Hamilton For All - a podcast by Jai//Em

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Full Notes:

Hey, hi and hello! Welcome to Creative4evr. The podcast dedicated to keeping you forever inspired, forever motivated, forever creative, and forever YOU.  I am your host, Janet, a.k.a. Jai//Em, a.k.a. the voice inside your head, a.k.a. your biggest fan, and together we’re going to get some creative shit done.

Hello, hello! Welcome to the show. What a day! What a week! What a month! What a year! Every moment something new happens, it's a lot and sometimes when I'm working on the scripts for these episodes. I sort of get overwhelmed because there is so much to talk about at any one given time and I just don't know what to do! So today I decided we're gonna talk about Hamilton.

Disney Plus, the streaming service that costs about 15 bucks has released Hamilton for the world to see. Now this is a show that was 300, 400 dollars a ticket even right before covid-19 stopped all of the Broadway shows. It’s a very expensive show that mostly privileged people had access to. So, being able to watch Hamilton from your couch for less than 20 bucks, and then maybe watching The Little Mermaid and watching A Goofy Movie and then four days from now being able to watch Beyoncé's Black is King which is coming out?... I mean, that's worth $20 and I think a lot of people know that, so they either already had Disney Plus or they signed up for it so they could watch Hamilton.

Because so many people that would not usually have access to the this work are getting access to this piece, that's a win for me as an artist…as a former theater major, that's a win for me! That so many people that have access to one of the most hyped, most talked about, extremely unique musicals that has ever existed, that is a win!

Now I had the privilege of seeing Hamilton here in New York City when tickets were $80 and, at the time, I was pissed that it was an $80 ticket. I saw the all of the original cast members, and it blew me away, it really blew me away. Yes, I understand that it's the history of our founding fathers and that it is, you know, not the most historically accurate situation. I am not a die-hard George Washington fan. I'm not a die-hard Alexander Hamilton fan. But, I was blown away and for a number of reasons.

One, I kind of knew what I was going to…but I didn’t. And honestly, I think that's true for many people that experience it for the first time, unless you're one of the people that were listening to the soundtrack before you went, which I didn’t. I like to do things in order. I don't like spoilers, so there was no way I was gonna listen to the soundtrack for musical before I saw it. Anyway, I sat down and was immediately overwhelmed because I just could not believe that this guy and all of these people up on stage. (This guy being Lin-Manuel Miranda who's playing Hamilton who created and wrote everything.) I couldn’t believe they were going to rap for two hours and 40 minutes. I couldn't believe that! And it did not matter to me in the moment if the rapping done by Lin-Manuel Miranda was good or bad, it just mattered to me that this person had figured out how to make an entire two hours and 40 minutes of history (that's pretty accurate) rhyme.

That alone is a reason to watch Hamilton. If you care nothing about anything else, just sit down and watch someone make everything rhyme for three hours while telling you the story of Alexander Hamilton at the same time. It's wild! It feels impossible and yet it is not because that's what LMM did.

I was also blown away by the talent. So again, I don't think Lin-Manuel Miranda is the best rapper, and I have heard that since he left the show as Hamilton and others have taken over, there have been more skilled rappers make his part even more dynamic because it's not only LMM’s words, but it's done by people who are more of the genre than he is. But make no mistake, Lynn had to be the first Hamilton because it was his brainchild. It doesn't matter if he's the best rapper or not, because I don’t think anyone but him could have written those words.

Okay, the rest of the talent on the stage… Everybody came to play. Everybody on that stage knew they were doing something different, that they were doing something special, that they were doing something few people could do, and that they could flex while doing it! And that! Watching other creatives flex, watching other creatives know that they're doing something special that very few people can do. You could feel that energy. When I was in that room, you could feel it. It was dripping all over the place. It was all over the walls. These people knew they were doing something special. They knew they were giving us an experience we had not had before and there's something about that. There's something about that as a creative. That what I want. I want to one day feel like I am connecting with people and providing something that is out of this world and that they almost can't believe is happening. So awesome! I think I will have to become a rock star in order to do that. I don't know that I can do that as a writer or podcaster, because it's not live and with you. I'm not with you right now and if you read a book that I write at any point, I won't be with you but man if I ever get on a stage… That's what I want.

What also blew me away is very obvious. It’s that the entire stage was full of black and brown people. And you know that was part of the flex too because you've got all of these people up there that are triple threats you have to be a triple-threat to be in musical theater, certainly to be on Broadway. You gotta be able to sing, dance and act. But these people were going further than that. They were also rapping. Quadruple threat… is that a thing? To sing, to dance, to rap, and to act? And that was part of the, holy shit. There are even fewer people that can do this.

When I first came to New York City, I was 18…? 17. I was gonna be a freshman in college and thought I was gonna be, you know, on Broadway. Not necessarily doing musical theater, but definitely in plays. And I remember just sort of being an awe of people on stage when I would go see plays. I was in awe of the memorization that it took I was in awe that these people did these shows eight times a week, that they were able to play to the back of the house. You know what I mean? So big and larger than life that the people sitting in the back row understand the emotion on stage, understand the pain, happiness, joy or sadness that's happening even if they're sitting far away. I was just in awe of that sort of thing. 

But nothing changed my life like seeing the musical, RENT for the first time. When I saw RENT for the first time that's when it clicked. That art could change how you see the world.  Change what you think is possible. Change how you feel.

And in a profound way, not just in the moment. Not in the, Oh, that changed how I felt this afternoon for a moment. I mean change how you feel about life. And I have to say, when I saw RENT for the first time felt transported and like my life was changing forever, it wasn't necessarily based on this story that was happening. It was based on my awareness that people were on stage doing this.

I was a creative person. I wanted to be an actor. I was trying to do what these people were doing and they gave me the best example, the most emotional example of that reality right in front of my face. With Hamilton that's not necessarily gonna happen for everyone and certainly it's harder to do on a screen, but it will grab some people in the same way that RENT grabbed me. There are future artists that are watching this show this week and, they're not necessarily worried about the historical accuracy. They are getting proof of concept! That who they want to be can happen, that the type of art they want to create can happen, that rhyming for three hours can happen… That this type of artistry exists, do you know what I mean?

The last thing I want to say about Hamilton is that, being accessible to everyone who gets Disney plus for $13 has started conversations that are so important. We need to be talking about art more, we need to be talking about the stories that are being told more, we need to be talking about the people on stage, backstage, the writers, the dancers, the rappers, the history that they're telling, the way that they're telling it, the way things are being presented or not presented, what can be better, what was perfect and shouldn't change, what is terrible and should never happen again.

I think Art is supposed to start conversations. And what's fantastic about this is no matter how you feel about the show, if you're willing to engage in a conversation, then we win. If you decide that you're gonna say it's trash and, you know, tweet it out and then say, “Don't @ me,” well, I don't know that you care about art at all.

But if you have feelings about it and wanted to discuss it. If you've SEEN IT, have feelings about it and want to discuss it, I think that's fantastic. I'm really excited that we are spending the Fourth of July weekend having a conversation about an incredibly unique piece of Art. I think that's important.

So if you find yourself caught up in a conversation —  This shouldn't happen / That history is bullshit…  — well yes, absolutely. But bring the conversation back to the people on stage. The artistry, the talent that it takes to write that, to perform it, eight times a week, for three hours. The blood, sweat and tears, the memorization! You really, really have to be in tune with your instrument as an artist to be able to participate in something that intense.  As the writer, as one of the dancers, as a person with three lines, as a person with half the lines. You really have to be in tune with your instrument. And that's incredible. And I want to celebrate those people and not forget that.

These artists are the reason that we can even talk about this stuff and almost all of them are of color. That's fantastic.

All right! That's our show this week. You can find us on Instagram or Twitter @Creative4evr. If you would like to donate to me and the show that would be greatly appreciated. I will put the link in the show notes— would love if you'd buy me a couple of donuts.

Finally I will say, Black Lives Matter. Trans Lives Matter.  And arrest the cops that killed Breonna Taylor. 

Don't forget to be creative this week, even if you just think about it. Later!

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