I mentioned last week that Lin-Manuel Miranda jokingly regrets giving two of the best songs he’s ever written to Leslie Odom Jr.’s Aaron Burr. Here’s the second one.
In ‘The Room Where It Happens,’ Burr watches from the sidelines while Hamilton, Jefferson and Madison make a deal behind closed doors. Known as the “Dinner Table Bargain,” the agreement moved the nation’s capital to Virginia in exchange for the federal government assuming state debts.
Act Two of Hamilton introduces Thomas Jefferson, who (aside from Aaron Burr) serves as Hamilton’s principal antagonist. Their contentious debates are handled through a pair of cabinet battles performed in the style of rap battles.
These cabinet battles capture the essence of what makes Hamilton so special. The subject matter is important American history but the narrative vehicle is as modern as it gets. Lin-Manuel Miranda’s central premise is that the Founding Fathers were the original gangsters and telling their story in that style will make it accessible to modern audiences.
I started the week with Hamilton‘s opening song, so it’s only fitting that I close with the final song of Act One. Following a successful stint commanding a battalion at the battle of Yorktown (depicted in another first act highlight), Hamilton starts a law practice and eventually joins Washington’s cabinet.
This track brilliantly incorporates elements of almost every Act One song, pulling it all together in a rousing finish that will no doubt send my family into fits of ecstatic glee prior to intermission.
Alexander Hamilton is certainly the central character of Hamilton, but you could argue that the lead role belongs to Aaron Burr. Burr serves as the narrator and has more time onstage than Hamilton. He also gets some of the best songs — Lin-Manuel Miranda jokingly bemoaned the fact that he gave two of the best songs he’s ever written to a character somebody else gets to play.
That somebody else is the fabulous Leslie Odom Jr., and today’s SOTD, ‘Wait For It,’ is one of those two songs (the other will show up next week).
Hamilton might be about the Founding Father, but Lin-Manuel Miranda pays proper attention to the women in his life, particularly his wife Elizabeth Schuyler, and her sister Angelica.
The Schuyler Sisters (along with little-seen Peggy) are introduced in a rousing number set in the streets of New York, but they meet Hamilton a little bit later, through a couple of songs that play with time and space in interesting ways.
Meet Me In Montauk 