Capitol Riot: The Musical!
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https://www.wsj.com/articles/capitol-riot-the-musical-11641578646?mod=djemBestOfTheWeb
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) plays it straight during a somber moment in Democrats’ Capitol riot anniversary show.
s part of the congressional events marking the first anniversary of the January 6th attack on the Capitol, cast members from Hamilton came together virtually to perform ‘Dear Theodosia’...
The groundbreaking musical sensation, Hamilton springs from the mind of Emmy, Tony, and Grammy Award winner Lin-Manuel Miranda and tells the unlikely story of the ten-dollar founding father, Alexander Hamilton who was young, scrappy, and hungry and ready to mark his mark on this new nation.Now that’s a compelling narrative. Glenn Garner of People adds:
Lin-Manuel Miranda brought a little bit of Broadway to Washington, D.C., this week... He was introduced by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who referred to Miranda as “one of the great creative talents of our time” before quoting a lyric from the song, which was performed by Jamael Westman, Julius Thomas III, Pierre Jean Gonzalez, Joseph Morales, Edred Utomi, Miguel Cervantes, Nicholas Christopher, Josh Tower and Jared Dixon.
Brilliant performers all, no doubt. A rave review of the Democrats’ riot show arrives from Rania Aniftos at Billboard, who writes:
Following [Mr. Miranda’s] powerful words, a number of Hamilton cast members delivered a heartfelt performance of “Dear Theodosia,” which includes fitting lyrics about building a better future for the young generations of Americans. “If we lay a strong enough foundation / We’ll pass it on to you, we’ll give the world to you,” the group sang in the chorus.
Other media observers weren’t as enthusiastic. Marina Pitofsky USA Today reports:
The performance received applause from Pelosi and other viewers on Capitol Hill, though it was not embraced by all on social media.
Callie Patteson writes for the New York Post:
Perhaps House Democrats should have thrown away their shot.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and her colleagues were criticized Thursday after inviting Lin-Manuel Miranda and the cast of the Broadway smash “Hamilton” to perform at a ceremony marking the anniversary of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.David Moye at HuffPost admits:
The decision by House Democrats to honor the anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot with a musical number from “Hamilton” is striking some people as awkward.
Tim Marcin at Mashable writes:
The world is so much dumber than we can imagine in fiction...
It’s kind of like if Pelosi rolled out a projector and played a scene from The West Wing to get everyone feeling nice and warm about democracy again.Sometimes politicians make you wonder whether you should take them seriously. Other times they remove all doubt, as Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) did on Thursday. And while some media folk have cast the “Hamilton” performance as an aberration in an otherwise appropriate presentation, the political theater wasn’t limited to the show tune. At one point the Pelosi production sought to present historians’ views of last year’s events, but perhaps because of weather or Covid complications, the program’s producers were forced to rely heavily on Jon Meacham.
Regular readers will recall Mr. Meacham’s dramatic 2020 television performance in which he portrayed a disinterested analyst of political news. November of that year brought a New York Times report from Annie Karni and John Koblin:
*... Mr. Meacham appeared on MSNBC before and after Mr. Biden’s acceptance speech on Saturday. About half an hour after Mr. Biden had concluded, the anchor Brian Williams introduced Mr. Meacham by saying, “I’m not the historian that you are, and I don’t have the Pulitzer that you do, but do you concur that is the way we are used to hearing from our presidents?”
“Absolutely,” Mr. Meacham responded, without disclosing that he had been involved in the writing of the speech.
Shortly before Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and Mr. Biden took the stage, Mr. Meacham commented on the symbolism of a new administration featuring a 77-year-old institutionalist and a vice president-elect “who represents in many ways the changing demography of the country.”
“It’s poetic,” Mr. Meacham said. “There’s a lot of poetry tonight.”*
This week’s Pelosi program was no less creative, but the partisan effort to capitalize on last year’s events is a show many Americans have already chosen not to watch.
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I've never seen "Hamilton," so I was unaware of this:
This song, which is one of the most beautiful in the show, is performed by Aaron Burr. Of course, the Jefferson Administration charged Burr with treason. According to some accounts, Burr actually hatched a plan to conquer North America, and overthrow the American government. The history is muddy.
I remember Chernow's biography of Hamilton pointing that out.
Oh, well, let's all sing...
[Burr:]
Dear Theodosia, what to say to you?
You have my eyes. You have your mother's name
When you came into the world, you cried and it broke my heartI'm dedicating every day to you
Domestic life was never quite my style
When you smile, you knock me out, I fall apart
And I thought I was so smartYou will come of age with our young nation
We'll bleed and fight for you, we'll make it right for you
If we lay a strong enough foundation
We'll pass it on to you, we'll give the world to you
And you'll blow us all away…Someday, someday
Yeah, you'll blow us all away
Someday, someday[Hamilton:]
Oh Philip, when you smile I am undone
My son
Look at my son
Pride is not the word I'm looking for
There is so much more inside me now
Oh Philip, you outshine the morning sun
My son
When you smile, I fall apart
And I thought I was so smart
My father wasn't around
[Burr:]
My father wasn't around
[Hamilton:]
I swear that
[Burr/Hamilton:]
I'll be around for you
[Hamilton:]
I'll do whatever it takes
[Burr:]
I'll make a million mistakes
[Burr/Hamilton:]
I'll make the world safe and sound for you……Will come of age with our young nation
We'll bleed and fight for you, we'll make it right for you
If we lay a strong enough foundation
We'll pass it on to you, we'll give the world to you
And you'll blow us all away...Someday, someday
Yeah, you'll blow us all away
Someday, someday
