I’ve heard it said many times that seeing “Hamilton” was “life changing” for the the person. Can you explain how this is so?
I have not seen it, everything I have seen and heard about it is amazing (i.e. the PBS special), but it is difficult for me to imagine that a Broadway play could be life changing for me.
Probably just a dramatic way of saying they enjoyed it. I memorized every lyric in the show, but apart from all the time spent doing that, my life is unchanged.
I haven’t seen it yet, but your question intrigued me. I googled hamilton “life changing” and some stuff came up. I still didn’t find your answer, just more people using that phrase without explanation. Some stuff did come up stating how it’s changing musical theater and such perhaps that is what they mean. Or maybe they mean the found a new love of musical theater or history from watching the show. Or maybe it is just as GreyKing said…a dramatic way of saying they enjoyed it.
( I didn’t look more than one or two articles and headlines. Maybe someone else more motivated can find someone who actually expands on the idea)
For me it was life changing in that it presented a pivotal time in our nation’s history that I found frankly boring as it was taught to me in middle school and high school, so I never made an effort to make any connections to our history and culture today. It was life changing in that it forced me to realize the extent to which immigrants contributed to our earliest history and how grateful we should be for them, and if I’m honest with myself, have to say I never connected to that until I immersed myself in the story and music; it made me realize that all those wonderful heroes and prolific contributors to our founding were just as flawed as they were courageous and brilliant; they can be both simultaneously. If you were a serious student of history while in school, maybe some of these are not such great revelations, but for many, many people, they are.
I took the immersion a bit further and did read Chernow’s book (before seeing the show), which was fairly dry at some points, but illuminating. It made me realize that, as fed up as we all are with this current election cycle, it’s nothing new for our country… this, and much worse behavior goes all the way back to our founding fathers and their election cycles. That allowed me to take a step back from the doom and gloom, and hyperbole of the current cycle and say to myself, “Yea, I don’t want a certain candidate to win, but if that candidate does, we will survive as a nation, because we’ve survived worse.” And that provides me with short, but powerful moments of clarity and feelings of content, which is difficult to come by these days if I look at social media or turn on the news for even just a few minutes.
When I am so focused on my own daily life and responsibilities, the music and lyrics speak to me in a way (that just a book can’t) that reminds me to honor all those early participants of the revolution (who again, were by far from perfect) who sacrificed so much… so much more than most of us ever will, but we can and should strive to make even a small difference.
And if that isn’t enough, the lyrics, “You have no control who lives, who dies, who tells your story,” sometimes just hits me in the gut in a way that no one can speak those words to me and get the same reaction.
This all being said, I’m sure there are lots of stories out there of people who have sacrificed in similar ways, but no one has yet to come up with the combination of casting, music, lyrics and choreography that reaches across so many cultures all at the same time. It can be any of our stories, or our childrens’.
A couple of weeks ago, one of our local libraries hosted a forum with one of the entertainment critics with the Chicago Tribune, and I went. I’d say he’s in his 40s or so, and says he averages about one play a night, so he’s seen his share over the years, and has worked for all kinds of national entertainment publications as a critic. He predicted this will be the greatest artistic endeavor undertaken in his lifetime. Never has a musical motivated so many children and teenagers to immerse themselves in a key period of our nation’s history, and for that, I am so thankful that LMM and his collaborators wrote this. And I think as parents we should be grateful for anything that touches our kids in such a (almost global) way and piques their curiosity. I’ve seen a fair number of Broadway shows, but none have ever spoken to me in this way. At any given moment, depending on my mood, I could find a song on the soundtrack that speaks to that particular mood.
It’s so late right now, and my thoughts are not coming out as clearly as I’d like, so this is just a start for me. But just to be clear, anyone who knows me knows that I am about the biggest The Sound of Music nerd there is… I’ve seen the movie hundreds of times - been to Austria just so I could do the SOM tour - seen the musical produced several times professionally. But given the choice of the two, I’d now pick Hamilton over SOM any day. I’m not trying to say there aren’t a lot of other wonderful productions being done, but none that draw me in like this one.
@teriwtt well done. I watched the PBS special twice, texting with a friend during the tv show, and posted on Facebook everyone should watch the PBS show.
One of the band members, from The Roots, said the play was “life changing” and Jimmy Fallon said that after two songs he looked around the audience to confirm he was seeing a most “spectacular” event.
@VaBluebird love the question you pose, and @teriwtt what an excellent answer!
I can’t wait to see it when it’s more affordable. Thanks for the explanation @teriwtt . I was watching the sitcom “odd mom out” and they had a show about how life changing it was…comedic spin of course.
@teriwtt said it so well, but here are my thoughts. D and I saw Hamilton in May- we were sucked in by the story- the music, the actors, and the history. For me, it is not just one thing. It’s everything. As far as we have come as a country, we still have some of the same types of problems we had over 200 years ago.
My D read the Ron Chernow book because of this play, became interested in history because of this play and has broadened her view of music because of this play. It has done the same for me. It’s not just the hip hop or rap music since there is also jazz and rock n roll.
It also makes me wonder what our country would be like today if Hamilton wasn’t such a hot head; what would our country look like if he had lived another 20 , 30, or even 50 years like his wife Eliza? The man had so many ideas, would we be better off today if he had lived longer?
But overall, I think it has made people see that anybody can have an impact, not just the wealthy, but the poor too.
It is also so very easy to get sucked back into the story by just hearing one or two clips of songs. We have tickets to see Hamilton again in March. I’m hoping that we can wait that long. I have been checking out the Chicago prices… 
I think “life changing” can be a bit of hyperbole. But I will say that I want to describe Hamilton as more than just a musical I enjoyed immensely. There are certain Broadway shows that I thinks are absolutely outstanding and amazing (West Side Story) as a musical achievement in song, dance, and story.
But I enjoyed Hamilton in ways that transcend that. Here are some thoughts:
It’s a thing unto itself - I have not yet heard of someone who didn’t like it. Perhaps didn’t think it earned all the hype, but I don’t know anyone who didn’t “get” it.
Well, I have heard of people not liking it because they criticize it as being revisionist history… I suspect that is coming from people who are not comfortable with color-blind casting… people who have very narrow world views. But I suspect that is coming from people who have not seen it and given it a chance. After all, who would spend the kind of money on these tickets when you know ahead of time they used this kind of casting and they are not comfortable with it? So yea, I haven’t heard of anyone, who has seen it, say they didn’t like it.
This will sound silly but I liken Hamilton to a very sophisticated, steroid version of Schoolhouse Rock, and I mean that in the best, most positive way. 
How fun would it be for kids(and adults!) to learn about history if it was made more interesting.
@doschicos - exactly! When my D first heard about Hamilton- when we were watching the Grammy’s, she started doing research about the show. Then she did research about Hamilton. We paid for each other’s tickets in May and after the show, she read the Chernow book. She told me that if they taught History like the play in school, it would have been more interesting and she would have paid attention.
I can agree with that statement. When I was in high school, my history teacher, Mr. Echeverri (sp?) would tell us stories about history; making it real for everyone. I loved going to history class because he used modern vernacular, words we students could relate.
It’s very odd to me to call Hamilton “revisionist history.” I think it’s the very opposite: presenting the founding fathers as young, ambitious men many of whom were hotheads is presenting the truth, and it’s a truth that isn’t always presented in history classes.
@SouthJerseyChessMom , thank you for mentioning the PBS show. I hadn’t seen it, but it’s still on the website and I just watched it. Fantastic!
I’ll probably watch it again wth my husband. The lyrics are so rapid I would like to hear them again.
http://www.pbs.org/arts/pbs-arts-festival/2016/great-performances-hamiltons-america/
I took Hamilton off my list when I read the article stating that no white people need apply for starring roles. While I have no problem with diversity, reverse racism bothers me.
Everyone can make their own choices, obviously, but if one doesn’t watch or listen to Hamilton because of reverse racism, I assume that one would also take thousands of years of art off one’s menu because of racism.
I’d suggest anyone who hasn’t seen it download the soundtrack. There is little spoken dialogue (almost all music), and the few spoken lines are on the soundtrack. It has everything, I think – a coming-up-from-the bottom story, a view into a founding father that we have heard comparatively less about because he was never president (and why!), love, betrayal, stupidity, parenthood, foreign policy and tax debates, war. It is smart, funny, catchy, snappy, and sad. Also… regarding casting – non-whites needn’t have tried out for parts for most of the history of Broadway with very limited exceptions. I am a white citizen whose forefathers came here on the Mayflower, and I think that is a ridiculous reason to shut yourself off from this experience.
My deepest American ancestors were on the “wrong” side of the revolution, due to their ancestory. I still loved this musical. Hope to be able to see it in its totally some day.
Following , The “wrong” side - my ancestors were Brits nothing due to their ethnic background.
Funny how nobody objects when movie after movie after movie is cast with all whites in starring roles.
Gender, age, and race-specific casting exist for all plays. Playwrights specify character profiles all the time.
I thought Hamilton was incredibly entertaining. LMM is a genius. He took
a topic (founding fathers) about which most folks know very little and/or have forgotten what they did know and made it interesting and accessible.
Did it change my life–no. But it did inform, entertain, and make me happy. Plus, I got to go backstage afterwards because my D was a friend/classmate of one of the actor’s in the ensemble.
Maybe it makes up for casting Yul Brynner and Betta St. John to play Asians.