thefederalistfreestyle:For $10, New York City Students See ‘Hamilton’ and Rap for Lin-Ma
thefederalistfreestyle:For $10, New York City Students See ‘Hamilton’ and Rap for Lin-ManuelMiranda (NYT)The 1,300students who saw “Hamilton” on Wednesday, most of them 11th graders enrolled inclasses about American history, are the first of 20,000 who are to see themusical under a program sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation. The program,which focuses on students in schools with high percentages of low-incomefamilies, is intended to make it possible for younger and more diverseaudiences to see a show for which tickets have become hugely expensive anddifficult to obtain.“I hope I canbe inspired and motivated,” Yeliz Sezgin, a 15-year-old junior at Fort HamiltonHigh School in Brooklyn, said as the daylong events, which included aquestion-and-answer session with the cast, began. Ms. Sezgin designed a T-shirtfor the 159 Fort Hamilton students, with her school’s mascot, a tiger, posedwith the upstretched arm of the musical’s logo.Photo In preparing toattend the show, Ms. Sezgin and her classmates had read love letters betweenAlexander and his wife, Eliza, and she compared them to text messages; she saidshe was also impressed by the realization that Mr. Miranda spent yearsdeveloping the musical: “He didn’t know what this would be, and yet he kept atit.”After seeingthe show, some students said they were especially struck by the cast, whichfeatures Hispanic and black actors playing the founding fathers. “I wasthinking about the diversity while I was watching it, with all this controversyin the entertainment industry,” said Amber Montalvo, a 17-year-old student atthe High School for Media and Communications in Manhattan. “It’s inspiring.”Kaye Houlihan,the principal of Fort Hamilton, said her school had an annual unit on Hamilton,because of its name, but had intensified its study in anticipation of seeingthe show. She said the exercise of asking students to produce skits — of twominutes or less related to the history — had prompted various takes on thematerial, including girls exploring neglected women of the era.Some studentssaid reading the history had made them more curious to understand how themusical was conceived. “I want to know why Burr killed Hamilton,” said RaekwonEdwards, a 17-year-old junior at Bronx Engineering and Technology Academy. Hisschoolmate Valentin Dinaj, 16, said, “I want to see how they bring historyalive.The studentswere, not surprisingly, an extraordinarily enthusiastic audience. They shouted“I love you” at Mr. Miranda. They cheered for belted notes, laughed at sexualinnuendo, cheered trash talk (“Daddy’s calling!,” a dig at Hamilton’sdependence on President Washington, and “We know who’s really doing theplanting,” a jab at the South’s dependence on slavery, drew particularly loudreactions) and gasped at the shooting death of Hamilton’s son Philip.Two of the castmembers who addressed the students, Mr. Miranda and Anthony Ramos, are alumniof the New York public schools. Mr. Ramos said that by participating in schoolmusicals, as well as sports, he was able to “find that part of me that I didn’teven know I had.” And he urged the school officials present to do more for artseducation. “The public school system has neglected the arts a little bit,” Mr.Ramos said. “Y’all think you don’t have the money — you better find it.” -- source link