Contrary to some other commenters, I think watching it one song at a time is a really good way to do it. If you aren’t as familiar with all the characters from your history class it’s easy to get lost. Better to watch and let each song and character sink in, then watch it all together later after you know them all to get the full emotional impact. The exception is the trio of songs you already said you’d do together (Winter’s Ball/Helpless/Satisfied). You will only get the true genius of those if they’re viewed back to back.
The muder of the young women at the beginning of the song (and following the King) sets up something called "the bullet" which moves through the show and foreshadows the deaths of various characters...
Also, with ONE exception in the show, Hamilton always addresses Burr as "Sir". It's a subtle way to show that Hamilton, historically, always felt inferior to the other Founding Fathers and revolutionaries because they had formal educations and wealth and Hamilton started as a poor and (literal) bastard. It's mentioned in every introduction song by Burr AND there is a line in one of the songs where Jefferson says Adam's calls Hamilton a "Creole bastard".
I like how they made Burr, the man who actually killed Hamilton, the ultimate unreliable narrator of this story. As he goes along, he pities himself more and more all the way up to the reason he shoots Hamilton. One of his last lines, "The world is wide enough, for both Hamilton and Me"... so many people think he's upset that he killed him, but he's SO not... take a good look at the history of Burr AFTER Hamilton dies and that one word, "WIDE", makes SO MUCH more sense than any other word that could have gone there. Burr went nucking futs! lol
The “Dying is easy... living is harder.” line always reminds me of Buffy’s line from the episode ‘The Gift’: “The hardest thing in this world is to live in it.” As a younger person that sentiment really mattered to me, & this iteration does as well. I think of these phrases as survivors’ mottos.
As you're watching the entire play as a unit, something to note, there is a dancer who plays the role of Death. She is the suicidal cousin; she comes to Phillip's duel, and she "carries " the bullet to Hamilton when he's shot.
Right Hand Man is a great song! Christopher Jackson (the actor who plays Washington) has an amazing voice. There is a song later called One Last Time in which his voice is really showcased! Its amazing, and has a lot of historical significance. It’s a great point to pause between songs so you can see the feedback in the comments, but I’m glad you are going to listen to the next three together. They really do go together and build off each other. Can’t wait to see your reaction!
It's fine to react to the songs individually, especially in this format where you seem to be able to process the story quite well so far. It would be nice to see you watch the entire thing in one go at the end, whether it's a recording or a livestream. Don't let anyone bully you into not pausing! You seem to be doing a good job of remembering what you wanted to talk about at the end, but if you want to highlight something you enjoyed or all a question, you something have trouble finding where in the video the moment you're looking for is. If pausing instead of waiting to the end helps you, go ahead and pause! I know people just want to make sure you don't miss anything, which can be easily solved by replaying the last couple seconds before you paused in case something got cut off. Thank you for your reactions!
If you are ever interested in going deep into the historic facts vs fiction of the musical, I highly suggest you listen to this one youtuber who's channel is call Social Stud. He's been going through the entire musical, and been talking about the facts and fiction of the musical.
"Dying is easy. Young man, living is harder." MAD, MAD, MAD props to the songwriter. THAT LINE. Hard truth right there! I think it's placement in this part of the show towards Hamilton is perfect. A top notch verbal call-to-carpet telling him to wake the F* up and grow up. I love it. Also : Chris is SO way underrated. He's AMAZING. ^_^
I went to school in both the UK and USA. They are a lot a like in the sense that neither teach students about the other. Of course in America we are taught about how we beat the British but yes, we focus more on our founding fathers than which king we beat. We pretty much have zero interest in monarchies in the US. While i was in the UK they never once brought up America while I was there. Learned a lot about Canada, but never America.
In general we teach about: the taxation...the occupation ..the military campaigns,acknowledging the process of how our government came into being. This can, as in my classroom, begin with songs, poems and books, as early as, Pre-kindergaden , my specialty. In Philadelphia, we also utilize the different parts of the city that existed during that period. Ms. P. Lempa--Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
I just ran into your Hamilton youtubes and I love them. You were kinda dry when you were setting up your gig, but as soon as you played Hamilton, you exploaded with enthusiasm which gave me joy. In one video you compared it with sounding like a Disney film, ie, Frozen. Did you know that Lin Manuel Miranda wrote the music for Disney films: Frozen, Moana, Mary Poppins. Amazing, eh?
These are my favorite things to watch. I personally think it's better to listen individually because it adds more anticipation. Keep up the great work:)
I would love to just watch you react to Hamilton, all the way through. I'd watch that all day long. Even if its after you react to all of the parts individually. It really is a work of art all together.
Lafeyette and the others are kind of the peanut gallery. They're real, important historical figures, but not essential to THIS story. Burr is. Which is why he does get his viewpoint shown eventually.
I love he animatic so much, like when Burr is fangirling over Washington and shaking Hamilton, you can see Hamilton thinking "I imagine death so much it feels-" like BURR stop shaking the poor boy so hard, you'll give him a concussion! XD
I totally understand why you prefer to watch each song (preferably 2x) & absorb it all over time. We something similar when Hamilton came out on Disney - pre-listened to the soundtrack, then watched the movie several times in a row, focusing on different things each time: story, lyrics, choreography/background, etc. There's a lot going on, a lot of subtle stuff that you can miss, even on a second (or 3rd) watch. Now I'm enjoying it all again, with you. Thank you! Also: I like your new layout, with you in the bottom corner. And also listening 2x. Quiet the 1st time, maybe occasional comments the 2nd? So you don't forget/lose your thought?
You don't get as good of an experience, but I love that you broke each song up so that it could be watched on youtube with each song in full. It'll be nice when you get to the end of the whole thing and then we won't be spoiling anything in the comments! :)
When u finish the play you should take a look at the Hamilton mix tape and Hamilton drops. They are either remix with the people Lin thought would do well as he was writing the play or thing that got cut like valley forge an a third rap battle among other th3 ham drops are a little different but they are really interesting
There is also an AMAZING hybrid song of "Dear Evan Handon" and "Hamilton " with Lin-Manuel Miranda and the "Evan Hansen" lead. They later performed it at the March for Our Lives rally. They donated the proceeds to the movement. Both are on RU-vid and they are STUNNING. (have Kleenex with you when you watch)
@@pennynicholssoler5693 Sweetie, they're on RU-vid. If you look up Lin-Manuel Miranda, it's on the list along with the original version of "Burn" (That one you might have to look up by title)
Just a thought: I think it's interesting that it's called" Hamton" instead of "Alexander Hamilton " because, as you'll see, it's as much Eliza's story as Alexander's. For example, I am a complete History nerd and, before this musical, I knew almost NOTHING about Eliza!!
When I look to my side I'm checking my recording software on another monitor to make sure it's all still working, I can see the video from that software too :)
I'm one of those who suggested he watches the whole play instead of splitting it into 46 songs. No one is "bullying" him into anything. We were suggesting that it would enhance his viewing experience watching it as intended, and he'd end up being more invested in the stories and characters that way. I would never advise someone to watch a movie like 'The Godfather' by splitting it into a dozen parts then watching the whole thing. My argument would be, watching spoilers before takes a lot out of the experience. Ultimately, it's his channel and he's made the decision to watch it in bits, and we have to respect that.