The most lauded and ambitious musical of the Broadway season, “Hamilton,” is also the riskiest, at least by traditional measurements. Hip-hop is central to the aesthetic grammar of “Hamilton,” and also a key part of the musical backstory of its creator and star, Lin-Manuel Miranda.
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Though Broadway has reckoned with hip-hop before and there has been hip-hop-influenced theater for at least a couple decades, “Hamilton” marks the arrival of the seamless marriage of the two milieus. The show’s clever and savvy execution makes clear that choosing not to innovate is a far greater risk than anything Mr. Miranda is doing.
The “Hamilton” cast album, which is available Friday and was executive produced by Questlove and Black Thought of the Roots, is one more feather in Mr. Miranda’s snapback cap.
In this week’s Popcast, I talk hip-hop with Mr. Miranda — the songs that were important to him as a teenager, the rappers who inspired specific characters and scenes in his work, and whether Stephen Sondheim’s obsession with true rhyme is the same as New York hip-hop purism.
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Stephen Sondheim, Ron Chernow and the Roots discuss “Hamilton”
SPOTIFY PLAYLIST
Tracks by artists discussed this week. Spotify users can also find it here.