Hamilton: The Exhibition Opens In Chicago
Hamilton: An American Musical set our origin story on its ear by using hip hop, modern movement and diverse casting – and it worked so astonishingly well that it played in the White House, won all the awards and now has inspired its own stand-alone museum. Hamilton: The Exhibit opened Friday on Northerly Island, just south of the Adler Planetarium and the Huntington Bank Pavilion.
As you walk in, you hear orchestral versions of songs from the musical and see Alexander Hamilton’s journey from St. Croix to New York City – even walking down the gangplank of a ship like the show’s A.Ham -- along with the colonies’ journey from English property to United States. Lin-Manuel Miranda and his team of theater magicians worked with museum experts and historians to make the American story an interactive experience.
Who’s going to dig this? Ham fans, history buffs, word nerds, democratic republicans, and anyone who thinks this stuff is super boring – until they see the Battle of Yorktown come alive like wizard chess. As in the musical, the thematic thread is about the power of ideas, words and love.
Miranda and exhibition director David Korins hope we’ll go through this journey and come out thinking about what our contributions will be to the American story in 2019 and beyond.
Miranda, Korins, Chicago’s own A.Ham of the stage, Miguel Cervantes, and the musical’s original Eliza, Philippa Soo (the pride of Libertyville) were on hand for Friday’s opening, as was Chicago mayor-elect Lori Lightfoot.
