Book Review: Hamilton: The Revolution by Lin-Manuel Miranda

Hamilton: The Revolution

by Jeremy McCarter, Lin-Manuel Miranda
Published: April 12, 2016
Genres: Non-fiction
Format: Hardcover (285 pages)
Source: Library

Lin-Manuel Miranda's groundbreaking musical Hamilton is as revolutionary as its subject, the poor kid from the Caribbean who fought the British, defended the Constitution, and helped to found the United States. Fusing hip-hop, pop, R&B, and the best traditions of theater, this once-in-a-generation show broadens the sound of Broadway, reveals the storytelling power of rap, and claims our country's origins for a diverse new generation.
Hamilton: The Revolution gives readers an unprecedented view of both revolutions, from the only two writers able to provide it. Miranda and Jeremy McCarter, a cultural critic and theater artist who was involved in the project from its earliest stages--"since before this was even a show," according to Miranda--trace its development from an improbable perfor­mance at the White House to its landmark opening night on Broadway six years later. In addition, Miranda has written more than 200 funny, revealing footnotes for his award-winning libretto, the full text of which is published here.
Their account features photos by the renowned Frank Ockenfels and veteran Broadway photographer Joan Marcus; exclusive looks at notebooks and emails; interviews with Questlove, Stephen Sond­heim, leading political commentators, and more than 40 people involved with the production; and multiple appearances by Presi­dent Obama himself. The book does more than tell the surprising story of how a Broadway musical became a national phenomenon: It demonstrates that America has always been renewed by the brash upstarts and brilliant outsiders, the men and women who don't throw away their shot.

I loved all the footnotes and insights to the inspiration behind the musical Hamilton in this book.  My favorite useless-but-fun insight was learning that the song “You’ll Be Back” was inspired by the Beatles and then Lin-Manuel actually got to meet a real Beatle!

Flying high on getting to see Hamilton on stage a few months ago, I wanted to relive the magic again. So, I decided to listen to the music as I read along with the lyrics.

It took a long time to read Hamilton: The Revolution that way, but it was so much fun.  While reading the book and listening to the lyrics at the same time, I came across my first misheard lyric. I knew there would be lots of behind the scenes stuff to geek out over, but I was not expecting to find out I had misheard some of the lyrics. For example:

• My lyrics: “tradin’ sugar cane and wanting all the things he can’t afford.”
• Actual lyrics: “tradin’ sugar cane and rum and all the things he can’t afford.”

Second example:

• My lyrics: The entire song of “H–pless” (What are they saying??? Hupless? Hapless? Hipless? This is English, right??) (5 minutes later)  Oh!! They’re saying “Hopeless”! Like hopelessly in love!!  Aw how cute.
• Actual lyrics: Helpless

The main reason I could not figure out what they were saying for the whole song as I was sitting there in the theater was because I had deliberately not listened to any of the songs beforehand.  In the past, I’ve listened to broadway songs in advance and without the context of the play, I don’t usually enjoy them.  I thought Hamilton would be like a traditional broadway musical where there are speaking parts and songs.  (When I told everyone how surprised I was ((in a good way)) that they sung the whole time in Hamilton, I learned I was probably the last muggle on earth to find that out.)

I actually didn’t have to read this book to figure out that second misheard lyric.  I realized it when I bought the album and thought, “When did they sing about being helpless??? OOOOOHHHHHH.” Even knowing the lyrics now, I will still sometimes hear or even sing them the way I first heard them.

I was delighted when I got to the section that explained why the whole thing was sung. (The music nerd in me was convinced that singing the whole time meant it was an opera.  Based on my google searches, it’s actually a sung-through musical which seems like a technicality to me.  As far as I can tell, the only difference between a sung-through musical and an opera is that there is more dancing in the musical.  And I guess Hamilton the Opera sounds lame.  And rap music definitely doesn’t seem like it fits in the opera genre, either. TL;DR Hamilton is amazing and defies all labels. Moving on.)  According to the book, singing in a musical the whole times goes against a tradition that was started by Rogers and Hammerstein in 1940.  The reason Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote it that way was because he felt “everyday speech couldn’t sustain the energy of rapped lyrics. (pg 88)”

This isn’t technically a misheard lyric, but there was one detail I missed as I listened to Hamilton. (Probably not surprising considering there are over 20,000 words in Hamilton.)  In the song “Yorktown,” Hamilton made them take the bullets out of their guns so they don’t give away their surprise attack.  Hamilton was nothing if not thorough.  And yep, that really happened.  Thank you, footnote.

Speaking of being thorough–they paid crazy attention to detail in the production of Hamilton.  They reprinted actual maps and newspapers from the time.  They used real personalized wax seals for Hamilton and Washington.  I felt like this was a fitting way to further show tribute to Alexander Hamilton since he also obsessed over details “as miniscule as the color of George Washington’s buttons and his plume (yellow and white, respectively). (pg. 133)”

This beautiful book has great photos, detailed footnotes throughout the lyrics, and everything you need to know about the making of Hamilton.  If you can’t see the musical on stage, this is the next best thing.  If you’ve seen it and miss it already, this will bring back all the good memories.

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