Hamilton in Hamburg
After New York, Chicago, London and other major venues, the musical sensation finally came to Hamburg. Stage Entertainment developed a German-language version of the mega hit Hamilton. The musical officially celebrated its big German premiere in Hamburg in October 2022.
The Rap Musical Sensation
Hamilton hit Broadway like a explosion. Since its premiere in 2015, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s beloved musical has been consistently sold out and has already won eleven Tony Awards and a Pulitzer Prize. In addition, the musical holds the record for the most Tony nominations ever (16) and has won a Grammy Award for Best Musical Album. Incredible for a musical that veers away from the traditional Broadway sound and instead raps about the life of an American founding father, Alexander Hamilton. And yet it's true: no one can escape the magic of Hamilton. The casting in particular caused a furore: almost exclusively Black and Latinx actors were cast in the roles of the founding fathers and other protagonists in order to better reflect contemporary America.
The 10-Dollar Founding Father
Hardly anyone in Germany knows him, and even in America, where he graces the $10 bill, Alexander Hamilton and his contributions to American history were far from common knowledge. All that changed when Lin-Manuel Miranda turned the life of this founding father into a hit musical. Alexander Hamilton's humble beginnings and meteoric rise to the top of American politics, fuelled solely by his intellect, work ethic, tactical skills and - not least - the power of his written word, make him a pioneer of hip hop in Miranda's eyes. His rivalries and spats with the other founding fathers, most notably Aaron Burr and Thomas Jefferson, are legendary and his incomparably biting, brilliant verbosity make him, in Miranda's eyes, an embodiment of hip hop like no other.
From Penniless Orphan to Secretary of the Treasury
Alexander Hamilton was a pioneer and trailblazer in many ways. A penniless orphan from the Caribbean, he achieved an astronomical rise to fame through his intellect, work ethic and tactical skills. But his ambition would ultimately spell his downfall. Hamilton met a tragic end in a duel with his eternal rival Aaron Burr. Prior to this, events in his life spiralled. Hamilton became a rebel against the British monarchy, fought in the American Revolutionary War, rose through the ranks to become George Washington's right-hand man, virtually single-handedly constructed the American system of political economy, and became the first secretary of the treasury of the recently independent United States. In the end, his legacy is at stake.
A Note on Language:
Like all of Hamburg’s Musicals, Hamilton was in German. However, anyone familiar with the original English soundtrack or the history itself was able to follow along thanks to the universally comprehensible spectacle of dance and music.
