Hamilton

I didn't get into Hamilton way back in 2015-2016 when the Lin Manuel Miranda brought the show from off Broadway to Broadway. I dismissed my friend Betty when she and her husband spent a small fortune on a trip to NYC with their Broadway tickets as the highlight.

It had been a rough few weeks since the Pandemic was declared and the world started to shut down. And I suspected the worst yet to come would be heartbreaking. New York City had a death rate that terrified me. My family is still there. I had a sister working in a City Hospital. I had a friend who was a mortician. Their stories chilled the blood in my veins.

The world news was full of sadness, heartbreak, fear... 

Enter my hero, John Krasinski, who I knew from Jack Ryan (I never watched The Office) and 13 Hours. On April 5, 2020, Some Good News with John Krasinski (Ep. 2) dropped. 

The story of a 9 year old not seeing Hamilton leads to a Zoom bomb by Lin Manuel and the original cast and they serenade the 9 year old. It was a bright light in a very dark time. And this spark of true joy started my late to the party love of the musical Hamilton. I have watched it an obsene number of times- my safe and happy place, 

On July 3rd 2020, Hamilton dropped on Disney Plus and I watched it and fell in love. I cried when John Lawrence died, when our First Father stepped down, when Philip, poor Philip... I yelled at Hamilton for cheating on his dear sweet wife.

And I sobbed my eyes out when Alexander Hamilton died. Like it just happened, instead of happening in 1803.

Then I watched First Burn... and It's Quiet Uptown by Kelly Clarkson. 

Yes. Officially obsessed. In absolute love. And how I needed it that dark dark summer. And I read the book (a mammoth task even for a bookworm like me) which only shows my brain doesn't work anything like Lin Manuel Miranda. 

I am watching Hamilton again tonight after finishing Failing Up by Leslie Odem Jr. (Arron Burr).

I will always be grateful to these brilliantly talented individuals and this gift they have given us.