Hamilton

 

In 2015, my daughter, Rachel, was lucky enough to get tickets to see previews of a soon-to-open Broadway show, Hamilton. She raved about it, but Carol and I never got a chance to make the trip to see it before it went into eternal sold-out status. We couldn't even get tickets to see the touring company when it came to D.C.

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Thanks to Disney+ (and, let's face it, quarantining during COVID-19, which prompted Disney to release it), we recently watched the beautifully filmed performance of the original cast production. If you're interested in seeing the show, it's definitely worth it to get Disney+ for a month.

Everything about the show was amazing. The cast, the concept, the music, the dancing, the stage production. Hamilton is brilliant, accessible, vibrant, and thought-provoking. I've seen a few Broadway shows and a lot of community theater, both pro and amateur, and Hamilton was easily the best show I've ever seen - absolutely deserving of all the praise. 

One thing left me sad. And I don't like bringing Trump into this, but our current political situation affects everything. What left me sad was the understanding that this type of great art doesn't flourish under repressive regimes. Hamilton illuminates history and America in ways that authoritarians view as subversive and dangerous. If we get another four years of Trump, the administration will continue to attack anything they view as insufficiently loyal to the Trump Regime. In fact, they'll most likely accelerate their attacks. Things will get a lot worse.

You can't create great public art in an environment of oppression, diminishing rights, violence, hatred and anti-intellectualism. People will continue to create subversive art, but it will be pushed underground as it becomes more and more dangerous to express oneself. Mainstream art will become subservient to the political will of the authoritarian regime. There's a reason the Nazis didn't produce great art.

You may think that it can't happen here, but it's happening right now. 

We have one chance to stop it -- by voting these bastards out and doing whatever we can to stop Republicans from stealing the election. And we damn better well do it, because I want to see more great shows like Hamilton.