Abstract

Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton adapts and redeploys familiar genres, including stories of founding fathers, plays about presidents, and the musical genres of R&B, rap, and Broadway, to create a message of diversity that appeals across cultural and political divides. Revisionary rather than revolutionary, Hamilton takes forms that audiences already love and combines them in ways that suggest a radical stance on race, gender, and sexuality that the musical does not deliver (failing even to meet the Bechdel test). At the same time, the more radical para-Hamilton performances extend audience engagement with the show and allow audiences to participate in somewhat more revolutionary versions of Hamilton.