Why My Daughter Loves Hamilton

Great news!

The musical Hamilton has FINALLY arrived in San Antonio!

Natalie has loved Hamilton for about a year now and she's never even seen it yet. It was the music that caught her attention.

Also, she loves Lin-Manual Miranda. Same here. He can sing, he can dance, he can write, he can act...

Source

So why does she love Hamilton? Well. I asked her and she said:



1. Alexander Hamilton was a pretty cool guy. For starters, he fought in the Revolutionary War, so he was a soldier, like Natalie's Daddy. He's also on the ten dollar bills since he started the Bank of the United States. He was also against slavery.




2. The music. Duh. That's what drew Natalie into loving Hamilton in the first place. It can be pretty awkward when she starts singing, "How does a bastard, orphan, son of a whore, and a Scotsman..." and people look over like, !!!! My eyes well up when I listen to It's Quiet Uptown. Natalie loves The World Was Wide Enough. It reminds her that yeah, you might encounter people you don't like, but truly, the world is big enough for everyone. You don't have to let it mess with your life.



3. The costumes. I mean, remember she wore this Hamilton costume to her Middle School for historical day. Most people thought she was a pirate though. But still.

4. Hamilton had his faults. For starters, he cheated on his wife. I mean, he was trying to help the woman Maria Reynolds because she said she had no money and was an abused wife..so he had compassion, which is NICE, but what is not nice, is that he slept with this woman. Maria's husband found out, asked for money from Hamilton to keep quiet, Hamilton said sure, and Hamilton shared his side of his story in a pamphlet when word got out. I mean, can you imagine as a wife reading about your husband sleeping with another woman?


He also could be rather stubborn, and basically a brat. He knew he was smart, and liked to remind others of this fact. He had many enemies because if he didn't agree with something, he spoke out, which is great, but not in the era of duels. Which is how he ended up in one with Aaron Burr. Burr was running for President against Jefferson, Hamilton thought Jefferson could do a better job so he supported him and basically bad mouthed Burr a ton after that--Burr was pissed, challenged Hamilton to a duel and..

There are lessons to be taken from Hamilton's life: it's okay to be smart, but don't be a jerk about it. If you don't get along with someone, fine, but don't let it ruin your life. The world truly IS wide enough for us all. I remind Natalie of this often. Bad mouthing leads to no where. (Or in Hamilton's case, death..)


Great news! We're going to FINALLY see the show on stage thanks to my parents. It was a gift a few years ago and it got postponed due to Covid.

But it's finally time for us to see the show. We're going Sunday!