Song of the Day 7/6: Cast of “Hamilton” featuring Phillipa Soo, with Jimmy Fallon and the Roots, “Helpless”
I don’t know what the weekend was like for the rest of you shut-ins — was it just my neighborhood, or did it sound like the civil war had broken out on the night of July 4? — but at my house we celebrated the Founding Father without a father by watching the filmed version of “Hamilton,” a welcome switch from listening to the soundtrack for the past four years.
Yes, my wife is a certified “Hamilton” freak, so I’ve got the show’s music pretty much memorized by now. Though it’s billed as a hip-hop musical, Lin-Manuel Miranda actually dipped into a wide range of popular music styles in assembling his show. Over the years, this number, a slow jam done in girl group style with Phillipa Soo as Eliza Schuyler, has emerged as my favorite.
This version was put together by the folks at NBC during quarantine. It’ll have to suffice until someone pirates the Disney version on YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vo_s6PsVogI
So fantastic. My new favorite version. We’ve been running on Hamiltime in our house for the past week. I’m about half way through the Ron Chernow book, but I can see now that Lin needs to release another musical each month.
Cool, that and vocal harmony rocks.
Hamilton rocks.
Hip Hop is more than just rap.
It’s ok to love musical theater without having to it because your wife likes it 😉
I just cant get over Trump reminding us of his love.
da da dat daaaya
Hip hop is more than just rap, but this song is neither.
I don’t love musical theater at all. I like music and I like theater, but I generally get nothing extra out of combining the two. I enjoyed the “Hamilton” movie because it doesn’t follow the usual musical-theater formula.
I like apples, and I like pie but I get nothing extra out of apple pie.
If you don’t like cooked apples, apple pie is actually worse than either one separately.
That’s how I feel about musical theater. The songs are diminished for me because they’re shoehorned into a plot, and usually erupt out of dialogue. This makes it difficult for me to suspend disbelief and lose myself in the show. I’m always aware it’s a performance.
Right. The point is to appreciate the performance. the skill, work, and coordination of all the parties involved in pulling off the show. Not to convince the audience that they are experiencing un-enhanced reality.
I would even argue that Hamilton qualifies as an opera, since there is basically no dialog that isn’t part of Song. Even if it isn’t “sung”
That is sure to piss off purists.
fuck you, Banned!
If you’ve never lost your awareness that it’s a performance, you have my pity.
You are correct that “Hamilton” is more like traditional opera than traditional musical theater.