Hamilton (2020)

Of course we loved this filmed version of the original Broadway cast performing the ground-breaking musical. We streamed it on Disney+ when it dropped in July but I'm moved to write about it now that it's nominated for Golden Globes for Best Musical or Comedy and Best Actor.

We saw the second or third cast once on Broadway in 2015 and the touring company later, but this version is spectacular. Although one misses the full stage experience, the close-ups are great fun and the closed captions quite useful. That said, before we saw it live the first time, we studied––listening to the soundtrack while reading the lyrics.

Creator/writer/composer Lin-Manuel Miranda stars as Alexander Hamilton. Miranda had performed a rough solo version of it for then-President Obama, leading one comedian to quip that he workshopped it at the White House. Leslie Odom, Jr. is Aaron Burr, Phillipa Soo is Eliza, Renée Elise Goldsberry is Angelica, Christopher Jackson is George Washington, and Jonathan Groff is King George, who sings my favorite song, You'll Be Back. In dual roles we have Daveed Diggs as Marquis de Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson, Jasmine Cephas Jones as Peggy Schuyler and Maria Reynolds, Okierete Onaodowan as Hercules Mulligan and James Madison, Anthony Ramos as John Laurens and Philip Hamilton, and Efraim Sykes as George Eacker and a member of the ensemble. Most have gone on to continue their careers, however possible in the time of corona. More on that in a moment.

Thomas Kail, Tony winner for directing the stage version, directs this one as well, with Declan Quinn as director of photography. Miranda was inspired by Ron Chernow's 2004 biography Alexander Hamilton. For those of you living under rocks, one of the ground-breaking aspects of the musical is that the cast consists of mostly Black and brown people. A controversy emerged later, however, pointing to the fact that, though Hamilton is portrayed as an abolitionist, he actually did own slaves. Here's one article about it.

The original cast recording is available by subscription on Apple Music and free on Spotify, among others.

Miranda was last blogged for Mary Poppins Returns, Odom for Harriet, Groff for Taking Woodstock (plus he voiced Kristoff in both Frozen movies plus plenty of TV), Diggs for Soul, Jones for Blindspotting, Ramos for A Star Is Born, Sykes for Detroit and he starred on Broadway as David Ruffin of the Temptations in Ain't Too Proud. Soo has had other work in theatre and TV, including five episodes of Smash, Goldsberry a few solo albums and various TV roles, Jackson a bunch of TV roles and musical compositions for film and TV, and Onaodowan has been in 49 episodes of the Grey's Anatomy spinoff Station 19 (and hasn't sung once). Besides Kail's Tony, he's won two Emmys for Grease: Live, and is nominated for a Grammy for co-producing the documentary soundtrack We Are Freestyle Love Supreme, which is about Miranda's hip-hop group's 2019 reunion. Maybe he'll win that plus an Oscar to attain the coveted EGOT status. Quinn has shot dozens of projects, many of which I've seen, including Leaving Las Vegas (1995), Flawless (1999), Monsoon Wedding (2001), In America (2002), Rachel Getting Married, Admission, and Ricki and the Flash.

You can't watch this without signing up for the Disney+ streaming service but it's definitely worth $6.99 (one month contract) to see this one. Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences agree, averaging 98 and 90%, respectively.

For those of you who have read this far, I'm compiling a list of movie nominees and winners sorted by title. I use it to see whose paragraph is the longest and this helps me decide what to watch next. If the movie's title is highlighted, it's linked to my blog post on that feature. It's a work in progress and available here.