Jackson Cooper
   Staff Writer

“Hamilton” does what every high school student always fantasized about: it raps American history.

Literally.

The newest sensation on Broadway has received overwhelming hype for its concept: a 2+ hour rap musical featuring America’s founding fathers. When have dead white guys ever rapped? Never. But writer, composer and star Lin-Manuel Miranda has other ideas. Instead of old white guys rapping (or attempting to), “Hamilton” takes on a racially diverse cast of only Latino and African American actors.

The result? One of the most talked about shows (Joe Biden and the Clintons have gone) in recent years.

“Hamilton” is the common man’s musical. That means that anyone can listen to it and “get” it. Often, musicals are thrown aside as fluff or the thing the weird drama kids listen to. They make hesitant people think, “how can I ever like listening to people bursting into song—it’s very unrealistic.” Okay, sure, most are. But “Hamilton” is an exception to the rule.

In fact, it broke then number one rule in musical theatre, which is that everything needs to be sung. The founding fathers discuss their politics the same way NWA addresses the state of America: with a beat and an audience.

For those who listen to “Hamilton,” the idea of a rap musical (I will deem the term “rapsical” firsthand) sounds wholly new and original.

Integrated between rap passages are some powerful songs sung by the women in Hamilton’s life which seem to be, despite moving the plot forward in time (or backwards with flashbacks), in a completely different show than the rest. Songs like “Helpless/Satisfied” and “Burn” are gut-wrenching in their delivery and power to emotionally resonate with the listener.

Yet, after these songs, we’re back in the “Hamilton-land,” of freestyled Cabinet debates that have the same beat and similar lyrical rhythms as the other rap features in the show.

It gets a bit weak midway through Act 1, but the redeeming part is that the story is told so clearly through Miranda’s lyrics that we are never lost in history.

I highly recommend the album because it will get you to listen to what musicals are becoming. No longer are the days (sadly) of the Rodgers and Hammerstein-style musical (although “The King and I” Broadway revival is worth a ticket to New York) of boy-meets-girl musical comedy formula. New territories of theatre are being explored and it is important, even if you do not frequent the Stephen Sondheim radio station, that you listen and understand what is happening in the arts today.

Both times I visited New York, everyone was raving about “Hamilton’s” upcoming release and how it was going to change the world and the way we listen to musicals. While my opinion is only based on the recording (of the full show, by the way), I’m sure seeing it will help in appreciating it even more.

Buy it on iTunes and listen to how new work is created and discovered.