Hamilton: The Revolution

How does an artist share the complex, daunting tale of “a bastard, orphan, son of a whore and a Scotsman, dropped in the middle of a forgotten Spot in the Caribbean by providence, impoverished, in squalor, Grow up to be a hero and a scholar”? Via a hip-hop musical of course!

The multi-talented Lin-Manuel Miranda, most famous for “In the Heights”, has knocked the socks off theatre-goers nationwide with, “Hamilton”. This book covers the making of the musical, the ENTIRE journey, the key cast members, many of the songs and lyrics, and most importantly, Miranda’s footnotes throughout the lyrics. These footnotes are highly valuable to understand the subtleties in the creation addressing history, trade-off’s made, rap music show more inspirations, and Miranda’s personal story at the moments of the creation. The ‘entire’ journey part feels very thorough, if not too thorough, at times. But let’s face it, this creation has been in process since 2007/2008; 287 pages including photos and lyrics hardly seem adequate to cover this almost 10-year journey. Initially, I also thought the ‘history’ part felt thin as the text was addressing primarily the making of the musical. However, as I went along the book, I realized the lyrics is the history, albeit slightly tweaked which is explained in the footnotes when needed. Even though I would have appreciated more explicit devices to denote the ongoing history, this book is about as complete as it should be. Bravo.

To appreciate and to prepare for attending the performance, one can opt to read the original “Hamilton” book by Ron Chernow (which can be a bit TMI and potentially confusing as all live performances inevitably will make creative deviations) or one can listen to the soundtrack (which to me is cheating myself of that all-up wow factor of seeing and hearing for the first time). And so, I chose to read this, to know the background, the lyrics, ahead of the full-on experience of having rapid-fired words shot at me in the threatre. :)

The most relatable song will very likely be “My Shot”, where the subject immigrant working his way up proclaims, “I am not throwing away my shot!” Isn’t that what we all want, regardless of our background?

About the book itself, it’s beautiful! The pages are parchment paper colored to match the base color of all the costumes, the old timey sheared edges, and a scholarly book spine. I couldn’t put it down. show less

Summary: I think the subtitle, "Being the Complete Libretto of the Broadway Musical, with a True Account of its Creation, and Concise Remarks on Hip-Hop, the Power of Stories, and the New America," sums it up pretty well. It consists of the libretto of the play, annotated by Lin-Manuel Miranda, interspersed between every song or two with short chapters written by Jeremy McCarter (a theater critic and friend of Lin's) that discuss the process of writing, staging, casting, and performing the show, and peppered with gorgeous full-page photos from the stage production. Because Hamilton was written more-or-less chronologically from front to back (with some exceptions - "The Schuyler Sisters" was added later as a means of introducing the show more women to the story earlier, for example), the chapters go more or less chronologically as well, from the show's beginnings as a hip hop concept album, to its off-Broadway preview run, to the Broadway phenomenon it's become. Each of the show's starring cast gets a chapter about themselves as well, usually preceding one of their main numbers.

Review: Hamilton is pretty ubiquitous at this point in the cultural conversation, after it's won a Grammy and basically all the Tonys, after Lin-Manuel Miranda has received a MacArthur Genius Grant, after there are dance remixes of the songs being played on the pop hits station at my gym (I kid you not, it was "The Story of Tonight" set to a dance beat, which was very disconcerting). Initially, I'd been holding off listening to it - hip-hop and rap are not my musical genres of choice, and while I love musical theater, I wanted wait to listen to the music until I'd seen the live show (which, ha ha, you naïve girl, that was super-likely). But then I wound up watching the video of "The Schuyler Sisters" from the MisCast benefit concert, and I was hooked. Not long after that, I downloaded the soundtrack, read a quick guide to the characters, and was off. Not long after *that*, I was listening to the soundtrack on basically constant repeat. For two months. So of course I was going to get and devour the book.

The way I set about devouring the book is this: First, I read the introductory chapter, followed by watching/listening to any relevant media I could find (Lin-Manuel's first public performance of any of the songs, at the White House in 2009, and Biggie Smalls' song "Ten Crack Commandments" were two big ones). Next I skimmed through the lyrics of the songs, reading the annotations. Finally, I listened to the song while carefully reading the words, trying to pick up on things I'd missed on my previous six thousand listens, and also paying attention to the stage directions, etc. This took more time than reading the book straight through, of course, but I think that was time well spent.

It's probably not going to come as a surprise to anyone that I loved this book. Honestly, the people who are going to buy this book are going to be people who already love the musical, and it is just packed with Hamiltonian goodness. I already had a decent handle on the lyrics, which came with the CD, but there were definitely places where I had misheard a word, or didn't know who was speaking, or the context of what was happening on stage, and the libretto filled that in nicely. Lin-Manuel's annotations were fascinating, and I wish there'd been more of them. His genius with words and his polymath's range of inspirations are already apparent from the show itself, but there are more allusions that I didn't catch but that he points out in the annotations - everything from Shakespeare to Aladdin to Harry Potter to Les Miserables. (One of the annotations for "Satisfied", which is probably my favorite song, is "Oof. Tryin' to out-Eponine Eponine up in this piece." Hee!) The essays were interesting - I enjoyed learning more about the history and production of the show (regarding tech rehersals: "It looked like Mission Control, if NASA's business was launching rockets full of rapping multiracial actors in colonial garb into space."), but my favorite chapters were the ones about each of the main cast, accompanied by a photo of them in their dressing room. Also, the book itself as a physical object is just amazing - beautiful heavy leather-feeling covers, rough-edged paper, gorgeous photos, etc. (Although whoever decided to print the pages for "It's Quiet Uptown" on black paper with white lettering, instead of the cream paper of the rest of the book, is a monster.)

So basically everything about this book was great. My favorite (unexpected) thing that I got out of it was a behind-the-scenes look at what it's like from an actor's point of view - what characters in the background are whispering to each other while someone else is singing, what it's like to play "It's Quiet Uptown" every night, how frequently Lin loses Hamilton's glasses backstage, etc. The one thing I wish there had been more of is the actual history. This is discussed in some respects, primarily in regards to how it was altered for the play (Angelica married her British gentleman before she'd even met Hamilton, etc.) and there's some historical documents that are reproduced at least in part in this book, but I wanted more. (For example, the book discusses the "comma sexting" that went on between Angelica and Alexander in their letters that's referenced in "Take a Break," but I wanted to see some real examples, damn it!) Oh well, I suppose I'll have to read the actual biography of Hamilton that inspired the show to get the actual history. But for the history of the cultural phenomenon, this book was pretty great. 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Recommendation: Hamilton fans: If you do not already have the Hamiltome, it is well worth the money. If you're not yet a fan, listen to some of the music - don't let the rap scare you away, if you're a musical theater person, and don't let the musical theater scare you away if you're a rap person; there's a good mix of the two - and then, once you are a Hamilton fan, see the first sentence of this recommendation. show less

Nope, not getting any less obsessed any time soon. Like the NPR documentary, the Hamiltome makes very clear that genius takes hard work and doesn’t start out with perfection; also that collaboration is fundamental to making the fruits of genius as tasty as they can be. I liked the idea of interpretation as an American pastime, a musical culture built on standards, “songs meant to be reworked endlessly,” no less than the concept of equality in the Declaration of Independence. Also experimentation, trying everything, as the way the musical was created and also as an American habit. (Unfortunately, there’s also the strain that Churchill identified when he said we’d always do the right thing, after trying everything else, which show more seems to predominate today.) Tidbits: in the choreography, Burr moves in straight lines “because he sees no options,” and Hamilton moves in arcs, “because he sees all possibilities.” Cut from Cabinet Battle #2 were lines about Angelica, cut for better transitioning to the next song but still awesome: Hamilton: “She’s never mentioned you.” Jefferson: “She’s not the type who shares./But since you’re so interested in foreign affairs …” Also, I’m now listening to the Cabinet Battle #3 demo about slavery, and it’s understandable why it was cut—it doesn’t move the story along, as Miranda says, because they didn’t do anything about slavery. Getting to the end, where the black first president meets the first black president, is particularly hard to read now that Trump has been elected, a repudiation by a too-influential minority of everything the musical offers. show less

I love the Hamilton soundtrack, but I'm horrible at understanding lyrics, so I'm so happy to have it all spelled out here for me so I can finally appreciate all the intricate wordplay Miranda has incorporated into one of the greatest musicals of all time. What a wonderful excuse to listen to the soundtrack again and read along. The interstitials smack a little of the "making of" features you find on DVDs (every major player behind the scenes or on the stage gets their special shout-out), but of an extremely high quality.

Ok, I admit it: this may be ridiculous. I did, after all, just finish reading a book about a musical that I haven't yet seen. Although in my defense, the book came courtesy of my truly incredible local library, which never ceases to impress me in its drive to help me never actually pay for stuff.

If you're a normal person, then this probably isn't a good book. If you're obsessed with Hamilton, regardless of whether you've managed to see the show, then this book is quite good. The lyrical annotations are fascinating, as is the peek into the insane world of theater-making and just how much dedication and effort it took to make this show--and indeed, any show--happen.

The book is also a bit too self-congratulatory. I don't know if Hamilton show more is going to change the world, or even do more than shake up Broadway a bit. It's a brilliant musical, but how much of an impact can it make beyond pure entertainment value? It saved Hamilton's image on the ten dollar bill, but I'm not so sure that it can affect meaningful change on a national scale.

The book, by the way, is lovely. Very big, with plenty of pretty pictures. Someone put a lot of thought into the design, much like everything else associated with Hamilton.

As a fan of the show, Hamilton: The Revolution was a lovely peak behind the curtain, and the closest I'll get to seeing the show probably for years. If only I lived in New York. If only tickets weren't a thousand bucks a pop. If only. show less

Amazon recommended this book when I searched for the Hamilton Broadway Soundtrack. Like so many, I was blown away by the stage show (seen on D+) and I wanted…more. This book delivers in spades!

The book is part history of the show, part cast biography and the complete libretto – annotated. It is a perfect mix that kept me turning the pages. Fans of the show will surely love it, but I think anyone who has an appreciation of theatre would enjoy this volume. For me, the annotation was the highlight. The book is laid out chronologically beginning from the origins of the show, Chernow’s biography, through the songwriting, the development phase, casting, off Broadway run through to the Broadway premier, with the libretto interspersed show more throughout. Lin-Manuel comments on every song: on the origin of the lyrics, various couplets, how the song did or did not change, references to hip hop and bits of actual history that did and did not make it into the show, and more. It was a fascinating dive into his creative process, told alongside the show’s development from mixtape to musical.

Oh, and in addition to the excellent content, the book is also physically beautiful. Made to look like an old-world volume, it has a Navy faux leather spine against parchment cream boards, with the gold Hamilton logo on the cover over the title. The pages are thick, with deckle edge, and the chapter titles evoke English as spoken in revolutionary times, in keeping with the theme. Full color and black and white photographs, of the show, the cast and other related images, are found liberally throughout.

Overall, this is a fantastic companion to the show. I would love to see them release the show on bluray in a case designed to complement this book. show less

I bought this in 2016, but didn't get around to reading it until 2020, which is relevant context and a meta participation in the overall theme of the musical: what is a legacy, and how does it change over time?

Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jeremy McCarter worked on documenting the creation of Hamilton from its initial beginning as a mixtape idea in 2008 through the Broadway debut in 2015. The story of behind the scenes is interspersed between the libretto: all text of the musical (including the one scene not in the cast recording because it is spoken dialogue) plus a couple deleted numbers, with footnotes on particular lines for inspiration/samples/etc. What strikes me is that while they acknowledge Hamilton is something special, they also show more recognize this is still in its early years (ha) for a musical- who knows how it will be recontextualized as high school/college performances, or in what the book doesn't predict, a Trump administration. The notes on Reynolds Pamphlet say there's some joy in seeing the line "Never gonna be president now," quoted during the then-election cycle of 2015-2016 but hooboy does that feel like a simpler time. Likewise, ending on Obama's chat with the cast and crew about the belief in stories and how they can change the world with the hope of America's future feels hollow after the horrors that came in the following years. This was also published before the Tony Awards and the wins the show took home, so that isn't covered either (though I can't think of where it'd fit in between songs).

The release of the filmed version in July 2020 on Disney adds another contextual layer- I wonder if someone of these close ups in the book are from the days they filmed close-ups for that original cast recording. The libretto does not describe everything in a scene (a footnote mentions King George III's dance during The Reynolds Pamphlet but it's not a line so barely mentioned in text, and it would be hard to describe all the minute gestures the cast brings to their performances). I don't know what a post-pandemic theater experience looks like, but I'm guessing it will be a while before live performances in person are a thing. Film and books scratch the itch but it's not quite the same as the performers and audience feeding off of each other's energy. show less