Last weekend was the Fourth of July, a cause for socially distanced picnics and (even more) fireworks (than usual). But when the collective “we” looks back on July 4, 2020, in a few years, many Americans might remember it as the weekend the filmed version of Hamilton arrived on Disney+ in the middle of a pandemic.
Hamilton, a musical that debuted at the Public Theater in New York in 2015, shouldn’t be such a topic of conversation five years later. It was a phenomenon when it premiered, but in the intervening years it has been analyzed and think-pieced ad infinitum. There really shouldn’t be more to say. Yet, in the era of streaming, it’s become as relevant as ever. The biggest hurdle the musical faced throughout its wildly successful run at the Public, on Broadway, and beyond was access; getting tickets felt impossible. Scores of people who had all but memorized the soundtrack had never seen the show performed. But last Friday, thanks to Disney+, anyone with a subscription could see it in its entirety—right down to Jonathan Groff’s King George spit.
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