By: Keval Bollavaram

Based on his opposition to Bishop Samuel Seabury, Alexander Hamilton published several essays to clarify his belief and stance on the cooperation of governmental power between the newly formed Continental Congress and the British Parliament. Bishop Samuel Seabury was a staunch supporter of British authority and opposed the actions of the Continental Congress. While feuding with Hamilton over the acts of the Continental Congress, Seabury took up the pen name “A.W. Farmer” while responding to Hamilton’s writings.

In Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical Hamilton, the song Farmer Refuted highlights the arguments between Seabury and Hamilton. Similarly, the fanart below encompasses the emotions behind the song.

In the original song, Hamilton is able to express the unfair treatment of the colonies through dialog while Seabury discuss the harm revolution would cause by dissolving the stability that British rule brought to the colonies. In the adapted fanart, Hamilton seems to be arguing directly against Seabury rather than Seabury’s beliefs. Moreover, the fanart makes Hamilton look as though he is making an enemy out of Seabury while Seabury seems more level headed. The fanart makes the dialogue between the two seem public as though it occurred at the center of town. This is indicated by the stage on which they stand, the town hall in the background, and the throng surrounding the stage. In addition, the placement of Hamilton face behind the sun and in color along with his irate facial expression makes Hamilton seem more passionate about his cause than Seabury. Overall, the fanart gives the impression that Seabury was spreading his message to condemn the Continental Congress before Hamilton dramatically grabs his writings and tears them apart.

In my own statistical analysis of the play Hamilton, I believe I can make comparisons among details in the original musical rather than simply focusing on main ideas. For example, rather than counting the number of mentions of George Washington during songs pertaining to the Revolutionary War, I will try to focus on the context of those mentions—such as if Washington’s allies or enemies discuss him more among different musicals about American Independence.

By: Ahad Khatri

 

 

The song “Immigrants (We Get The Job Done)” is an interesting adaptation of “Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down)”, incorporating some of the lyrics (“Black and white soldiers wonder alike if this really means freedom”) as well as, notably, a recurring sample from the original song (“Immigrants: We get the job done”). The text is a unique take from the original song, which recounts the Siege of Yorktown, which was perhaps the last major battle in the American Revolutionary War.

To give some more context regarding the end of the Revolution, marked by the Battle of Yorktown, Alexander Hamilton and Marquis de Lafayette, who represented America and France, fought hard to force Lord Cornwallis, who was the British Army General during this battle, to surrender. The argument of the song “Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down)” was the foundation and construction of America on immigration and culture, not on authority.

The song “Immigrants (We Get The Job Done)” keeps the theme of power and strength, derived from a mixture of different colors and creeds coexisting in America. It’s diverse style, stemming from a diverse range of artists, like K’Naan (Somali), Snow Tha Product (Mexican), Riz MC (British and Pakistani), and Residente (Puerto Rican), parallels the different voices on “Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down)”, such as Hamilton (Caribbean) and Lafayette (French), to give more credibility to the idea that immigration was and continues to be a movement in America. The adaptation was released in 2016, during the Trump campaign, and provided emotional and situational context for immigrants, as they are now being separated from their families near the U.S.-Mexico border.

Such feelings are conveyed by a cadre of outspoken artists, some of who are living in America, so the adaptation makes the original song more personal to the people who are struggling with today’s immigration policies. According to the Genius.com annotation of the original song, the lyrics “Immigrants: We get the job done” remind people that the values on which America was found were “intended to apply to men who look like the actual Hamilton and Lafayette and to modern men and women who look more like Miranda and Diggs”, which could refer to, song-wise, the different artists on the adaptation. For more information regarding both songs, follow the links below:

https://genius.com/Knaan-snow-tha-product-riz-mc-and-residente-immigrants-we-get-the-job-done-lyrics

https://genius.com/Lin-manuel-miranda-yorktown-the-world-turned-upside-down-lyrics

Finally, because I am also Pakistani and Canadian, both songs remind me of how I have changed in an environment like America, and how, by working hard, and reminding myself of where I came from, I can become a more open-minded and strong individual. This perspective might help me write my own thoughts and values into my remix of “Alexander Hamilton”, as I can potentially talk about my roots and my understanding of America, as Lin-Manuel Miranda did so with Hamilton.

By: Arfa Ul-Haque

Since its release in 2015, Hamilton has had many remixes and adaptations, especially through the Hamilton Mixtape and Hamildrops which present another side of the characters and transform iconic lines from the musical into their own songs. One of the biggest effects of these remixes is to make the messages of the songs more relatable and to generalize them to contexts outside of the musical. Another purpose of these adaptations is to offer a new perspective on a character and illustrate how replacing one song in the musical could have changed a character’s role in the story, as seen in “First Burn”.

“First Burn” is a song told from the point of view of Eliza Schuyler, Alexander Hamilton’s wife, as a reaction to the recount of his affair in the Reynolds Pamphlet, in lieu of “Burn” from the Original Broadway Cast Recording of Hamilton.

The song begins with same lyrics and melody as “Burn” before transitioning to an aggressive tone once Eliza commands Hamilton not to “take a step in [her] direction”. Instead of removing herself from his narrative, she forces him out of hers. Just by this line, it’s clear that this version of Eliza is angrier than the version of Eliza in “Burn”, where she is heartbroken and uses that pain to destroy Hamilton’s legacy of writing.

One of the main differences between “Burn” and “First Burn” is Angelica’s role in the relationship between Eliza and Hamilton. Angelica’s characterization with the final version of “Burn”, as well as her role in Eliza meeting Hamilton and supporting her sister after the affair, builds the relationship between the sisters. If the original version had been placed in the musical instead, their relationship would be damaged as Eliza calls out Hamilton for shamelessly flirting with other women: “I see how you look at my sister”. Therefore, the final version maintained a consistent portrayal of Eliza.

Although the Eliza we see in “First Burn” is more reactionary than the one in “Burn”, Eliza’s response in the final version of the song is more powerful. In destroying Hamilton’s letters, Eliza takes power over Hamilton and controls his legacy rather than admonishing him for his infidelity. In attacking Hamilton for his “senseless” and “paranoid” writing rather than for his impulsiveness and selfishness, she makes him feel the same amount of pain she felt due to his unfaithfulness.

For my Remix and Adaptation Project, I will try to make sure that I portray the characters in a consistent characterization. I will also work on making the purpose of my adaptation understandable to a general audience, even those unfamiliar with Hamilton.

By: Adair Garrett

Remixes and adaptations can transform a work from being entertaining to feeling personal, emotional, or political.  The musical Hamilton already works to leave lasting impressions on its audience, and the remixes allow these impressions to develop and last as the musical ages and fans search for new meaning in the same story.  I believe that a few of the remixes shared with us were really powerful and effective in adding dimensions to female characters in the show, especially the adaptations of “Say Yes To This” and “Congratulations”.

Because of its surprising ability to perfectly complement its counterpart from the musical, I really enjoyed the animatic “Say Yes To This”.  I appreciated that this remix, although roughly drawn, gave Maria Reynolds more of a voice than Hamilton did.  I liked that the song pulls from the musical themes in “Say No To This” and adds dimensions and passions to a character we know so little about, both in historical records and in the musical.  It stills presents Alexander Hamilton as almost blameless, which I believe is probably very incorrect, but this remains consistent with how the original material presented the affair. The video made it even more powerful for me because it gives so much more of a personality to the character of Maria Reynolds, who was so quickly painted as an evil temptress in the show.

For similar reasons, I enjoyed the adaptation “Congratulations” in the Ham4Ham performance.  The fact that this performance was the final Ham4Ham was very powerful for me because it allowed Angelica to voice a witty and savage opinion about what Hamilton did to her sister and her family’s image.  The live performance is impressive and extremely catchy (it is playing over and over in my head even now, the day after listening to the performance). Performing to the audience outside did probably encourage Renée Elise Goldsberry to sing louder and more powerfully, but I also believe that she sang with so much emotion to state a point as the character Angelica.  The shift in the vocal performance in the cover by Dessa made it less powerful for me, and the production that the mixtape allowed to be added to the performance made it feel less emotional for me. Since Angelica and Alexander have such a strong relationship and correspondence throughout the show leading up to this point, this performance made her retort seem like part of their normal banter.  The difference between these two remixes showed me how different inflictions and small variations can completely change what a remix does for its audience.

For your reference:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grgwUiToyHs

These remixes allowed me to understand how much power is implicit when drawing from Hamilton to make an argument.  I appreciated how the songs built on the musical and did not contradict it in any way.  The way that these songs and adaptations added more to the story and gave voice to other underlying issues will continue to inspire me as I begin to work on my Remix and Adaptation Project.