Hamilton: A night to remember
December 17, 2017
Mrs. Snyder along with Ms. Scaramella had a brilliant idea to sign up Hillcrest High School to be part of the Hamilton educational program.
On December 13, 2017, juniors from Hillcrest High School had an amazing opportunity to view one of the best selling, most astonishing, most breathtaking, and most creative musicals in America, Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda. Students had the opportunity to watch the musical at the CIBC theater, but also had the opportunity to have lunch at the Palmer House.
The musical Hamilton was created in order to make history fun and amusing and at the same be educational. The musical Hamilton is about a founding father Alexander Hamilton who became George Washington’s right-hand man and the first Secretary of the Treasury. Hamilton becoming the first Secretary of the Treasury caused tensions between him and the Vice President, Aaron Burr. Lin-Manuel Miranda was inspired by Hamilton’s story and decided to create a musical that portrays the events of Hamilton’s life. The musical first arose when Lin-Manuel Miranda performed one of the first songs of the musical, “Alexander Hamilton,” at the White House poetry jam in 2009 which had caused Mr. Miranda to work on several pieces for the musical Hamilton.
Mrs. Snyder along with Ms. Scaramella thought that it would be amazing to get tickets for students who enjoy history and music, so both advisers applied Hillcrest High School to be one of the schools to participate in the Hamilton educational program.
In order for the school to get the tickets, students had to complete a student performance and study guide to receive the grant. The students who had the desire to watch the musical had to create and publish a piece of their own whether it was about a person, a major event, or a key document that played an important role in history.
For a couple days after school, Mrs. Snyder and her AP students worked together to complete the study guide handbook and learn about Alexander Hamilton himself. Mrs. Snyder made sure that her students would enjoy the experience and learn something from it. The students had to perform their piece where some did poems, songs, play an instrument, or a reenactment of an event. Mrs. Snyder was shocked by how creative and amazing the student pieces were. The school then had to choose one piece to be performed at the CIBC theater and be submitted to the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American history.
Melodie Slaughter’s Common Sense ft. Jovencio Daguio was chosen to be submitted.
Chorus:
Oh, oh Common Sense
(I) Gotta give my two cents,
Before my money is spent
All contributing
To the Mother-Country
Still holding pretenses.
I’m taking my chances
Giving Common Sense.
Verse:
What sense does it make for our Mother to take
When She is 4,000 miles away?
Loyalists ask for loyalty? Nay!
In a different time on a different day.
“Government, like dress, is a badge of lost innocence.”
Our want and lack of one led to our dissonance
Between us and Britain but now we’re finished with it:
Her house, Her rules, and Her cynicism
Always controlling, forever goading,
We’re always cajoling Mother to do something!
But, no more! No more! Hear ye! Hear ye!
Hear in America, we’re all for liberty!
No Taxation without representation!
Giving common sense
No Taxation without representation!
Giving common sense!
According to Zaria Wilson, “Hamilton was amazing, mind blowing, and brain boggling. My emotions ran from sad to curious to angry. This musical gave me the opportunity to travel back in time and experience Alexander Hamilton’s life as if I were him myself! As a person who loves theatre, I don’t think anything could’ve compared to the historical connection I felt through the actors and dancers.”
Destiney Robinson said of the play that Hamilton “was a performance that will always be remembered. Hamilton was unlike anything I’ve even experienced. The way I connected with the characters and watched how each scene played out was truly flattering and exciting. This is a musical that I will always hold to my heart.”
