Hamilton
Planned for release next year, the screen presentation of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s phenomenal musical about the first Treasury Secretary has come to Disney+ in a timely manoeuvre. The coronavirus is the reason, and the closure of theatres has deprived us of what would be incendiary live performances in the wake of the murder of George Floyd and the international reaction. Statues to slave traders have been moved or taken down by force and there is a sense of change coming. And Hamilton is about a lot of things—maybe it raises a metaphorical statue to Alexander Hamilton: an immigrant who joined the American Revolution and devised the systems of government in the new United States. But he was also the corespondent in the first political sex scandal. Like everyone else, he was a complex character who has become remembered now as a symbol of hope, and specifically given hope to people who’ve been prejudiced against for centuries. Hamilton has given performers a shot at playing characters ...