February 1, 2017
Hamilton and American Musical Theater
Stacy E. Wolf
Professor of Theater; Director, Program in Music Theater; Princeton University
Minutes of the 18th Meeting of the 75th Year
President Jock McFarlane presided.
Arthur Eschenlauer led the invocation.
Michael Mathews read the minutes of the last meeting and nominated Ann Vehslage for membership.
Invited guests:
Mary Kay Kuser by Robert Kuser
Aaron Nathans by Marge D'Amico
Georgia Whidden by Keith Wheelock
Steffie Gittleman by Robert Gittleman
Joan Rosenfeld by David Rosenfeld
Virginia Wei by James Wei
Cecilia Mathews by Michael Mathews
Liz Fillo by Christopher Coucill
Landon Jones introduced Professor Wolf.
Ms. Wolf is a Professor of Theater and the Director of the 'Program in Music Theater' at Princeton University and the author of several books.
She talked about the Broadway musical, “Hamilton,” not as a history lesson or as a work of artistic genius, but as a performance. Most people think musicals are only fun and entertaining, but many are also serious texts.
“Hamilton” follows Alexander Hamilton's involvement in the American Revolution and the early formation of the United States government. It blends hip hop and musical theater styles, with African-American and Latino actors playing the founding fathers.
She wanted to show several video clips from the show and then ask what they made us feel, how we could interpret those feelings and how this musical converses with culture.
After showing the first 90 seconds of the opening number, Professor Wolf pointed out that:
The costumes show that it takes place a long time ago.
The snare drum indicates a military theme.
The absence of an overture prepares us to launch quickly into a fast-paced show.
The orchestration is spare, with a feeling of foreboding.
The first actor enters from the left and moves center stage, the most powerful entrance possible because we read left to right, and the center of the stage draws our attention.
The first actor wears 17th century gentleman’s clothes and is African-American, which indicates immediately that the casting will be nontraditional.
The first lines are a question and sung in rap, preparing us for a show with speed and density.
The actor sings in third person, indicating he's a storyteller. The chorus uses physical moves, in lieu of stage affects, to create a “movement vocabulary” showing that the story will be told by bodies.
There's a combination of pantomime and abstract dance where “modern” meets hip hop.
The choreography uses many circular formations giving us a sense of cycles, of everything coming around to the same place. Even the main set piece is a revolve.
And abrupt changes in lighting heighten the sense of surprise and excitement.
And all this happens in the first 90 seconds!
It sets up a pattern, song after song, where the audience goes on a journey that gradually builds, over and over, making it powerful and emotionally engaging.
Ms. Wolf said when she examines a musical, she uses the same skills that she would to interpret Shakespeare. Everything that happens in a musical is an intentional and specific artistic choice, and is always influenced by musicals of the past, even as they do something new.
Her next point was interpretation: figuring out what it adds up to, what it means.
Stephen Sondheim said his first rule is that “content dictates form.”
Lin Manuel Miranda, the creator of “Hamilton,” said, “Hamilton” is a story about America then, told by America now . . . we want to eliminate any distance between a contemporary audience and this story.”
And so we see that the musical’s subject -- the American Revolution and creation of a new country -- is perfectly expressed to us by using contemporary music and lyrics, performed by a cast that looks like today’s multicultural America.
Ms. Wolf pointed out that there’s been little conversation about gender in “Hamilton,” and that she would focus on that.
Though “Hamilton” does feature women who have names and who talk to each other, they only talk about men, namely Hamilton. Ms. Wolf maintained, though, that since the show breaks with historical reality by using rap, multiracial casting and contemporary language, it therefore owes nothing to maintaining historical accuracy and could include a more imagined history of its female characters.
The musical features three women: the two eldest Schuyler sisters and Maria Reynolds, the seductress, who, in the end, occupy the most conventional and stereotypical of roles—the muse, the wife, and the whore. Ms. Wolf contends that the musical is well aware of its gender problems and tries to resolve them at the end by allowing Hamilton's wife, Eliza Schuyler, to ask the question in a song, “Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story.”
At that point Eliza is downstage center and gets the last word, but Ms. Wolf contends it can’t rescue her or the other women in the musical from their inconsequential roles in the rest of the show.
In the Q&A, Ms. Wolf said “Hamilton's” choreographer, Andy Blankenbuehler, has been working with Lin-Manuel Miranda and his small, creative group for 10 to 15 years. She marveled that the audience sometimes can't see the transitions between the dance and everyday movement. This makes the production numbers seem seamless with the dialogue.
When asked about the turntable used to move actors in huge circles, Ms. Wolf said revolves aren't often seen these days. This show, however, relies more on movement and lighting in lieu of sets and props to tell its story and therefore the use of the revolve is well chosen.
Asked about the lack of merchandising for “Hamilton,” Ms. Wolf said each of her students seems to own at least five “Hamilton” T-shirts. She said they wear them to class to give themselves “great cultural capital.” She speculated that merchandising will grow when the show is released for amateur productions in the future.
Asked if there's more interest now in musical theater because of “Hamilton,” Ms. Wolf said “Glee,” “American Idol” and “High School Musical” were probably more influential, but “Hamilton” has still upped the ante many fold.
When questioned about a precedent for a musical based on history, Ms. Wolf cited “1776.” She also brought up that “Hamilton” uses 500 times more words per minute than the average musical because the rap form gives way to more words, and therefore allows much more detail in telling the history.
She ended by describing her new program, Music Theater at Princeton, underlining that it's called Music Theater and not Musical Theater because it includes opera, avant-garde music theater and other forms. She described it as unique in including both the scholarship and the creation of musicals.
Respectfully submitted,
Christopher Coucill
Arthur Eschenlauer led the invocation.
Michael Mathews read the minutes of the last meeting and nominated Ann Vehslage for membership.
Invited guests:
Mary Kay Kuser by Robert Kuser
Aaron Nathans by Marge D'Amico
Georgia Whidden by Keith Wheelock
Steffie Gittleman by Robert Gittleman
Joan Rosenfeld by David Rosenfeld
Virginia Wei by James Wei
Cecilia Mathews by Michael Mathews
Liz Fillo by Christopher Coucill
Landon Jones introduced Professor Wolf.
Ms. Wolf is a Professor of Theater and the Director of the 'Program in Music Theater' at Princeton University and the author of several books.
She talked about the Broadway musical, “Hamilton,” not as a history lesson or as a work of artistic genius, but as a performance. Most people think musicals are only fun and entertaining, but many are also serious texts.
“Hamilton” follows Alexander Hamilton's involvement in the American Revolution and the early formation of the United States government. It blends hip hop and musical theater styles, with African-American and Latino actors playing the founding fathers.
She wanted to show several video clips from the show and then ask what they made us feel, how we could interpret those feelings and how this musical converses with culture.
After showing the first 90 seconds of the opening number, Professor Wolf pointed out that:
The costumes show that it takes place a long time ago.
The snare drum indicates a military theme.
The absence of an overture prepares us to launch quickly into a fast-paced show.
The orchestration is spare, with a feeling of foreboding.
The first actor enters from the left and moves center stage, the most powerful entrance possible because we read left to right, and the center of the stage draws our attention.
The first actor wears 17th century gentleman’s clothes and is African-American, which indicates immediately that the casting will be nontraditional.
The first lines are a question and sung in rap, preparing us for a show with speed and density.
The actor sings in third person, indicating he's a storyteller. The chorus uses physical moves, in lieu of stage affects, to create a “movement vocabulary” showing that the story will be told by bodies.
There's a combination of pantomime and abstract dance where “modern” meets hip hop.
The choreography uses many circular formations giving us a sense of cycles, of everything coming around to the same place. Even the main set piece is a revolve.
And abrupt changes in lighting heighten the sense of surprise and excitement.
And all this happens in the first 90 seconds!
It sets up a pattern, song after song, where the audience goes on a journey that gradually builds, over and over, making it powerful and emotionally engaging.
Ms. Wolf said when she examines a musical, she uses the same skills that she would to interpret Shakespeare. Everything that happens in a musical is an intentional and specific artistic choice, and is always influenced by musicals of the past, even as they do something new.
Her next point was interpretation: figuring out what it adds up to, what it means.
Stephen Sondheim said his first rule is that “content dictates form.”
Lin Manuel Miranda, the creator of “Hamilton,” said, “Hamilton” is a story about America then, told by America now . . . we want to eliminate any distance between a contemporary audience and this story.”
And so we see that the musical’s subject -- the American Revolution and creation of a new country -- is perfectly expressed to us by using contemporary music and lyrics, performed by a cast that looks like today’s multicultural America.
Ms. Wolf pointed out that there’s been little conversation about gender in “Hamilton,” and that she would focus on that.
Though “Hamilton” does feature women who have names and who talk to each other, they only talk about men, namely Hamilton. Ms. Wolf maintained, though, that since the show breaks with historical reality by using rap, multiracial casting and contemporary language, it therefore owes nothing to maintaining historical accuracy and could include a more imagined history of its female characters.
The musical features three women: the two eldest Schuyler sisters and Maria Reynolds, the seductress, who, in the end, occupy the most conventional and stereotypical of roles—the muse, the wife, and the whore. Ms. Wolf contends that the musical is well aware of its gender problems and tries to resolve them at the end by allowing Hamilton's wife, Eliza Schuyler, to ask the question in a song, “Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story.”
At that point Eliza is downstage center and gets the last word, but Ms. Wolf contends it can’t rescue her or the other women in the musical from their inconsequential roles in the rest of the show.
In the Q&A, Ms. Wolf said “Hamilton's” choreographer, Andy Blankenbuehler, has been working with Lin-Manuel Miranda and his small, creative group for 10 to 15 years. She marveled that the audience sometimes can't see the transitions between the dance and everyday movement. This makes the production numbers seem seamless with the dialogue.
When asked about the turntable used to move actors in huge circles, Ms. Wolf said revolves aren't often seen these days. This show, however, relies more on movement and lighting in lieu of sets and props to tell its story and therefore the use of the revolve is well chosen.
Asked about the lack of merchandising for “Hamilton,” Ms. Wolf said each of her students seems to own at least five “Hamilton” T-shirts. She said they wear them to class to give themselves “great cultural capital.” She speculated that merchandising will grow when the show is released for amateur productions in the future.
Asked if there's more interest now in musical theater because of “Hamilton,” Ms. Wolf said “Glee,” “American Idol” and “High School Musical” were probably more influential, but “Hamilton” has still upped the ante many fold.
When questioned about a precedent for a musical based on history, Ms. Wolf cited “1776.” She also brought up that “Hamilton” uses 500 times more words per minute than the average musical because the rap form gives way to more words, and therefore allows much more detail in telling the history.
She ended by describing her new program, Music Theater at Princeton, underlining that it's called Music Theater and not Musical Theater because it includes opera, avant-garde music theater and other forms. She described it as unique in including both the scholarship and the creation of musicals.
Respectfully submitted,
Christopher Coucill