Hamilton : the revolution

i enjoyed every second of this mwuah chefs kiss

A fascinating look at how this era-defining musical came together. I am a huge fan of Hamilton (and Lin) so I pretty much knew I would enjoy this and it didn't let me down. I've read a lot about Hamilton but there was still plenty of new info in this behind-the-scenes exploration.
I listened to the audiobook while leafing through the hardcover. The book itself is a little unwieldy so I found it useful to be able to jump between the two or pick up the book when I wanted to see the accompanying pictures and design. The book itself is a beautiful object well worth owning.
I was kind of hoping Lin would be the main narrator in the audiobook but I see how the structure didn't really allow for that. I did really enjoy the section at the end when he read his annotations, though, as I followed along in the book.

this was a very heavy book but very cool read! i wish there were more annotations tho

Read this if you are interested in how the Hamilton musical happened and/or you really want to read the words of the songs.

Perfect to satisfy your history itch. Even after reading Chernow's book (which is, basically, all of what the collective we knows about Hamilton), I got something out of this.

It's beautiful. Raw creativity.

I've listened to the Hamilton soundtrack like a thousand times (okay, not nearly that many). Someday I will get to see it performed live. I love this show, even though I've never seen it. Seeing Lin-Manuel Miranda's notes on the lyrics, and his hand-written journals, and photos of the performance, and hearing the cast stories about the creation and evolution and production of this hip-hop musical - it all nearly brought me to tears a few times. It's just so great. Way to go, Hamiltome.

I simultaneously listened to the audiobook and paged through the library's print copy. The text of the book is good in audio format (narrated by Mariska Hargitay), but there's a lot of material that you can't get the full experience by listening to the audio, particularly in regard to the lyric notes; Lin reads off his notes, but if you're not looking at the song lyrics while he does, you're not going to know what he's talking about.

How do you not love this!? I loved hearing how Hamilton came to be and the ideas that sparked it's creation. I loved the passion and the dedication to the creative genius that is theater. I loved the insights and the emotion that this offered. My favorite part though, was listening to Mr. Miranda read his annotations. There was so much emotion, humor and thoughtfulness. I hope someday I'll get to see Hamilton live, but until then, there's always the soundtrack.

This was a really great book, perfect for a Hamliton fan. I borrowed both the audio and e-book version from the library and went through them at the same time. I think this is the ideal way to enjoy it for someone who likes audio books. If you only listen to the audio version, you will miss out on many of the notes throughout the book.

I listened to the audiobook of this while I was traveling to school and I loved every minute. This book made me cry while driving too many times to count, I was just so moved by everything that went into creating this masterpiece and lives that have already changed as a result. I always think of Jimmy Fallon telling Lin-Manuel Miranda that he doesn't even know him and he's proud of him. That's how I feel too!

5/5 stars

I received this book as a gift from my aunt, because she know's that I adore the musical Hamilton, and while I'm in my “I really want to read, but nothing sounds good” reading funk, I picked this up because it's something way, way different then what I usually read. And I knew I enjoy it from the first word, and I was right.

It was so fascinating to read about the birth of the musical, and the trials and events that help influence the musical. I found myself staring at the pictures throughout for way too long, and all of Lin-Manuel Miranda's annotations during the song lyrics was my favorite part.

If you enjoy Hamilton like I do (or even if you don't), pick up this book, because not only is this book interesting, it's absolutely gorgeous.

You may ask yourself, Will I enjoy the #Hamiltome if I haven't seen/listened to the Hamilton musical yet? Maybe not so much. But what you should really be asking yourself is: WHY HAVEN'T YOU LISTENED TO THE HAMILTON MUSICAL YET?! That's a better question. Seriously, why?

So, like the many other people around the Internet and America, my life was recently eaten by a frenzy of Hamilmania. As Colbert relates, I went through the three stages of: (1) oh, this is pretty clever/catchy, (2) oh, this is quite profound and important, to (3) oh my God, we're covering enormous ground here, I think we just broke culture, oh the salt of my tears. I think I've listened to the soundtrack 20 times now? Who knows. My Last.fm feed is outta control. (Seriously, I am NOOOON-STOP! Hamilreffavorite Hamilsong)

I will try to stick to the tome, and not the musical (though that will be hard): This is basically a giant, craftsy coffee table book that is part verified Genius annotations (see what I did there? cuz Lin Manuel Miranda is a verified genius now? EH?), part meta-joke (it's built like a Ye Olde Booke), part documentation of this weird vortex of cultural power. Anyway. It's the full libretto, interwoven with short chapters focusing on different aspects of the show: the thinking behind the choreography, lights; how the show came into fruition; sweet spotlights on some of the actors; etc. And some pretty pictures, pretty fonts and scratchy paper.

What the #Hamiltome makes clear - which listening to the cast album and watching the actual show (those few, those happy few) only begin to do - is how incredibly rich and layered this entire thing is. Yo, this shit has depths within depths within depths. It's mind-boggling. Like, even on my fifteenth listen, I would find new clever turns of phrase, new readings of certain words (e.g. the moment I realized the show-length double entendre of “not throwing away my shot” being about both seizing opportunities, and firing in the air during duels - oooooh maaaaah gaaaad). In a way, that's just “standard” lyrical genius that you can find in good, top-quality verse of any kind: I've had similar repeat-listen mind-expanding awe when listening to Shakespeare, Tom Stoppard, or Kanye. But the one thing I wouldn't have realized - and the book highlights - was the subtle thoughtfulness in the staging, blocking, choreography. Like, Aaron Burr moves in straight lines and Hamilton moves in arcs, because Burr sees limits and Hamilton doesn't! GENIUS, THEY'RE ALL GENIUSES BACK THERE. The book highlights sweet lyrical moments I (still) had been missing - the triple rhymes and references woven through every line - and it pulls together all the thinkpieces that this show provokes: about what it means to have colorblind casting, about its weird nexus point of Sondheim and Kanye and patriotism?!

Oh yeah, and I should mention, as with Act 2 of the show, I cried through several chapters in this book: the chapter on the high school kids who get to see the show and connect with history; the chapter about Anthony Ramos (who is wonderful on the cast album); the chapter, obviously, about Philip Hamilton's death and the final duel. Aaaaah. So good. So sad. So all-encompassing!

Fabulous.

Waiting for physical copy to read Lin's liner notes, but listened to the rest. A few interesting backstory pieces that I didn't know. Definitely funny to hear Mariska Hargitay trying to read slang or pronounce rap names. Such a hilariously bad choice in narrator that it had to have been intentional, though I don't get the intention.

Adore the musical, of course, and this provides a really interesting look into the process behind bringing it to the stage, Lin-Manuel Miranda's footnotes on the libretto, essays about most of the lead actors, and so many amazing pictures! If you like Hamilton you should get this book, it's stunning.

(Bookriot Read Harder 2016 Challenge: #23 Read a play)

OBV I love the music of Hamilton and this is such a great collection of annotations and essays. A lot of this stuff has been seen elsewhere online like in RapGenius annotations or just similar interviews etc but there's still a lot of fun new content for Hamilton fans and it's lovely to have it all together. It would have been easy to put out something much less elaborate than this and still make bank but that is NOT what Alexander Hamilton would do and it's not what Lin-Manuel Miranda would do.

SLIGHT MINUS POINTS for deckled edges but whatever, it's very fancy