Ivy Bellamy wrote: 5 Oct 2020, 22:55 *sobbing* who could ever hate hamilton? The entire thing is just an incredible, perfect work of art.

@Lily Cawthi @Jade Sunshine Ok ok but hear me out, I actually have a better reason than “it’s just good” or “I just like it” for why I think Hamilton is so amazing. [rant ESSAY ALERT]

There are so many little Easter eggs and hidden clues into each song. For example, in “The Story of Tonight” John Laurens sings I may not live to see our glory, and [SPOILER ALERT] he actually dies towards the end of Act I. He never got to see the “glory of America” that the Founding Fathers built up because he died literally right after the war ended. Also, you know the song “The World Turned Upside Down”? There’s few lyrics that describe how the British were singing the world turned upside down as they were leaving, and that part is actually historically accurate. The Americans, I believe, were singing Yankee Doodle or something , and the British sang an actual song called “The World Turned Upside Down”. (The melody and tune was different in the show, as Lin-Manuel Miranda decided to change it to suit the overall song better.)

The choreography is also intricate and with meaning. There was a lot of work put into the dances, and each person’s placement was intentional and had a special meaning. There’s a character known as the Bullet, symbolising Death, who is featured in the choreography multiple times throughout the musical. Each character who dies interacts with the Bullet before their death. [SPOILER ALERT] (there are three lol, hence the separate revelios) 1: Using John Laurens once again, while he was singing in “The Story of Tonight”, the Bullet was lingering near the front of the stage and clearly watching him in the bar. When the others began to sing she moved off and blended more into the background. The Bullet continuously sought out Laurens throughout Act I and… surprise surprise, he died. 2:Another example is from “Blow Us All Away”, the song where Philip Hamilton dies in a duel. He was trying to find Eacker, who had insulted his father, and asked two seemingly random girl where he could find him, as well as flirting with them. One of the girls was the Bullet, so he was actually flirting with Death. He lost the duel and died. 3: The most obvious example would be from the “The World Was Wide Enough”, where Burr and Hamilton’s duel take place. Burr shoots at Hamilton, while Hamilton aims at the sky. Time slows down, and the Bullet carries an imaginary bullet towards Hamilton while he does his famous monologue. The ensemble members come in and slow her down so Hamilton can say everything he wants to say, but it’s clear that his death is inevitable. When he speaks to Eliza, strangely enough the Bullet goes away for a second, perhaps a reference to the vow “until death do us apart”, before the bullet hits him and he dies.

More on the choreography – the Ball where Hamilton meets the Schuyler sisters. The choreography and the dances in Helpless and A Winter’s Ball were gorgeous on their own, but then they reversed it for Satisfied. (if you don’t know, A Winter’s Ball is basically a song where you kinda transition into a new setting I guess, Helpless is Eliza meeting Hamilton, and Satisfied is the Ball from Angelica’s perspective.) They literally reversed the choreography, like it was going backwards. It makes my head hurt thinking about it.

There are so many more reasons that I can’t think of off the top of my head, but those are just a few of them. That’s why I love Hamilton – not only because of how lovely the songs are but also because of how intricate and well-planned it is. I’m not trying to force my opinions on you, just trying to explain my thinking so I don’t come off as one of those people who are just trying to be cool or something. I completely respect your opinion even if it’s wrong.