The Unenthusiastic Critic's hatred of musicals faces its ultimate test, as Michael and Nakea return from a long hiatus to experience Hamilton for the first time.
Lin-Manuel Miranda's smash Broadway hip-hop history lesson has seduced almost all the critics, broken almost all the records, and won nearly all the awards. But it has also been met with some backlash, including accusations that it is using black actors and music to erase people of color and whitewash America's troubling founding fathers.
Nakea hates musicals, loves hip-hop, and distrusts the Disneyfication of history. Can even Miranda's amazing cast and catchy tunes possibly make her love a Broadway show about slave-holding white dudes? Join us for a lively discussion of who lives, who dies, and who tells the stories.
Program
0:00: Prologue: from Episode 49
01:29: Cultural Osmosis: Pre-Viewing Discussion
15:41: Interlude: Original Trailer
16:35: The Verdict: Post-Viewing Discussion
1:15:00: Outro and Next Week's Movie
1:16:16: Outtake
Notes and Links
—Movie Reviewed: Hamilton (dir. Thomas Kail, Disney, 2020)
—Prologue from The Unenthusiastic Critic Episode 49: "Singin' in the Rain," January 9, 2019.
—Links and Sources: "How Scalpers Make Their Millions with Hamilton," Tiff Fehr, New York Times; "Young Rebels Changing History and Theater," Ben Brantley, New York Times; "Hamilton" (Review), David Cote, Time Out; "‘Hamilton’ is smart, inventive and wildly energetic, but not revolutionary" and "Lin-Manuel Miranda creates an ambitious musical portrait with ‘Hamilton’", Elisabeth Vincentelli, New York Post; "Making The Hamilton Mixtape: Lin-Manuel Miranda explains the stories behind the songs," Isabella Bedenharn, Entertainment Weekly; “Hamilton: the Musical: Black Actors Dress Up like Slave Traders…and It’s Not Halloween," Ishmael Reed, Counterpunch; "Ishmael Reed Tries to Undo the Damage Hamilton Has Wrought, Nawal Arjini, The Nation; "A Hamilton Skeptic on Why the Show Isn’t As Revolutionary As It Seems," Rebecca Onion, Slate.
—Find additional episodes, leave a comment, or make a donation to support the podcast at unaffiliatedcritic.com.
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—"Warm Duck Shuffle" by Arne Huseby is licensed under CC BY 3.0.
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1 thought on “HAMILTON (2020)”
Great to have you back, and fascinating discussion.
On the issue of George Washington, while the play doesn't address his ownership of slaves directly, watch, in the final scene, his contrite reaction in the background to the future Eliza's line, "I speak out against slavery."