The final member of my list of the ’30 Greatest Living American Songwriters’ is in a category all his own. I guess you could call this my ‘Musical Theater’ section, but the truth is I don’t pay any attention to musical theater.
I do pay attention to Lin-Manuel Miranda, though. And he is one of the few living songwriters I will comfortably call a genius.
Concluding my countdown of favorite Disney Animation movies following my marathon viewing of all 64… you can see the full ranked list here.
My Top Ten Disney Animation Movies
#1 – Moana (2016)
Nobody who’s read this blog for any length of time will be surprised by today’s pick. After all, it was just four years ago that I named Moana my favorite movie of the 2010s, and I consider it among my top ten of all time. So yeah, it’s the best Disney animated movie.
I won’t go into detail all over again as to why that’s the case — I invite you to read the post linked above if you want to know my reasons. I’ll note that, according to my Letterboxd account, I’ve seen the movie six more times since writing that entry and it’s been equally brilliant every time.
Last month, I spent a week on songs from the Disney hit Encanto, the soundtrack of which has become an unlikely chart-topper.
The movie features some excellent tunes, beautifully animated, including the pop culture phenomenon ‘We Don’t Talk About Bruno’ and ‘Surface Pressure,’ a catchy anthem for the over-burdened.
I covered five standout tracks, but I left one out so I could include it in this week’s lineup of my favorite musical moments in the films of 2021.
In addition to covers of original Hamilton tracks and new songs inspired by the play, the Hamilton Mixtape features a couple of songs that were cut from the musical.
One of those is ‘Cabinet Battle 3,’ another political debate reimagined in the form of a rap battle. Numbers one and two, which focus, respectively, on the monetary system and neutrality regarding France’s war with Britain, epitomize Miranda’s incredible feat of telling centuries-old stories in a modern style.
Back in May, I spent two weeks featuring songs from Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton in advance of my family’s trip to see the celebrated musical on Broadway. That was just as the show was transforming from mega-hit to full-on phenomenon, before the Tony and Pulitzer wins, before the (shudder) future president called it overrated.
Now we have the Hamilton Mixtape, a collection of songs from and inspired by the musical performed by popular artists. Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda initially conceived of the project as a mixtape, so in a sense this album is as much a prequel as an accessory. This week I’ll feature five of its songs.
Meet Me In Montauk 