Palaces Out Of Paragraphs

By: Max Jarck

I am most familiar with the adaptation of ‘Helpless’ found on The Hamilton Mixtape. I was introduced to this song several months before this class when it was added to a collaborative Spotify playlist I follow. At this point I had no idea what Hamilton even was. I decided to take a closer look at this adaption.

Ashanti and Ja Rule’s version of ‘Helpless’ is a pretty faithful cover of the original. There is little variation to the lyrics and overall sound of the song. Ashanti is a Grammy award-winning artist who topped the charts in the early 2000s. She was featured on Ja Rules’s ‘Always on Time’ which was one of the biggest hits of 2002. The two released several songs together during this time. This remix of ‘Helpless’ is a reunion for the two artists.

Ashanti assumes the role Eliza and rarely alters the lyrics. In the first verse of the line “Everybody’s dancin’ and the bands top volume” from the original cast recording is changed to “everybody’s dancin’ and the bass top volume.” This is just a small change that I caught and I think it may signify how important bass has become in today’s music. For many, the bass line can make or break a song.

The most significant difference is the elimination of Angelica. In the original Angelica introduces Hamilton to Eliza. These spoken scenes are cut from the adaptation. These cut scenes add to the play because they give important backstory but are unnecessary in the adaptation which is meant to be a standalone piece. In addition, this makes the adaptation more radio friendly.

Ja rule has a very unique baritone voice which is a stark contrast to Lin Manuel Miranda’s. This gives Alexander Hamilton’s verses a slightly different feel and instead of moving to Harlem with Eliza Ja Rule decided to let them move to his native Queens.

This adaption of Hamilton doesn’t change medium or reinvent anything. It is a well done cover of a beautiful song that leads to a more R&B and radio friendly feel.

By: Clarisa Colton

I’ve decided for this final blog post I am going to discuss the remix of “My Shot” from the Hamilton Mixtape. What really struck me about this remix was that how even though most of the lyrics were changed, the message was still the same. The message was still the same because the message still applies today. The first thing I would like to point out is that the lyrics that aren’t changed – “I said I’m not throwin’ away my shot / Yo I’m just like my country / I’m young, scrappy, and hungry / And I’m not throwin’ away my shot”. It’s not true anymore that our country is literally young, but I feel that it is a true statement that the people today that are trying to make a change in the America we currently live in are mostly the young people of America. In both versions of the song, it delivers a message telling us that we can “rise up” and become anything we work for. I feel the context of the song mainly directs it to those who aren’t generally as able to become who they dream of being or at least feel they aren’t able – minorities.

 

 

Which is kind of what the entirety of Hamilton is directed towards. Those who feel small, or left behind – it’s a message to those people that they are just as capable as anyone else, despite the circumstances. The way this differs from the original is that it puts the idea of the song into a more modern/current light. I feel that this makes the message more accessible to those who might need it today. This helps me to understand what my adaptation needs to accomplish – to reach a different audience that may need the message of the song just as much.

by: Emily Moseley

My favorite of the Ham4Ham pieces was when Miranda pulled out their production stage manager Jason Bassett to call all the cues while Miranda and the company performed “Ten Duel Commandments.” This got me excited because when I was my school’s theater company stage manager for my last two years of high school so it gave me something I could personally relate to with Hamilton.

Even though I didn’t have the same cue calls for the intricate lighting and turntables that Bassett did, I knew exactly what he was rambling on about while the actors were singing and running around (since there were no real turntables on the streets of New York City). This Ham4Ham performance was not necessarily making any changes to the musical, just bringing certain aspects of it forward for the audience to notice. You can still hear the actors singing the “Ten Duel Commandments” but more prominent you hear Bassett’s voice on the microphone calling for light cues, when to and which direction to start the turntables, and who to spotlight.

The argument of the original piece is quite clear: Miranda wants to tell the story of our Founding Fathers, especially Alexander Hamilton, in a different, color-blind, light and with a different tone. But this adaptation of part of the show has nothing to do with the original message, it merely wants to show the crowd the hard work and mechanics that go into producing a musical like this every night on Broadway. He wants to give credit to the techies that rarely see the spotlight or get credit from the audience for the work they put in at the same time that the actors are putting on the show. By getting Bassett on the mic, and still keeping the actors in front, Miranda was able to show the audience outside the theater how important the roles of stage manager and crew are into running a high production musical like this. Without them, the actors probably would not be fully dressed (I’ve hastily dressed many actors before), they definitely won’t be in the spotlight, and all props would be lost…forever. Actors have a knack for losing props that I just won’t ever understand. When I used to be stage manager, the tables back stage would look like crime scenes because I would tape out sections for every prop on their respective stage right a left and if something wasn’t in its place we knew right away.

I don’t know if I’ll use the theme of this Ham4Ham in my own adaptation or remix but I did enjoy watching and analyzing it. This “Love for the Techies Day” video let me look back at my own time as stage manager and see it applied on a much higher level in Hamilton the Musical.

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.