Lin-Manuel Miranda Responded to Renewed Criticisms of Hamilton
Lin-Manuel Miranda has responded to criticisms of his hit Broadway musical Hamilton after it began streaming on Disney+ over the Fourth of July weekend.
The musical's arrival on the streaming platform initiated a conversation online about its historical accuracies, with some people pointing out that the play — which tells the story of Alexander Hamilton and the Founding Fathers — leaves out its subjects' participation in slavery and treatment of Native Americans.
On Monday morning, Miranda, who wrote and starred in the musical, responded to writer Tracy Clayton, who tweeted that "Hamilton the play and the movie were given to us in two different worlds & our willingness to interrogate things in this way feels like a clear sign of change."
"All the criticisms are valid," Miranda replied. "The sheer tonnage of complexities & failings of these people I couldn’t get. Or wrestled with but cut. I took 6 years and fit as much as I could in a 2.5-hour musical. Did my best. It’s all fair game."
Appreciate you so much, @brokeymcpoverty. All the criticisms are valid. The sheer tonnage of complexities & failings of these people I couldn’t get. Or wrestled with but cut. I took 6 years and fit as much as I could in a 2.5 hour musical. Did my best. It’s all fair game. https://t.co/mjhU8sXS1U
— Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel) July 6, 2020
?s=21
The musical, which premiered in 2015 at the Public Theater in New York City, has been praised for creating more opportunity for actors of color on Broadway, but has also been critiqued for historical inaccuracies.
RELATED: The Original Hamilton Cast Reunited on John Krasinski's Show to Surprise This 9-Year-Old
In an op-ed for CNN on Sunday, Ed Morales, a journalist and lecturer at Columbia University's Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race and the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY, argued that the play "seems now at odds with Black Lives Matter's strident call for radical change to an America where the legacy of white supremacy lives on."
Author Roxane Gay also expressed mixed feelings about the musical, citing its incredible performances but also recognizing the erasure of important historical facts. "I have a lot of thoughts about Hamilton and the way it idealizes the founders, and how such a brilliant musical dangerously elides they realities of slavery but Leslie Odom Jr. put his FOOT in that performance. So talented."
I have a lot of thoughts about Hamilton and the way it idealizes the founders, and how such a brilliant musical dangerously elides they realities of slavery but Leslie Odom Jr. put his FOOT in that performance. So talented.
— roxane gay (@rgay) July 4, 2020
Despite the criticism, according to Yahoo, the movie increased downloads of the Disney+ app by 64% over the weekend.
