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The backlash was inevitable, perhaps, but still...

Posted by:	Delvino 05:25 pm EST 11/03/15
In reply to:	re: The annotated "Hamilton" - EveryLittleChore 01:23 pm EST 11/03/15

..sometimes oddly sour. Baffling. I certainly remember similar responses to other works, in particular (I'm picking but examples) RENT, SPRING AWAKENING, and to a certain extent FUN HOME this past summer. All employ contemporary musical lexicon/idiom; yet all are solid theater pieces, conceived for the stage from the ground up. To members of the naysaying theatrical chatterati, vocally weary of the recycled and re-tooled: all four shows took compelling source material and radically transformed it. After all the kvetching about the juke-boxing of B'way, the need for old school musical theater values, I would hope that HAMILTON would be embraced for being in a grand tradition, even among those less passionate about its brilliant nooks and crannies. If Leonard Bernstein were alive, I will go out on limb and say he might be the first in line to cheer Miranda's masterwork. Certainly it's a worthy descendant of WEST SIDE STORY, to name but one distinctly American piece of musical storytelling among its influences. Of course, I believe a percentage of people buying tickets are racing to get the next big thing, not necessarily invested in the the subject, the musical style, or the advancement of the art form; it doesn't matter, most of them are thrilled and moved. I saw an elderly couple wiping tears after "It's Quiet Uptown." Somebody will always experience any entertainment phenom du jour -- particularly at $600 a pop purchased months in advance -- as overrated.

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Previous:	re: The annotated "Hamilton" - EveryLittleChore 01:23 pm EST 11/03/15
Next:	re: The backlash was inevitable, perhaps, but still... - Ann 05:34 pm EST 11/03/15

Thread:	re: The backlash was inevitable, perhaps, but still... - Ann 05:34 pm EST 11/03/15

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