Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

“That’s what the insurrection act is for!”

I conferred with the team and they all agree – still not tired of winning!

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. keep building.

You know it’s bad when the Project 2025 people have to create training videos on “How To Be Normal”.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

Celebrate the fucking wins.

The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.

Israel is using food as a weapon of war. Unforgivable.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

When you’re in more danger from the IDF than from Russian shelling, that’s really bad.

Quote tweet friends, screenshot enemies.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

Oh FFS you might as well trust a 6-year-old with a flamethrower.

“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

These days, even the boring Republicans are nuts.

If you cannot answer whether trump lost the 2020 election, you are unfit for office.

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

Balloon Juice, where there is always someone who will say you’re doing it wrong.

You are here: Home / Popular Culture / KULCHA! / Open Thread: For the Hamilmaniacs

Open Thread: For the Hamilmaniacs

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… Most of whom have no doubt been sharing the news in previous threads, but now the rest of us can enjoy the novelty of going Open-Thread-Off-Topic in “their” post. From the USAToday article:

… The Tony winner confirmed his departure date to reporters at a breakfast event Thursday at Coogan’s in New York’s Washington Heights. Javier Muñoz, Manuel’s alternate who already regularly plays the part one day a week, will take over starting July 11. (He’s used to following Miranda — he also replaced him when he left In the Heights.)

Muñoz, who underwent cancer treatment during the show’s first year (during which Miranda was his understudy) says he finished his medical regimen in January and says he’s “fit and ready” to do seven shows per week.

But don’t fret — Miranda will be back. “I think this is a role I’m going to be going back to again and again. I plan to revisit this role a lot,” he said. (In other words, keep entering the lottery!)…

As for himself, Miranda is “working on his accent” for Mary Poppins Returns, due Christmas 2018, in which he’ll star opposite Emily Blunt. He’s also putting the finishing touches on the music for Disney’s animated film Moana, which arrives in theaters Nov. 23. And he’s got a revelation for you: “Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson can sing! He was really incredible.”

But before he packs up his Hamilton dressing room, the production will film two performances with the current cast this month before they start exiting, as well as shooting offstage cameos…

Any ideas how the final film will be released? Pay-per-view? I think it would be an excellent candidate for the movie-house “event cinema,” with the one-off showings of opera, ballet, and MMA bouts…
***********
Apart from entertainment, what’s on the agenda for the evening?

Reader Interactions

66Comments

  2. 2.

    humboldtblue

    The USMNT team is taking on Ecuador in Copa Centenario and the captain’s armband if the rainbow flag.

  3. 3.

    Mnemosyne

    They’re already doing a “Great Performances” documentary, so I wonder if PBS is going to get first crack. That’s how I saw the Angela Lansbury version of Sweeney Todd.

    G knows someone who went to see Into the Woods a couple of years into its original Broadway run, and once everyone was seated, they announced that that night’s performance was going to be filmed for “Great Performances,” so instead of the announced cast, they were actually going to see the original Broadway cast. The audience was pretty happy, to say the least.

    Oh, and a Hamilton PPV would be a pretty awesome charity fundraiser, maybe for a scholarship fund. Just sayin’.

  4. 4.

    Kathmandu513

    Me and a friend were in NY recently. Entered the lottery (we didn’t win) but this cast album gets played at least twice a week in our house between the kids and me. It’s just so good. Complicated and entertaining and so addicting. Never heard anything like this. We saw Something Rotten! (Very entertaining ) and the Book of Mormon which I adored. I have been playing that cast album too but not as much as Hamilton. Anyone have any good Broadway album suggestions? I like to listen at work

  5. 5.

    Corner Stone

    with the one-off showings of opera, ballet, and MMA bouts…

    What I wouldn’t give for a LMM v GSP matchup.

  6. 6.

    Mnemosyne

    @Kathmandu513:

    There are a ridiculous number of great cast albums out there, but the ones I have memorized (other than Hamilton) are A Chorus Line and Sweeney Todd. G became a big Sondheim fan because of Assassins.

    And when gogol’s wife gets here, she’ll tell you to get the cast album for LMM’s first show, In The Heights, which she says is amazeballs. That may be next on my list.

  10. 10.

    Kathmandu513

    @Mnemosyne: have you heard Book of Mormon? I loved South Park so I knew what I was getting but the audience was totally in to it

  11. 11.

    Mnemosyne

    BTW, there are only two (2) people so far who have won the PEGOT — Pulitzer, Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony. By a weird coincidence, one of them was Richard Rodgers.

    And the only two living candidates are Stephen Sondheim and, well, you know.

  12. 12.

    MomSense

    @Kathmandu513:

    I’m not the person to ask because I love them all- except for that gods awful song from rent that every middle school and high school kid chose as their audition song for what seemed like an eternity. I do love A Chorus Line which was my first Broadway obsession. Younger Than Springtime from South Pacific is I think one of Ridgers and Hammerstein’s prettiest. Wicked is a must!

    Just listen to them all!

  13. 13.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Bernie SandersVerified account
    ‏@ BernieSanders
    My hope is that when future historians look back on the campaign of 2016 they will say that is where it all began. Thank you #OurRevolution

    The point of the Revolution was open party primaries and a personal vendetta against someone called “Debbie Wasserman Schultz”? There will be more interesting histories to read, I suspect.

  16. 16.

    PsiFighter37

    Hamilton is awesome. I had the foresight to grab tickets 2 months after it opened on Broadway (at sub-$300 per seat in center mezzanine – can’t imagine what that costs now). Easily the best Broadway play I’ve seen. Book of Mormon is the only one that comes within shouting distance IMO.

  17. 17.

    PsiFighter37

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I skimmed over his speech in Burlington today. I hope it gets as little attention as it deserves. The man is desperate for attention.

    Would be interested to see how much cash (or lack thereof) his campaign has now.

  19. 19.

    SiubhanDuinne

    I actually just got home from one of those “one-off showings” at the cinema — this was a documentary on Teatro alla Scala. It featured, as you might expect, snippets of Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti, Verdi, Mascagni, and Puccini among others, with archival clips of some of the 20th and 21st centuries’ most renowned singers and conductors. Since it was billed as part of the “Arts and Architecture” series, I expected a lot more on the building itself. The film, honestly, lacked focus, but I heard some glorious music and learned some music history I didn’t know, so I’m not sorry I went.

  20. 20.

    gogol's wife

    @Mnemosyne:

    In the Heights is great! It ain’t Hamilton, but it has many beautiful moments, many of them provided by Chris Jackson. It’s full of humor, too.

    It references Cole Porter early on, and I more and more think LMM is a kindred spirit of his.

  22. 22.

    gogol's wife

    @Kathmandu513:

    All right, I’m going to subject you to an obsession that long predates Hamilton.

    Get any and all cast albums that feature Alfred Drake. This would mean first of all Kiss Me Kate, but also Oklahoma and Kismet and (here’s a real obscurity for you all) Kean. He is the greatest musical theater artist who ever lived.

    (Capability for doing italics has disappeared.)

  25. 25.

    Corner Stone

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    The point of the Revolution was open party primaries and a personal vendetta against someone called “Debbie Wasserman Schultz”?

    That and putting a gay former Congressperson in his gay place as well as a pro gun control Gov of CT in the ether.
    Fuck that fucking guy.

  26. 26.

    Mnemosyne

    @lamh36:

    Yep, it’s that Pulitzer that trips most people up. The EGOT really isn’t super-hard to get, especially if you do either music or stand-up. The Pulitzer is tough, because you can only win it for writing.

  27. 27.

    lamh36

    Speaking of The Rock, I saw Central Intelligence and I posted a mini-review on Tuesday.

    I see it’s only getting so far a lil over 50% rating on RT…but IMHO, this is a case where the critics get it wrong. I really did enjoy it. I’ll go on record saying it’s my fav Kevin Hart film to date, and The Rock is funnier than Hart.

    I was at a pretty diverse screening and that audience seemed to love it. Even stayed after the end to see a mini-gag reel!

  32. 32.

    Mnemosyne

    @lamh36:

    They’re really making a big effort to cast as many people with Polynesian ancestry as possible for Moana, so the Rock is there because his mother is from Samoa.

    Also, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Idris Elba start showing up in more Disney projects as time goes on — not just animation, but live action. Once they get someone in the door, they don’t like them to leave.

    Oh, and in possible Disney/Hamilton worlds colliding news, Okieriete Onaodowan (who plays the dual role of Hercules Mulligan and James Madison) is the workshop Kristoff for the Broadway version of Frozen. Because as long as you have the right voice, musical Broadway doesn’t care what you look like.

  33. 33.

    dmsilev

    @PsiFighter37:

    Would be interested to see how much cash (or lack thereof) his campaign has now.

    FEC reports for May are due on Monday, so we’ll get the June 1st snapshot then. Seeing as the Sanders campaign chose not to release their fundraising numbers, I’m guessing May wasn’t pretty. June presumably has been worse, especially now that the primaries are, in fact, over.

    He’s failed to clear the “more gracious than Ted Cruz admitting he lost to Donald Trump” bar, which I have to admit is impressive in a way.

  36. 36.

    hovercraft

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:
    The 1.5 million people who came to his rallies have gone to his head and given him an overinflated idea of his importance to history. He will be the answer to a trivia question asking ” who did the first woman president beat to become the first nominee of a major party?” That is all.

  37. 37.

    gogol's wife

    @Mnemosyne:

    It’s actually a great character. He has a number toward the end (“Champagne”) that jerks my tears almost as reliably as “It’s Quiet Uptown” (but in a cheerier vein).

    The Hamilton thread would have to appear past my bedtime. Got to go, guys. Have fun.

  49. 49.

    Mnemosyne

    @redshirt:

    Yes, they are. That’s what I said they’re doing. Which one of us is confused?

    Though it’s not going to be 100 percent people of Polynesian descent since they let LMM near the microphone — you can hear him singing in the trailer.

  56. 56.

    rikyrah

    I hope that whatever they do it winds up on a DVD so that I can have it in my collection and watch it with Peanut. I have said it before -Hamilton is her first musical ?

  57. 57.

    PatrickG

    Should I just cave in and watch this online? I’ve already got tickets for San Francisco. In fucking 2017.

    I’m tired of feeling left out, damn it! But I like my musicals more … in-person, though. :/

  58. 58.

    cckids

    @Kathmandu513:

    Anyone have any good Broadway album suggestions? I like to listen at work

    I know its old, but the Broadway “Into the Woods” is endlessly entertaining. The lyrics are so packed, it is like reading/watching Shakespeare, you can listen to it over & over & get new meanings and understandings out of it.

  59. 59.

    seaboogie

    @Omnes Omnibus: Okay – a perfect thread to recap some of what I referred to the other night WRT Hamilton.

    My Dad is a patriotic American (read Republican leaning) ex-pat living in Canada who LOVES history and historical bios. When the Chernow book came out six years ago, I got it for him and put a fresh tenner in as a bookmark. Dad also likes theater, and used to take me to the London, ON Grand Theatre after he had to move us kids from Toronto (when I was 17) to a small community about an hour away from London. This was to make up for the fact that I could no longer attend The Royal Alex theater in Toronto, where I friend and I had season tickets, and we had some fun Dad and daughter dates doing that.

    Once we got all dressed up and drove to the theater, only to discover upon arrival that our tickets were for two weeks hence. So two weeks later we got dressed up and headed out, only to realize that we would be hopelessly late and miss a significant portion of the show that we never did see. However, due to long experience, our little fam was able to find humour in adversity, and we then made a game of things we could get dressed up for and not do. (Let’s get dressed up and NOT have lunch with the Queen!). Good times….really!

    So not long after the theatrical mis-timings, my Dad (who was raising 3 kids on his own) met the love of his life – and our beloved step-Mother. She passed away a year ago November, and he has been – like me – a bit of a recluse. When I listened to the Hamilton cast recording, I knew he had to have it, and sent the CDs to him (technology with which he is comfortable). He initially thought that the material would be too dry, but warmed to the music of the first CD – tho’ he found it confusing to follow which character was singing. So I hooked him up with a genius link that has all of the lyrics, the character noted, and a fuller explanation of musical and historical references in a box on the right. Dad is totally down with that.

    So Hamilton is meaningful to me for very personal reasons. However, upon listening to the recording, I really appreciate LMM’s genius and sheer musical/musical-theater geekiness in the recurrent themes. I also observe that LMM might exhibit some of Hamilton’s own hypomania and driven inspiration that is in synch with the times of both men.

    Finally, I love that this musical play is making history so relevant and accessible to a new generation of students…that is just rocking cool.

    I’m neither a maniac nor a fanatic, but I am a real fan – it’s pretty brilliant work.

  60. 60.

    Jeff

    Broadway shows started to be recorded on film, tape and other mediums I think in the 70’s for a historic record not general release.

  61. 61.

    Kathmandu513

    @gogol’s wife: oh so good. Thank you!
    If you like Shakespeare, give Something Rotten a listen. It’s very clever with lots of hat tips to other musicals and Shakespeare.

  62. 62.

    gogol's wife

    @Kathmandu513:

    I will. Brian D’Arcy James was the original George III in Hamilton. I heard a snippet of his performance on YouTube (in a story they did on Charlie Rose or some other show), and (heresy) I think he was probably better than Groff in the role.

  63. 63.

    bystander

    The filming may be for the Lincoln Center archives. There could not possibly be any plans to show this on PBS anytime soon. The rumor is that several of the original cast will not be renewing. They have been doing this show for quite awhile and I can imagine some wanting to get out at a very high point, Tony in hand.

  64. 64.

    gogol's wife

    @seaboogie:

    Great stor(ies)! He’d probably like the book Hamilton The Revolution — it has the full libretto plus Miranda’s annotations. It’s fascinating.

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