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opinion
KANSAN.COM | MONDAY, FEB. 15, 2016
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NASSERI: Grammys help highlight diversity of "Hamilton"cast
Illustration by Jake Kaufmann AP Photo
▶ BROOK NASSERI
@enasseri32
This year's 58th-annual Grammy awards will showcase some of the biggest idols of the music industry. Stars including Rihanna, Adele, and Kendrick Lamar are expected to perform their recent hits.
And during the show, a live satellite will transport viewers to New York City for a performance straight out of 1776. The cast of Broadway show "Hamilton" will perform a musical theater number for the eighth time in the history of the awards show, playing from a theatre that seats 1,319 for a Grammys audience which was just under 25 million in 2015.
If you've somehow neglected to hear about "Hamilton" until now, welcome to one of the biggest phenomena in show business. Lin-Manuel Miranda, the son of Puerto Rican immigrants and a recent MacArthur fellow, was inspired to write the book, music and lyrics for this smash hit after reading Ron Chernow's 2004 biography of Alexander Hamilton; Miranda now stars as Hamilton, the "young, scrappy, and hungry" founding father, and it's nominated for Best Musical Theater Album at the Grammys.
The soundtrack draws heavily from hip-hop influences and debuted at an astounding number 12 on Billboard's Hot 200 chart last October. Despite their hip-hop sound, Miranda's lyrics are just as comfortable referencing Shakespeare
and classic musicals. Lines from Washington's Farewell Address and the Declaration of Independence are set to incredibly catchy beats. The annotated lyrics have become a highlighted work of art.
On top of being smashingly smart and popular, "Hamilton" provides a much-needed infusion of diversity to American history discourse. As Miranda told the Hollywood Reporter, "In 'Hamilton,' we're telling the stories of old, dead white men but we're using actors of color, and that makes the story more immediate and more accessible to a contemporary audience." In a show featuring characters such as Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and George Washington, the only Caucasian principal plays King George III, and his three British-pop-esque solos bring the musical's overall rapid speed and style to a halt.
While it does make great
strides for diversity, Hamilton's message is somewhat muted by its format. Tickets for the Richard Rodgers Theatre, which cost $139 on average, are sold out through December. And for the 310 million people in the United States who reside outside of New York City, the logistics of seeing the musical "in the room where it happens" get even more complicated. The demographics of Broadway audience members starkly contrast the diverse cast of Hamilton; according to the Broadway League, almost 80 percent of Broadway ticket buyers between June 2014 and June 2015 were Caucasian, and the average theatergoer's age was 44.
A film version of the musical would undoubtedly increase ease of access for millions of people around the world. Miranda, who seems to work non-stop, has expressed his desire to film the show with the original cast. But while reaching a wider audience would be an under-
niable benefit of a movie, the show's presence on Broadway allows it to provide an educational experience that a film would not.
For young people who have the opportunity to see Hamilton's original cast, many will never have seen a show on Broadway before.
"That's just what musicals are going to look like for them," Miranda told Newsweek earlier this month. "Of course it's a cast full of actors of color. Of course it's music that uses hip-hop and contemporary music but also tells a story. That's just going to be their default experience of what a musical is."
This show has the potential to inspire young adults to do things they'd never before considered, giving hundreds of thousands of audience members onstage heroes who actually resemble them. This type of diversity is much needed in the midst of a Broadway season when no new plays were
written by women or people of color. While a film would undoubtedly reach a wider audience, the traditionally highbrow nature of the theater and rituals associated with show business allows Hamilton to influence people in a different way.
Although attending the musical is next to impossible for most people, Miranda has worked hard to make his work accessible. Miranda offers a free 5-minute pre-show performance known as Ham4Ham outside the theater during lotteries for $10 front-row tickets; videos of these variety shows are widely shared online. In October, the Rockefeller Foundation and the show's producers subsidized a program that will give New York City high school juniors the opportunity to attend certain matinees for only $10. The show will soon open additional runs, Chicago starting in September and San Francisco in March 2017, which will allow many people to see the show. In addition, the entire Hamilton soundtrack as recorded by the original Broadway cast is available on YouTube and Spotify.
And finally, millions of Grammys viewers will have the opportunity to see the opening number from the show tonight. For most of us, that will have to be enough.
Brook Nasseri is a sophomore from Topeka studying microbiology and English.
- Edited by Skylar Rolstad
MIKINSKI: Criticism of Beyoncé's halftime show stems from lack of understanding
MADDY MIKINSKI Miss_Maddy
On the eve of Super Bowl 50, in a classic move, Beyoncé surprise-dropped her new single "Formation" accompanied by a video depicting strong allusions to the Black Lives Matter movement. "You know you that b---- when you cause all this conversation," she sings towards the end of the track. What she says is true. Beyoncé's music (and Beyoncé herself) always has a wider impact than just her fanbase. After the song's two quick references to Red Lobster, the chain reported a 33 percent increase in sales. Only a day after releasing the video and song, the 20-time Grammy winner performed alongside Bruno Mars and Coldplay at the Super Bowl halftime show. Beyoncé's appearance caused a different, misguided conversation.
About halfway through the show, Beyoncé appeared flanked by dancers in costumes reminiscent of the Black Panther Party,
Last Saturday, "Saturday Night Live" weighed in on the controversy with a skit "The Day Beyoncé Turned Black." The skit, stylized as a horror movie trailer, turns white Americans' opposition of the song and video into an apocalyptic panic. It's a perfect dramatization of the controversy the song
an organization founded in 1966 to counteract police brutality and other types of oppression America's black community faces. Though the "Formation" lyrics themselves don't explicitly mention police brutality or Black Lives Matter, the costumes were enough to send many Americans, including New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, into a tizzy. "This isn't about equality," said Tomi Lahren, a political commentator for The Blaze. "This is about ramrodding an aggressive agenda down our throats and using entertainment value to do so." Other critics equated Beyoncé and her dancers' costumes with wearing Ku Klux Klan hoods and robes onto the field.
and performance faced.
Critics of Beyonce's performance are completely missing the point, starting with the Black Lives Matter movement. As has been argued time and time before, by people who have way more influence than me, saying that black lives matter should never be a controversial topic. In October, President Obama spoke about the movement on a White House panel.
"Everyone knows that all lives matter," he said. "I think the reason that the organizers used the phrase 'black lives matter' was not because they were suggesting nobody else's lives matter, but rather what they were suggesting was there is a specific problem that is happening in the African-American community that is not happening in other communities."
By promoting the Black Lives Matter movement in her video, Beyoncé isn't implying that any life is less important than another, she's simply drawing attention to a particular issue.
Comparing Black Panther Party imagery to that of the Ku Klux Klan is a complete stretch bordering on ignorance. Though the BPP has been associated with violence in the past, the group's actions don't even come close to rivaling those of the KKK. According to Tuskegee University, between the years of 1882 and 1968, the terrorist group lynched a total of 4,745 people-3,446 of whom were black. Additionally, one of the main goals of the BPP was to protect and better the lives of black America. At the party's inception, their Ten Point program laid out their goals for the organization: "We want land, bread, housing, education, clothing, justice, and peace."
The backlash her message has faced is evidence of how oblivious Americans are concerning the struggles of over 13 percent of the population.
This is a marked difference from a pamphlet distributed by the Klan in the 1920s, which reads, "All of
Christian Civilization depends upon the preservation and upbuilding of the White Race, and it is the mission of the Ku Klux Klan to proclaim this doctrine until the White Race shall come into its own." The BPP fought for equality and an end to oppression; the KKK championed (and still does) an ideology rooted in hatred, violence, and prejudice.
Beyonce's halftime show performance is not a message of hatred or a call to retaliation against the police. It's a symbol of the early origins of the Black Lives Matter movement and what that movement has come to represent today. Anyone who misunderstands this message simply misunderstands the history and current political landscape of this country.
Maddy Mikinski is a senior from Linwood studying English and journalism.
- Edited by Deanna Ambrose
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