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New York Times
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- New York Times
The ‘Hamilton' Effect: 10 Revolutionary Years on Broadway
The American Revolution lasted seven years. 'Hamilton,' the groundbreaking musical about one of its unsung heroes, has now outlasted it. It has also spawned a revolution of its own. Little on Broadway looks the way it did on Aug. 6, 2015, when 'Hamilton' opened; that's what happens when a show runs 10 years, sells more than four million tickets and earns more than $1 billion — not counting tours, international productions and the 2020 movie. And though some predictions about 'the 'Hamilton' effect' have not panned out, the ones that did have dramatically altered musical theater, affecting casting, content, marketing, pricing, outreach and even stardom. Here are nine ways of looking at the changes that Lin-Manuel Miranda and his colleagues wrought; please share your own insights in the comments section. After all, as 'Hamilton' says, 'History has its eyes on you' — and now vice versa. Race-Conscious Casting To study the portraits of our founding fathers and their known associates is to face an unceasing parade of white men. 'Hamilton' had other ideas. Burnishing the bona fides of the musical as a hip-hop narrative and making a place in the show (and in American history) for the likes of Miranda and friends and collaborators such as Daveed Diggs and Christopher Jackson, the production cast actors of color in the roles of America's forebears and some of the women who loved them. This casting underlines the idea of the United States as a nation of immigrants (even though the lead actors were not themselves immigrants) and questions the inclusivity and exclusivity of what these white men accomplished. 'Hamilton' is certainly not the first show to employ race-conscious casting (a 'photo-negative' 'Othello,' starring Patrick Stewart, is an early example), but this move has proved unusually influential, even as its playful, trenchant achievement has rarely been equaled. — Alexis Soloski New Music Much as 'Hair' supposedly did with rock music of the 1960s, 'Hamilton' did with the sounds of the new century. Or so critics said, predicting that hip-hop would soon merge into mainstream musical theater. It didn't: We had misunderstood what Miranda was up to. His songs for 'Hamilton' (as for 'In the Heights,' which preceded it) certainly include hip-hop beats and rap-style lyrics, along with hat tips to stars like Jay-Z and the Notorious B.I.G., but they aren't pop any more than 'Hair' was. They are fully theater songs, filtered through an imagination that had long since absorbed Gilbert and Sullivan, Sondheim, Kander and Ebb. The lyrics do pretty much what they do in 'Fiddler on the Roof': insistently point the ear to key content. You hear it even in the title character's first utterance, linking the name 'Alexander Hamilton' to the phrase 'a million things I haven't done' — a wonky rhyme by traditional standards but a dead-perfect rhythmic echo that bonds the man to his ambition. (Say it out loud.) 'Hamilton' may have brought new tools to the craft, and succeeded where other efforts, like the Tupac musical 'Holler if Ya Hear Me,' failed, but it didn't start a trend. It's too wrapped up in the old one for that, and too singular to be copied. — Jesse Green That'll Be $849, Please. It's hard to remember just how unhinged the lust for 'Hamilton' tickets grew when the musical was at the height of its cultural cachet. For Miranda's final Broadway performance, in July 2016, scalpers were asking an average of $10,900 for a single seat. The public's willingness to pay serious money to be in the room where the show happened, especially with the original Broadway cast, was supply and demand in action — and the producers wearied of seeing secondary sellers rake in tens of millions of dollars on the back of the show's success. Nearly a year into the run, hoping to edge scalpers out and keep more of the profits, 'Hamilton' jacked its top ticket price way up, from $475 to a record-setting $849, which seemed to be the sweet spot for scalpers. Smartly, the show paired that change with a promise of a lottery offering 46 tickets at $10 apiece for each performance. But one production breaking a pricing taboo invites others to follow. Bruce Springsteen charged $875 for his Broadway show in 2017, and the Bette Midler revival of 'Hello, Dolly!' that year went even bigger, at $998 — the price 'Hamilton' had charged over the 2016 holidays. So, last season's kerfuffle about $921 tickets for 'Othello,' and $799 seats for 'Good Night, and Good Luck'? 'Hamilton' got there first, and got away with it. — Laura Collins-Hughes Pop Culture Juggernaut Even if you'd never seen a musical, 'Hamilton' was impossible to ignore, from Broadway to the middle of the country and beyond. Celebrities turned out in droves to see the show, including the Obamas, Beyoncé and Jay-Z, Madonna, Jennifer Lopez, Oprah, Emma Watson, Alicia Keys and Lena Dunham. The cast members became stars in their own right: Miranda hosted 'Saturday Night Live' in 2016, and he and others went on to have success on TV and in film and music. 'Weird Al' Yankovic released a polka medley of several songs from the show, 'The Hamilton Polka.' 'The Hamilton Mixtape' featured a who's who of hip-hop and R&B stars — Common, Wiz Khalifa, Nas, Alicia Keys and more — performing songs from the musical. Riffs on the show popped up on popular television series, like 'The Simpsons,' 'Succession,' 'And Just Like That … ' and 'Ted Lasso.' On 'Modern Family,' a parodic version of 'Alexander Hamilton' was recorded as part of a character's college application ('How does an artsy, well-read, child of divorce … '). For the first time in years, a musical's popularity transcended not only New York City, but the theater world. — Sarah Bahr Ham4Ham for the People Tickets were expensive from the start, spurring hundreds of fans to line up outside the Richard Rodgers Theater each day to enter a live lottery for $10 seats. To keep the hopefuls from going stir crazy while waiting, and to thank them for their support, Miranda started Ham4Ham, an informal entertainment that turned him into a kind of showman for the people, a 46th Street Ed Sullivan. But from the first installment — on July 15, 2015, two days after previews began — Ham4Ham was not much about Miranda himself; he was more a host than a star, sharing what he called the theater's front stoop with 'Hamilton' cast members, performers from other shows and even the Classical Theater of Harlem singing Christmas carols in the cold. Sometimes using taped elements, and going fully virtual during the pandemic, Ham4Ham has been produced intermittently ever since, most recently on May 30, when two Norma Desmonds blew the street down with nothing but moxie and a bullhorn. What has made the series so joyful, and also a brilliant marketing tactic, is just that combo of maximal showbiz and minimal means. It's a reminder that Broadway is not just a business but a neighborhood, and sometimes even a street party. — Jesse Green A Political Legacy One of the earliest public glimpses of 'Hamilton' came several months after Barack Obama's inauguration in 2009, when Miranda delivered the first track off his Alexander Hamilton concept album at a White House poetry night. He returned to the White House in 2016 with a full cast for a performance that included 'One Last Time' — in which George Washington, played then by Christopher Jackson, prepares to step aside — as Obama, in the last year of his presidency, nodded along. Miranda wasn't looking to write a partisan show, he told The New York Times in 2015; the musical attracted public officials from across the political spectrum, including Bill and Hillary Clinton, Dick Cheney, Ted Cruz and Bernie Sanders. But even with a 250-year-old plot, the show and its themes opened a door for more contemporary debates: Mike Pence's attendance when he was vice president-elect prompted an onstage plea from the cast 'to work on behalf of all of us.' (President-elect Donald J. Trump tweeted the next morning that Pence had been 'harassed.') And as the Broadway run stretches into a second Trump term, the show has canceled plans to perform next year at the Kennedy Center in Washington following the president's sweeping changes at the institution. But 10 years in, even when the partisan tangles extend offstage, the underlying political legacy of 'Hamilton' remains one not of opposition, but of energetic optimism: a symbol for the Obama years as 'Camelot' was for the Kennedys. — Nancy Coleman A New Era for Live Capture A live capture of 'Hamilton' premiered on Disney+ in July 2020. Four years later, the musical's Broadway and London productions are still going strong, and it has tours in North America and Britain. First, 'Hamilton' put an end to the idea that Broadway was allergic to hip-hop; then it killed the long-held belief that making a show available for streaming would kill its live prospects. Not only that, but 'Hamilton' also firmly established that a live capture would make people want to see the stage version more, not less. Of course, it helped that its producers had the funds for a high-quality capture, and that they filmed most of the original 'Hamilton' cast at the show's Broadway home, the Richard Rodgers Theater, in June 2016. Still, releasing a live film has worked for other productions since, most notably 'Come From Away,' 'Heathers: The Musical' and 'Frozen: The Musical.' Any exposure is good exposure nowadays, and fans seduced by streaming can morph into ticket-buying customers. The marketing wheel never stops turning. — Elisabeth Vincentelli An Ongoing Influx of Talent You change a field by changing what possibility looks like. Of all the ways that 'Hamilton' has altered the theater, probably the most radical is in its elevation of a critical mass of brilliant young actors of color — and not only in the original Broadway cast. That fact landed with me viscerally when I saw Jordan Donica as Freddy Eynsford-Hill in the 2018 Broadway revival of 'My Fair Lady,' and read in the program that he'd played Lafayette and Jefferson — the Daveed Diggs roles — on tour. Well, no wonder he was fantastic. I also think of the British actor Jamael Westman, who was 25 when he played Hamilton in the original London cast. He told me, in an interview then, about 'the bite back' that he and some friends encountered in drama school when they decided to put on an all-Black play, having seen so many all-white ones. Had 'Hamilton' not become a monster hit, it would still have been one of the relatively rare musicals with multiple capacious and challenging roles for performers of color, mostly men. But its prospering has made it a vehicle for an ongoing influx of talent. It has seeded the field with a wealth of artistry. If the theater has any sense, we will see the flowering of that for decades to come. — Laura Collins-Hughes Miranda's Post-'Hamilton' Career You might have expected that the man once credited with 'changing the language of musicals' would have continued to imprint the musical-theater canon. But his lone Broadway songwriting credit in the past 10 years is additional lyrics for the stage adaptation of 'New York, New York.' If one thing dominates Miranda's post-'Hamilton' career, it's his enduring, multipronged relationship with Disney, a company hardly known for poking the artistic bear. Over the past decade, his Disney contributions include voice work on 'DuckTales,' writing songs for the animated features 'Moana' and 'Encanto,' the latter of which spawned the chart-topping 'We Don't Talk About Bruno' and the Academy Award-nominated 'Dos Oruguitas,' proving that he has not lost his hit-making touch. If anything, this confirms that Miranda has always been, in formal and aesthetic terms, more conservative than firebrand. But no matter how far he's wandered, he is particularly inspired by New York City, which is why it was encouraging to see him back on home turf last year, when he and Eisa Davis released the concept album 'Warriors,' which gender-switched the film 'The Warriors,' from 1979. A stage version would be intriguing: After all, flipping roles has worked for Miranda before. — Elisabeth Vincentelli
News18
09-06-2025
- Entertainment
- News18
Tony Awards 2025: Special Moments, Highlights, Red Carpet Glam, More WATCH
Daveed Diggs and Bonnie Milligan brought star power and style to the 78th Tony Awards red carpet in New York. The glamorous night celebrated Broadway's finest, with performances from hit musicals and a special appearance by the original Hamilton cast. The ceremony aired live on CBS and streamed on Paramount+, with Cynthia Erivo as the host. Watch for more news | entertainment news live | latest bollywood news | bollywood | news18 | n18oc_moviesLiked the video? Please press the thumbs up icon and leave a comment. Subscribe to Showsha YouTube channel and never miss a video: Showsha on Instagram: Showsha on Facebook: Showsha on X: Showsha on Snapchat: entertainment and lifestyle news and updates on:
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'Hamilton' Original Cast Reunites at 2025 Tony Awards & Fans Are Saying the Same Thing
'Hamilton' Original Cast Reunites at 2025 Tony Awards & Fans Are Saying the Same Thing originally appeared on Parade. The original cast of Hamilton reunited for the first time in nine years at the 2025 Tony Awards—and fans of the beloved Broadway musical could hardly "wait for it." On Sunday, June 8, the 78th Annual Tony Awards host Wicked star kicked off at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. 🎬 SIGN UP for Parade's Daily newsletter to get the latest pop culture news & celebrity interviews delivered right to your inbox 🎬 In honor of Hamilton's 10th anniversary, the original cast members—including , Phillipa Soo, , , Daveed Diggs, Jasmine Cephas Jones, Okieriete Onaodowan and Christopher Jackson—came together for an unforgettable performance at the 2025 Tonys. Other OG Hamilton stars at the Tonys included: Ariana DeBose, Carleigh Bettiol, Andrew Chappelle, Alysha Deslorieux, Sydney James Harcourt, Neil Haskell,Sasha Hutchings, Thayne Jasperson, Stephanie Klemons, Morgan Marcell, Javier Muñoz, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Jon Rua, Austin Smith, Seth Stewart, Betsy Struxness, Ephraim Sykes and Voltaire Wade-Greene. The original Hamilton cast members delivered an epic performance of a medley of songs from the hit show—including "Nonstop," "My Shot," "The Schuyler Sisters," "Guns and Ships," "You'll Be Back," "The Room Where It Happens," "Satisfied," and more. Broadway enthusiasts who weren't in the "room where it happened" took to X to share their reactions. And they didn't hold back with their excitement and nostalgia. One fan declared, "It's crazy how the first notes played and I got the biggest damn smile on my face. Oh, Hamilton! #Tonys." Another exclaimed, "I remember watching Hamilton at the Tonys nine years ago and here I am now. I feel old." Someone else echoed, "Hamilton being 10 years old makes me feel so old like omg I might as well retire #tonys." A different X user wrote, "HAMILTON AT THE TONYS IM SCREAMING." However, may thought Anthony Ramos was missing from the performance—and viewers couldn't help but wonder why. One fan pointed out, "Wait. Anthony Ramos is there but wasn't included in the Hamilton reunion??" Another echoed, "Anthony Ramos not getting a special moment in the Hamilton reunion is so sjdjfjfjfg." "Yet another fan promised, "Anthony Ramos i will never forgive u for showing up to the tony awards and not participating in the Hamilton performance YOUR MISSING PRESENCE WAS NOTICED." However, fans finally did spot him after a re-watch or two, and some still weren't pleased. One X user complained, "Anthony Ramos actually showing up for the Hamilton performance just to be constantly cut out of frame and the only man with a main role without a solo… omg." Another agreed, writing, "Ariana DeBose getting more screen time as the Bullet than Anthony Ramos is dastardly. Levels of pettiness from the Hamilton team perhaps never before seen on TV." In 2016, Hamilton snagged a record-breaking 16 Tony nominations, winning 11 of them, including the nod for Best Musical. The Tony Awards kicked off at 8 p.m. ET on CBS and will be available to stream the following day on Paramount+. Next: Ben Platt Mourns Devastating Family Loss: "We Will Love You Forever" 'Hamilton' Original Cast Reunites at 2025 Tony Awards & Fans Are Saying the Same Thing first appeared on Parade on Jun 9, 2025 This story was originally reported by Parade on Jun 9, 2025, where it first appeared.
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Tonys 2025: Hamilton's Original Broadway Cast Reunites for Sleek Medley — Watch
The audience of the 2025 Tony Awards was in the room where it happened Sunday — and by 'it,' we mean a reunion of Hamilton's original Broadway cast. The ensemble came together to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the blockbuster show, which won 11 Tonys — including Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical and Best Original Score Written for the Theatre — in 2016. More from TVLine Matlock Season 2: Is Matty's Marriage in Trouble? EP Previews 'Negotiations' Ahead Tony Awards 2025: How to Watch Broadway's Biggest Night Online Fire Country Season 4: Max Thieriot Worries Bode Will Be 'Very Broken' If [Spoiler] Has in Fact Died - WATCH Hamilton: 10 Moments to Revisit From the Disney+ Film View List In addition to Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, Sunday's performance featured Carleigh Bettiol, Andrew Chappelle, Ariana DeBose, Alysha Deslorieux, Daveed Diggs, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Jonathan Groff, Sydney James Harcourt, Neil Haskell, Sasha Hutchings, Christopher Jackson, Thayne Jasperson, Jasmine Cephas Jones, Stephanie Klemons, Morgan Marcell, Javier Muñoz, Leslie Odom, Jr., Okieriete Onaodowan, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Jon Rua, Austin Smith, Phillipa Soo, Seth Stewart, Betsy Struxness, Ephraim Sykes and Voltaire Wade-Greene. Instead of performing one or two numbers from the show, the cast performed a whole bunch of them, remixed into a nonstop medley that included snippets of 'Non-Stop,' 'The Schuyler Sisters' and 'The Room Where It Happened.' And instead of wearing the fawn-colored costumes that have become synonymous with the musical, Miranda & Co. wore sleek black modern (and fancy) get-ups. (Except for Groff, who channeled King George in a red jacket.) The Original Cast of Hamilton performing at #TonyAwards!!! HAPPY #HAMILTEN 💛 — ky (@itsyoohopia) June 9, 2025 Broadway enthusiasts will remember that the cast performed 'Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down)' at the 2016 Tonys. If you're feeling nostalgic, you can watch that performance here. Press PLAY on the video above to watch the performance, then hit the comments with your thoughts! Best of TVLine 'Missing' Shows, Found! Get the Latest on Ahsoka, Monarch, P-Valley, Sugar, Anansi Boys and 25+ Others Yellowjackets Mysteries: An Up-to-Date List of the Series' Biggest Questions (and Answers?) The Emmys' Most Memorable Moments: Laughter, Tears, Historical Wins, 'The Big One' and More
Yahoo
31-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Original ‘Hamilton' Cast to Reunite for Tony Awards Performance
The original cast of 'Hamilton' will be back in the room where it happens. That's right, Lin-Manuel Miranda and his ensemble of revolutionaries will reunite for a special performance at the 78th Tony Awards in honor of the show's 10th anniversary. More from Variety Michelle Williams on Returning to Broadway With 'Death Becomes Her,' Her Tony Snub and Beyoncé's Backstage Visit Broadway's New Tony Icons: How Cole Escola, Sadie Sink and Fina Strazza Define the Theater Awards Race Why Bob Odenkirk Has Wanted to Do 'Glengarry Glen Ross' for Decades In addition to Miranda, who wrote the book and music for the show in addition to starring in it, returning performers will include Daveed Diggs, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Jonathan Groff, Christopher Jackson, Phillipa Soo and Leslie Odom, Jr. Other members of the original contingent who you should expect to see on Tony night include Carleigh Bettiol, Andrew Chappelle, Ariana DeBose, Alysha Deslorieux, Sydney James Harcourt, Neil Haskell, Sasha Hutchings, Thayne Jasperson, Jasmine Cephas Jones, Stephanie Klemons, Morgan Marcell, Javier Muñoz, Okieriete Onaodowan, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Jon Rua, Austin Smith,Seth Stewart, Betsy Struxness, Ephraim Sykes and Voltaire Wade-Greene. No word yet on what number or numbers they will perform, but there are many showstoppers to choose from, including 'My Shot,' 'Wait for It,' 'Satisfied' and 'You'll Be Back.' 'Hamilton' was a Tony Awards juggernaut, winning 11 prizes, including the statue for best musical. It also won Grammys, Oliviers and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The show was filmed and later released on Disney+ in 2020 at the height of the pandemic, where it became a streaming hit. A decade later, 'Hamilton' remains one of Broadway's hottest tickets and routinely plays to sell-out crowds. Odom Jr. recently announced he will reprise his role as Aaron Burr in the show from Sept. 9 to Nov. 23. Best of Variety 'Harry Potter' TV Show Cast Guide: Who's Who in Hogwarts? New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week Emmy Predictions: Talk/Scripted Variety Series - The Variety Categories Are Still a Mess; Netflix, Dropout, and 'Hot Ones' Stir Up Buzz
