'Hamilton' goes from Broadway to America's living rooms
Five years after taking Broadway by storm, the smash hit “Hamilton” - a multi-racial, hip-hop take on America's founding fathers - arrives in the form of a film to millions of homes this weekend as Americans celebrate the July 4th holiday.
Shot over three days in 2016 the film features the original cast and will be available via the Disney+ streaming service.
With Broadway closed until 2021, the creator and star of “Hamilton,” Lin Manuel Miranda, says the film is a chance to connect with people at a time of global restrictions:
“...we know what it feels like for 'Hamilton' to happen in front of an audience - we were looking forward to that with the big sort of theatrical release. But at the same time, like, there's no theater anywhere right now. So, the fact that we have this reminder of what live theater can feel like in the form of this movie that Tommy spent the past few years editing, it feels, it actually feels like great like that we have - the ability to sort of give this as a gift in this moment.”
The musical, which won 11 Tony Awards casts Black and Latino actors to play Alexander Hamilton, George Washington, Aaron Burr and other white historical figures as scrappy young revolutionaries seeking independence from Britain more than 200 years ago.
Actor Leslie Odom Jr. plays Hamilton’s nemesis, former Vice-President Burr:
“...this is the first real chance that I've been given to put some water back in that well (flash) And that's just a deeply satisfying thing to give back and to feel like I'm giving back in that way."
And when Miranda was asked to sum up his Hamilton experience, he used a word that might sound familiar to Hamilton fans.
"Legacy, because it's both about that. Like it is about how you do not control how you are remembered. And how all you can do is sort of put what you want to put into the world, into the world, and the world will do what it wants with it. And also, I know it's the first line of my obituary."
Hamilton the movie begins streaming on Friday.
