“Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story?” Hamilton, a hip hop infused musical based on the life of Alexander Hamilton written by Lin Manuel Miranda, reminds us that we have little control over who tells our story. Rather, you must do the bets to tell your own story truthfully, and know that your story is all that continues on after you pass.
On an evening in 2008 Lin Manuel Miranda mentioned to Jeremy McCarter his concept of writing a Hip-Hop concept album centered around the life of Alexander Hamilton. Alexander Hamilton was the United States’ first secretary of the treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of this nation. While compiling his conceptual album, Lin Manuel Miranda stated that Alexander Hamilton is “someone who embodies hip-hop,”…show more content… Alexander Hamilton’s most eminent contribution to the United States was his proposal of constitutional government. Hamilton is intermittently credited with conceptualizing the idea of a three branch government; a system which is still administered to date. “Perhaps Hamilton’s greatest contribution was his morally realistic philosophical anthropology, which served as the foundation for his theory of constitutionalism, his theory of political administration, his political economy, and his theory of international relations,” (Federici “The Legacy of Alexander Hamilton”). “Henry Cabot Lodge, who edited a collection of Hamilton’s papers, wrote, ‘The dominant purpose of Hamilton's life was the creation of a national sentiment , and thereby the making of a great and powerful nation from the discordant elements furnished by thirteen jarring States,” (Miranda…show more content… Choosing to turn a ‘blind-eye’ to politics with assumption that you are safe within your own four walls, as Cabaret exploits, is an act rooted in ignorance. The show is incredibly deep and tugs at our innate morals of security, modesty, and acceptance. In the midst of our gridlocked political scene and racial tensions in the US currently, Cabaret provides lessons regarding persecution based on race and religion and how we can collectively as a world combat this. Alan Cumming, having played the Emcee in every decade of his life, is quoted on why he was returning to the role at 50 years old, “stories like the one in Cabaret need to be told to every generation…there are people being persecuted everywhere—it comes in waves really—and that is why it is important to tell stories like
