of slowing down its run on Broadway, it should be interesting to see how its material continues to change and gain relevancy as the next political era begins. Only time will tell, but it's clear that Lin-Manuel Miranda's smash hit musical continues to inspire conversations regarding America's past, present, and future.
Hamilton is currently streaming in its entirety on Disney+. Check out our 2020 release list to plan your next trip to the movies
