• en_US
  • es_MX
  • Community Resources
  • About Us
  • Archives
Monday, May 19, 2025
No Result
View All Result

  • La Jolla Village News
    • Top Stories
    • News
    • Features
    • Opinion
    • Education
    • Arts Entertainment
    • Sports
    • Business Directory
    • Expert Advice
    • Real Estate
  • Beach Bay Press
    • Top Stories
    • News
    • Features
    • Opinion
    • Education
    • Arts Entertainment
    • Sports
    • Business Directory
    • Expert Advice
    • Real Estate
  • Peninsula Beacon
    • Top Stories
    • News
    • Features
    • Opinion
    • Education
    • Arts Entertainment
    • Sports
    • Business Directory
    • Expert Advice
    • Real Estate
  • Downtown News
    • Top Stories
    • News
    • Features
    • Opinion
    • Education
    • Arts Entertainment
    • Sports
    • Business Directory
    • Expert Advice
    • Real Estate
  • Uptown News
    • Top Stories
    • News
    • Features
    • Opinion
    • Education
    • Arts Entertainment
    • Sports
    • Business Directory
    • Expert Advice
    • Real Estate
  • La Mesa Courier
    • Top Stories
    • News
    • Features
    • Opinion
    • Education
    • Arts Entertainment
    • Sports
    • Business Directory
    • Expert Advice
    • Real Estate
  • Mission Times Courier
    • Top Stories
    • News
    • Features
    • Opinion
    • Education
    • Arts Entertainment
    • Sports
    • Business Directory
    • Expert Advice
    • Real Estate
  • College Times Courier
    • Top Stories
    • News
    • Features
    • Opinion
    • Education
    • Arts Entertainment
    • Sports
    • Business Directory
    • Expert Advice
    • Real Estate
  • Mission Valley News
    • Top Stories
    • News
    • Features
    • Opinion
    • Education
    • Arts Entertainment
    • Sports
    • Business Directory
    • Expert Advice
    • Real Estate
  • Home
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Community Resources
    • Report News
  • Publications
    • La Jolla Village News
      • Top Stories
      • News
      • Features
      • Opinion
      • Education
      • Art & Entertainment
      • Sports
      • Business Directory
      • Expert Advice
      • Real Estate
    • Beach Bay Press
      • Top Stories
      • News
      • Features
      • Opinion
      • Education
      • Art & Entertainment
      • Sports
      • Business Directory
      • Expert Advice
      • Real Estate
    • Peninsula Beacon
      • Top Stories
      • News
      • Features
      • Opinion
      • Education
      • Art & Entertainment
      • Sports
      • Business Directory
      • Expert Advice
      • Real Estate
    • Downtown News
      • Top Stories
      • News
      • Features
      • Opinion
      • Education
      • Art & Entertainment
      • Sports
      • Business Directory
      • Expert Advice
      • Real Estate
    • Uptown News
      • Top Stories
      • News
      • Features
      • Opinion
      • Education
      • Art & Entertainment
      • Sports
      • Business Directory
      • Expert Advice
      • Real Estate
    • La Mesa Courier
      • Top Stories
      • News
      • Features
      • Opinion
      • Education
      • Art & Entertainment
      • Sports
      • Business Directory
      • Expert Advice
      • Real Estate
    • Mission Times Courier
      • Top Stories
      • News
      • Features
      • Opinion
      • Education
      • Art & Entertainment
      • Sports
      • Business Directory
      • Expert Advice
      • Real Estate
    • College Times Courier
      • Top Stories
      • News
      • Features
      • Opinion
      • Education
      • Art & Entertainment
      • Sports
      • Business Directory
      • Expert Advice
      • Real Estate
    • Mission Valley News
      • Top Stories
      • News
      • Features
      • Opinion
      • Education
      • Art & Entertainment
      • Sports
      • Business Directory
      • Expert Advice
      • Real Estate
    • Find Your Newspaper
    • Archives
  • News
    • Features
    • Opinion
    • Art & Entertainment
    • Education
    • Local Sports
    • Report News
  • Event Calendar
  • Business Directory
  • Subscribe
  • Advertise
  • Digital Editions/Archives
SDNews.com
Home Arts & Entertainment

History, culture converge in a positively magnificent ‘Hamilton’ 

Tech by Tech
January 10, 2018
in Arts & Entertainment, Beach & Bay Press, News
Reading Time: 3 mins read
0 0
A A
0
History, culture converge in a positively magnificent ‘Hamilton’ 
0
SHARES
14
VIEWS
History, culture converge in a positively magnificent ‘Hamilton’ 

It isn’t like Lin-Manuel Miranda, playwright/composer of “Hamilton: An American Musical,” stumbled into international acclaim last week. At 27, he wrote the music and lyrics to 2008’s Tony- and Grammy-winning “In the Heights” and was nominated for that show’s Best Actor Tony. 
His pedigree stretches from here to Mars, peppered with Emmys, Pulitzers, fellowships and honorary degrees more befitting a head of state than a guy of letters.
In the case of “Hamilton,” the Broadway San Diego entry running through Jan. 28 at downtown’s Civic Theatre, he’s both – such is his brilliant portrayal of a newborn United States and his unparalleled command of modern culture in informing it. This rap- and street-infused story of America’s tempestuous founding, centering on Alexander Hamilton’s rebellion against British rule and his installment as the country’s first secretary of the Treasury, is absolutely everything everybody’s been raving about since its Broadway opening in 2015. 
Calling this a history play is like calling Washington National Cathedral a neighborhood parish.
And calling it musical theater doesn’t quite describe its place as a legitimate treatise on nation-building, especially when the builders are set adrift in a country without a world. 
The U.S. is an immigrant nation in the extreme here, with twentysomething West Indies native Hamilton emerging as a great Revolutionary military leader and capturing George Washington’s attention in 1777. Four years later, victory over England brought its own hardships as the fledgling nation flailed about in its attempt to assuage its leaders’ egos – chiefly those of Hamilton and Vice President Aaron Burr, whose views on the new country’s direction morphed into a bitter litany of personal attacks.
In fact, Al is a bit of a cad here, whose arrogance and headstrong demeanor color a chronic overachiever – precisely the dominant traits of the nation to come. The music and lyrics cartwheel and bodyslam off the stage accordingly, rife with the urgency feted by at least one standardbearer of the national mien.    
“In this telling,” Barack Obama declared in welcoming the Broadway cast to the White House in May of 2016, “rap is the language of revolution. Hip-hop is the backbeat. In each brilliantly crafted song, we hear the debates that shaped our nation, and we hear the debates that are still shaping our nation. We feel the fierce, youthful energy that animated the men and women of Hamilton’s generation. . . with a cast as diverse as America itself . . .” “Raise a glass to the four of us; tomorrow, there’ll be more of us.” “These are wise words; enterprising men quote ‘em; don’t act surprised, you guys, ‘cuz I wrote ‘em.” The lyrics seamlessly and relentlessly bend and reassemble amid Austin Scott’s Hamilton, Ryan Vasquez’s Burr, Rory O’Malley’s putzy King George and Jordan Donica’s outstanding Thomas Jefferson, sanctioning Julian Reeve’s music direction and Andy Blankenbuehler’s torrid choreography. 
Meanwhile, director Thomas Kail and scene designer David Korins have everything to work with amid Broadway San Diego’s outstanding technical traditions.
It took Miranda about seven years to write this script and its 34 tunes, inspired by Ron Chernow’s biography “Alexander Hamilton.” What followed is a colossal, stark-raving miracle. Not since “Wicked” has one show galvanized the public behind an issues-driven message; and arguably, not since the country’s founding has the theater embraced a retrospective in so consummately definitive a light. 
This country is the most successful multiracial experiment in human history – with “Hamilton,” it boasts a work of art whose ferocity marks the character of its inheritors and, ideally, their successors.
  Martin Jones Westlin is a theater critic at San Diego Story and a San Diego Community Newspaper Group editor emeritus.
This review is based on the Jan. 9 press opening performance. “Hamilton” runs through Jan. 28 at Civic Theatre, 1100 Third Ave. $340-$800. broadwaysd.com, 619-564-3000.

Previous Post

Man beaten to death with hammer in Point Loma

Next Post

Rock-a-billy takes over 710 Beach Club in Pacific Beach

Tech

Tech

RelatedPosts

img 8046
Downtown News - Top Stories

Drop-in center for sex trafficked minors to open Downtown

by Drew Sitton
May 18, 2025
stevesidell.photography
Beach & Bay Press - Sports

Mission Bay girls lax loses nail-biter in CIF semifinals

by Hector Trujillo
May 17, 2025
mission bay high sports logo
Beach & Bay Press - News

Mission Bay boys lacrosse season ends in playoffs

by Hector Trujillo
May 17, 2025
del mar6
SDNews - Features

Del Mar Thoroughbred Club to start summer racing season July 18

by SDNEWS staff
May 17, 2025
1 sandag bike anywhere day (5)
Beach & Bay Press - Top Stories

WEEKLY BRIEFING – News and events in and around San Diego

by SDNEWS staff
May 16, 2025
2 maritime museum excurion 2
Peninsula Beacon - Features

Peninsula Shepherd Center updates name and outreach efforts to seniors

by Dave Schwab
May 16, 2025
7b41 crawford cover
College Times Courier - News

Third CalKIDS Money Festival set for Saturday at Crawford High

by SDNEWS staff
May 16, 2025
recording studio lunchtime performance may 28, 2024 nelo, rose ali, narmin, harleigh sickles
La Mesa Courier - Top Stories

Making education and music a big hit at Grossmont High School

by Connie & Lynn Baer
May 16, 2025
Next Post
History, culture converge in a positively magnificent ‘Hamilton’ 

Rock-a-billy takes over 710 Beach Club in Pacific Beach

Discussion about this post

  • SD News
  • Event Calendar
  • Business Directory
  • Advertise
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Community Resources
  • Staff Writers
  • Subscriptions/Support
  • Publications
  • La Jolla Village News
  • Beach Bay Press
  • Peninsula Beacon
  • Downtown News
  • Uptown News
  • La Mesa Courier
  • Mission Times Courier
  • College Times Courier
  • Mission Valley News
  • Find Your Newspaper
  • Archives
  • News
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Arts Entertainment
  • Education
  • Local Sports
  • Report News

CONNECT + SHARE

© Copyright 2024 SDNews.com Privacy Policy

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • en_US
  • es_MX
  • SDNews.com
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
  • La Jolla Village News
    • Top Stories
    • News
    • Features
    • Opinion
    • Education
    • Art & Entertainment
    • Sports
    • Business Directory
    • Expert Advice
    • Real Estate
  • Beach Bay Press
    • Top Stories
    • News
    • Features
    • Opinion
    • Education
    • Art & Entertainment
    • Sports
    • Business Directory
    • Expert Advice
    • Real Estate
  • Peninsula Beacon
    • Top Stories
    • News
    • Features
    • Opinion
    • Education
    • Art & Entertainment
    • Sports
    • Business Directory
    • Expert Advice
    • Real Estate
  • Downtown News
    • Top Stories
    • News
    • Features
    • Opinion
    • Education
    • Art & Entertainment
    • Sports
    • Business Directory
    • Expert Advice
    • Real Estate
  • Uptown News
    • Top Stories
    • News
    • Features
    • Opinion
    • Education
    • Art & Entertainment
    • Sports
    • Business Directory
    • Expert Advice
    • Real Estate
  • La Mesa Courier
    • Top Stories
    • News
    • Features
    • Opinion
    • Education
    • Art & Entertainment
    • Sports
    • Business Directory
    • Expert Advice
    • Real Estate
  • Mission Times Courier
    • Top Stories
    • News
    • Features
    • Opinion
    • Education
    • Art & Entertainment
    • Sports
    • Business Directory
    • Expert Advice
    • Real Estate
  • College Times Courier
    • Top Stories
    • News
    • Features
    • Opinion
    • Education
    • Art & Entertainment
    • Sports
    • Business Directory
    • Expert Advice
    • Real Estate
  • Mission Valley News
    • Top Stories
    • News
    • Features
    • Opinion
    • Education
    • Art & Entertainment
    • Sports
    • Business Directory
    • Expert Advice
    • Real Estate
  • Subscribe
  • Advertise
  • Report News
  • Find Your Newspaper
  • Digital Editions/Archives
  • Community Resources
  • RSS Feeds

© Copyright 2024 SDNews.com Privacy Policy