Hamilton & In The Heights

hamilton & in the heights

i understand and often agree with the grievances people have with hamilton for perpetuating certain inaccurate narratives but i still love the way it intertwines and builds off of in the heights.

in the heights was probably on lmm's mind in 2008 when he read chernow's biography, since it won the tony for best musical that july. i can see why he was instantly taken in: the potential parallels are too good to be true. a biography about an immigrant from the caribbean, heavily emphasizing family or lack thereof. chernow's narrative (because he does create a narrative) is such a good parallel and foil to the previous musical it's actually crazy.

usnavi: the 21th century new yorker who yearns to return to the dominican republic. an orphan, but one that grew up in a strong community with love and support. family is incredibly important - he wants to find his roots. by the end of the musical, he realizes that he contributes to his culture and family's legacy by remaining in washington heights, keeping stories alive as their steady, dependable streetlight.

hamilton (musical characterized, not the historical figure): the west indian who yearned to get off of his island, and finds himself in revolutionary new york, never to look back. an orphan, but one shamed for illegitimacy. obsessed with legacy, but his own legacy, because what else does he have? he doesn't have "roots", a true community. constantly struggling between private and public duty. after his death, his wife picks up the mantle to protect their legacy, both the familial/personal and the public achievements.

i'd even argue that you can see hints of in the heights characters in hamilton. vanessa's "it won't be long now" would fit right into a hamilton prequel musical about his time on st. croix when he was still dreaming of a way out.

one musical feels burdened by the things that came before, usnavi's parents, nina's parents (and their parents), etc. etc. all passing something down to the next generation. hamilton seems to be burdened by the future and history as a concept - the weight of creating something entirely new, if that makes sense. it's only in the second act that loved ones take a forefront: philip & eliza during that tragedy. during the duel, we get theodosia (this man will not make an orphan of my daughter) and the long list of people hamilton thinks about (my son is on the other side, he's with my mother...washington is watching from the other side...eliza) right before the bullet gets him.

both are american stories, but there's clearly a very personal, continuing thread between them. i find myself willing to overlook certain issues if i think of hamilton as less an accurate retelling of a particular historical figure, but more about the themes that can be delivered effectively through that figure. i started this ramble with a point but i forgot it.

i got my hands on the jewish world of alexander hamilton after listening to its episode of ben franklin's world.

for now i've only skimmed and don't have a solid stance on hamilton's potential jewish childhood, but i do think that the author brings up a noteworthy point about the discussions of ham's economic plan as farmers vs. elite money men. Porwancher argues that the marketplace "was more of a meritocracy than the courtroom, statehouse, or college", as many american jews were indeed barred from higher education, legal or governmental positions, etc. and thus gravitated towards trade and banking. it definitely adds some nuance to the idea that one economic sector is decidedly elite and/or corrupt in consideration of institutional and social bias against a prominent portion of its members.

i haven't thought much about this aspect, so the book's interesting to me. does anyone have any thoughts? maybe someone more well-versed in jewish history or economics would have more context.

i was thinking of anime eyes like this lmfao

i stumbled on this shot from dune pt 2 and i'm wondering if hamilton's eyes were somewhere around this color - not anime purple, but intense blue and you can definitely see why they might be called deep azure or even violet

my favorite group look was 780223 when they all came out to greet von steuben?? coordinated the amount of powder and everything, really wish they brought that look back because everyone slayed those gray edges

i saw that post on how we can talk about our historical blorbos like kpop stans and

#FreeHamiltonFromWashington

#WashingtonApologizeToHamilton

@/georgewashington stop stifling your best aide's creativity and passion, you are hurting our baby boy and it's going to hurt you as well. all he's ever done is fight for this cause and this is how you and the army repay him? we need to protect alexander.

please don't listen to akgaes or antis, #washingtoncamp is no real family and it's only setting the group's ace up for failure. first they pass him over so that #johnlaurens can go to france even though he's already got so many schedules planned and now #washington is outright refusing to give our boy a command.

the command distribution is not fair. alexander deserves better than to be shunted off to the side of the group. TREAT YOUR AIDES FAIRLY.

if you want to help pls buy as many copies of hamilton's pamphlets as you can, keep spreading them. the newspaper sales help a lot.

HAMILTON WORLD DOMINATION!!

mind is like an 18th century man trying to figure out what ___pilled and ____maxxed means and i'm on my way to rawdog an exam

To the dark I said, "Pour,"

And forgot to say, "When."

From Blossoms by the inimitable Amazing Devil.