The Musical Hamilton

A beginning reflection on the musical Hamilton

The musical appears to be many stories in one presentation. There is the personal life of Hamilton, there is his political life in the formation of our country, the dynamics with various personalities, the conflict, etc. 

Because he is shot and dies, the play becomes a grief story and ends as a resolution to a grief story when the wife leaves a legacy in his name, especially the orphanage since he was an orphan. As a hospital chaplain who directed a grief recovering group for 17 years you could predict I would see this as a dominant among the other various stories and levels of meaning. Am I sure it isn't the dominant, only the dominant I was left with.

This is definitely a play that wasn’t put together over night. 

From the grief standpoint I was reminded of All the Way Home, a play based on James Agee’s book, Death in the Family. The story is told from the nine year old whose father dies suddenly in a car accident.  I saw the play in New York duing a summer I was serving as the supply night chaplain at Bellevue Hospital. The memory continues. I have some good stories at the night chaplain as well.

Shalom,

Marlin Whitmer
mwhitmer80@gmail.com