Wow the music!
Wow the staging!
Wow the everything!
So much good.
Many of you may know that I'm a MASSIVE fan of Les Miserables, I've seen it multiple times in multiple venues (once in London!). This show didn't displace Les Miz from its #1 spot, but I will say it nestled right up there next to it.
There is no way I'd "revue" the show. I'm not a theatre critic, nor am I a music critic. All I can say is the entire spectacle affected me profoundly. I'm sure I learned a fair amount of this is grade school, right? I'm embarrassed to say not much of Hamilton's influence on our country stuck with me post 5th grade, though. After the performance, I mentioned that for the new generation this is like a much longer, much more intense SchoolHouse Rock. Now it's gonna stick, like Conjunction Junction and I'm Just a Bill. (Or if you're still feeling patriotic after the 4th, watch this!)
I did a bit more "prep" for this Broadway musical than normal. I had listened to the soundtrack before seeing it and I also read (okay, listened to - don't judge) a book called Hamilton: A Revolution, which is about the making of the show. It's fun and informative if you like that sort of thing.
I was driving from LA to the Bay Area with my niece the weekend before I saw Hamilton and as we were talking about her experience seeing it, I started to think that what she was saying about the show was reminding me a lot of the film (originally a play) Amadeus. So I thought I'd re-watch that old classic and see if my thoughts are completely unfounded.
Amadeus (released in 1984)
I loved this movie when it came out. Tom Hulce was a total nut in his portrayal of the pink-wigged Mozart and F. Murray Abraham was wonderful as the pious yet extremely jealous Salieri. Milos Forman's vision of this story captured audience's imaginations immediately and it was a huge hit. Not unlike Hamilton.
Here are a few of the things that struck me as interestingly similar (at least interesting to me).
Similarity #1:
To a different degree, both pieces represented their historical time period with a distinctly modern feeling. Mozart and Hamilton were born right around the same year (Mozart was born in 1756 and Hamilton was either '55 or '57 - both in January). Everyone knows how Lin-Manuel Miranda modernized Hamilton - adding all sorts of different musical styles to represent different characters and time periods. Amadeus' modernization was far subtler but still stood out to me. Typically, in period films, everyone dons an English accent - even in the movie Troy which took place in 12th Century BC Greece, for crying out loud (Brad Pitt should be ashamed of himself for that accent). In Amadeus, everyone spoke with their native accent. It was SO refreshing to hear Emperor Joseph ll, ruler of the Austrian dominions sound just like Mr. Rooney from Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
Similarity #2:
Both Mozart and Hamilton were absolute geniuses.
Hamilton rose from the humblest beginnings (born out of wedlock, orphaned very young) by his extreme intelligence and scrappiness. He was running a business by his early teenage years.
Mozart never had to work that hard (plus it seemed like he chose not to). He was a musical prodigy, composing his first pieces when he was 5. I mean, Mozart's full name was Johannes Chrysostomos Wolfgangus Theophilius Mozart. He chose the cut down version Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Amadeus being the Latin translation of Theophilius - both translate to Love of God. I imagine he knew he was pretty cool.
Neither backed down from their convictions or from how they envisioned their world to be and both clearly made their mark on history.
Similarity #3:
Awards! Amadeus was up for 53 awards that year and won 40. The film won 8 of the 11 Oscars it was up for including Best Picture, Actor (Abraham) and Director. Hamilton was nominated for over 50 awards on the Broadway production (also nominated for a bunch as an off-Broadway production) and won 10 of the 16 Tonys it was up for, including Best Musical, Actor, Original Score and Choreographer. Wow!
Similarity #4:
This is the similarity that struck me most strongly - the reason I even thought about this post.
Both of these stories are narrated by the protagonist's biggest rival.
I know Amadeus is HIGHLY fictionalized (in fact, there is no real proof that Salieri hated Mozart or thought he killed him but it makes a dang good story) but I find this a really compelling story-telling tool. It allows the audience to see the protagonist with a critical eye as well as giving a sympathetic depiction of the rival. It gives us more nuance.
It is almost heartbreaking to watch both Salieri and Burr know that they excel in their fields and are good men, yet are consistently thwarted (at least that is how they perceive it) by these other men; feeling deep down that they can never ascend to the heights that Mozart and Hamilton can.
This is especially clear with Salieri. He laments that he has devoted his life to God in payment for the music God has given him. Yet Mozart (or "the Creature" as he calls him) continually creates beautiful, heavenly music while being a crass and lazy man. How can that possibly be fair?
(My drink pairing for both of these is a double Gin and Tonic. They are both super long so you want to be fortified.)
My takeaways:
#1 - I would have liked to have seen Amadeus the play. While I love the way they treat the musical soundtrack in the film - like we are listening in to Mozart's thoughts - it would be cool to see this live, I think.
#2 - Both pieces ended with a small sound. Amadeus ended with Tom Hulce's signature Amadeus laugh and Hamilton ended with Eliza's gasp. Both endings were extremely effective to me. It's like that one small sound gathered everything that happened and put a period on the end of it.
xoxo....hashtagSueslife
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