I am admittedly someone who gets in moods where “crazy obsessed” would be the only way to describe it. Granted, I haven’t felt “crazy obsessed” for a while, but recently Hamilton made its way into life. Now I’ve been aware (as most have) of Hamilton just under a year. I knew of its existence and I knew people who saw it and thought it was brilliant.
I believed every bit of hype, for when hype is that unanimous it’s pretty damn hard to ignore.
I relegated my life to not seeing it until some time during 2020, but I was holding out on buying the cast album because I was having the internal debate of wanting to see and hear it simultaneously. About two months ago I gave up that thought, because well… like I said 2020 is a long way away and good music is good music.
I purchased the cast album at that time and I’ve listened to it in its entirety most days since. There hasn’t been a day since the cast album found my hands that I don’t listen to at least one song from it. It’s THAT good.
I love it in content, in prose, in theme, in voice. I just love it. It speaks to my soul in such a life affirming way. I ache during ‘Wait for It’, ‘Burn’ and ‘It’s Quiet Uptown’ (tears every time. every. time.) – I am joyous during ‘My Shot’ and ‘What Did I Miss’ and still get goosebumps during ‘Yorktown’ (every. time.)
Perhaps what surprises me most having immersed myself in Hamilton is what a sympathetic character I find Aaron Burr to be. Or maybe that I now envision Christopher Jackson and Christopher Jackson only as George Washington (who is the imposter on the $1 bill?)
The lessons permeate down to my bones- there are pieces in it that I carry with me. They’ve become mantras to a soul that sometimes feels a little lost, a little small in the grand scheme of this life.
‘I am the one thing in life I can control. I am inimitable, I am an original’ has become a calling card for someone who deals with anxiety in day to day life.
‘You have no control who lives, who dies, who tells your story.’ becomes a cadence that can be repeated when life feels larger than you could ever imagine.
And somehow ‘death doesn’t discriminate between the sinners and the saints. It takes and it takes and it takes, and we keep living anyway. We rise and we fall and we break and we make our mistakes and if there’s a reason I’m still alive when everyone who loves me has died- I’m willing to wait for it’ becomes everything.
I am so thankful that I’ve now seen it twice and brought it to people in my life that may have put it on the back burner if I was not so boisterous in my adoration for it.
It saves me a little every day and I’m so immensely grateful for Lin-Manuel Miranda and the cast for this wonderful piece of art that lightens my soul on the regular.
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