THE OBAMAS WERE EARLY SUPPORTERS
Credit: CONTRIBUTED
Credit: CONTRIBUTED
On May 12, 2009, President Barack Obama invited Lin-Manuel Miranda to participate in a White House salute to poetry, music and the spoken word. Miranda tested the waters of what would ultimately become the opening number of “Hamilton.” And in her 2018 best-selling memoir “Becoming,” Michelle Obama wrote: “‘Hamilton’ was a musical celebration of America’s history and diversity, recasting our understanding of the roles minorities play in our national story, highlighting the importance of women who’d long been overshadowed by powerful men. I’d seen it off-Broadway and loved it so much that I went to see it again when it hit the big stage. It was catchy and funny, heart swelling and heartbreaking – the best piece of art in any form that I’d ever encountered.”
‘HAMILTON’ CHOREOGRAPHER GREW UP IN CINCINNATI
Credit: CONTRIBUTED
Credit: CONTRIBUTED
Three-time Tony Award-winning choreographer Andy Blankenbuehler is a Cincinnati native, particularly growing up in Pleasant Ridge. He graduated from St. Xavier High School where he appeared in “Godspell,” “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” and “The Wizard of Oz.” His high school production of “Joseph” was also the first show he ever choreographed.
THE SCORE PAYS HOMAGE TO MUSIC LEGENDS
Credit: CONTRIBUTED
Credit: CONTRIBUTED
Shortly after “Hamilton” opened on Broadway in August 2015, musical supervisor and orchestrator Alex Lacamoire discussed various influences and homages within the score with Salon.com: “When I was growing up, I was super into the Beastie Boys; I was super into Black Sheep. There’s a Beastie Boys reference in ‘The Schuyler Sisters’ – at the very beginning, there’s like this really cool, blasty horn thing, that’s in ‘The New Style.’ I’m super into D’Angelo, and there’s something about the groove for ‘Washington on Your Side.’… There’s a moment in ‘My Shot’ where Lin quotes a Mobb Deep song, so as you hear the lyric ‘I’m only 19 but my mind is older,’ there’s a rising line from ‘Shook Ones Part II’ that we wound up putting on the strings as an homage. So, the violins do this little smeary thing under that lyric. ‘You’ll Be Back’ has a bunch of Beatles references in the orchestration, with nods to ‘Mr. Kite,’ ‘Getting Better’ and ‘Penny Lane.’”
THE CRAZY SPEED OF THE SCORE
Statistics guru Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight calculated the speed of the songs in “Hamilton” and discovered the show would last four to six hours if it were sung at the pace of other Broadway shows. For example, in “Satisfied,” Angelica Schuyler (Renée Elise Goldsberry) says 121 words in 24 seconds in the fastest verse, which is five words per second.
‘HAMILTON’ HAD ITS OWN ‘JEOPARDY!’ CATEGORY
Credit: JOAN MARCUS
Credit: JOAN MARCUS
You know a musical has hit the mainstream when it becomes its own “Jeopardy!” category, and that’s exactly what happened to “Hamilton” on Dec. 9, 2015. Among the clues were: “A highlight of Act 1 is our staging of this climactic Virgnia battle of 1781 in which Hamilton led an attack; it’s where the British ultimately surrounded the War.” Answer: Yorktown.
HOW TO GO
What: “Hamilton: An American Musical”
Where: Schuster Center, Second and Main Streets, Dayton
When: Jan. 26-Feb. 6; Jan. 26 at 7:30 p.m.; Jan. 27 at 1 p.m. and 8 p.m.; Jan. 28 at 8 p.m.; Jan. 29 at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m.; Jan. 30 at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m.; Feb. 1 at 7:30 p.m.; Feb. 2 at 7:30 p.m.; Feb. 3 at 7:30 p.m.; Feb. 4 at 8 p.m.; Feb. 5 at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m.; and Feb. 6 at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m.
Length: 2 hours and 50 minutes including a 20-minute intermission
Cost: $49-$349
Tickets: Call Ticket Center Stage at 937-228-3630 or visit daytonlive.org
Lottery: Forty tickets will be available for every performance of “Hamilton” for $10 each. The next ticket lottery is currently open through Thursday, Jan. 27 at noon for tickets to performances Tuesday, Feb. 1 through Sunday, Feb. 6. To enter, use the official app for “Hamilton” now available for all IOS and Android devices in the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store (http://hamiltonmusical.com/app). For complete details, visit daytonlive.org/hamilton-lottery
COVID-19 protocol: Masks are required for patrons over the age of 6
FYI: Be sure to visit daytonlive.org to stay informed of any potential “Hamilton” cancellations during its run.
About the Author
