Full Description
The Revolutionary Rhetoric of Hamilton analyzes traditional conceptions about the musical, Hamilton, American history, and current political disputes. This scholarly exploration of Hamilton encourages audiences to interpret this popular cultural force in a new way by revealing that the musical confronts conventional conceptions of American history, racial equity, and political power. Several chapters in this volume directly address recent controversies and conversations surrounding Hamilton, including the #CancelHamilton trend on social media, the musical's depiction of slavery, and its intersections with the Black Lives Matter movement. Contributors explore how the musical offers social commentary on issues such as immigration and gender equity and how Hamilton re-considers the roles of theatre in making social statements, especially relating to the narrator, the role of the curtain speech, and musical traditions. Chapters within the book employ multiple novel theoretical approaches and perspectives—including public memory, feminist rhetorical criticism, disability studies, and sound studies—to reveal new insights about this beloved show. Scholars of theatre studies, media studies, and communication studies will find this book particularly useful.
Contents
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Turning the World Upside Down
Nancy J. Legge, Jacob Justice, and Luke Winslow
Section I: Revelations About History
"If You Had to Choose": Hamilton, Public Memory, and the Hamilton-Jefferson Rivalry
Talya Peri Slaw and Jacob Justice
Washington Says Good-bye: Examining 'One Last Time' through Public Memory
Jessica L. Gehrke
The Rhetorical Significance of John Laurens in Hamilton: An American Musical
Nancy J. Legge
Da Da Dada Da: The Discourse of the Mad Monarch
Sarah Mayberry Scott
Section II: Revelations About Race
5Casting as a Rhetorical Act: Color-Purposeful Casting and Hamilton's Anti-White
Casting Call
Ailea G. Merriam-Pigg
6Hamilton's Revolutionary Aesthetic: Race, Hip hop, and the American Style
Luke Winslow and Jonathan Veal
7Hamilton, Social Revolution, and the Black Lives Matter Movement
Caleb George Hubbard
Section III: Revelations About Socio-Political Issues
8Immigrants: Getting the Job Done Then and Now
Judith P. Roberts
9The Sphere Where it Happens: Reading Hamilton's Representations of the Public/Private
Sphere as Gendered, Restraining, and Revolutionary
Erika M. Thomas
Section IV: Revelations About Broadway
10Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells the Story: Hip-Hope, Antagonist-Narrators, and the
Impact of Musical Genre on Storytelling
Max Dosser and Kevin Pabst
11Aaron Burr vs. Mike Pence: Curtain Speeches and Controversy
Ryan Louis
12Hamilton and the Genre of the Politicized Broadway Musical: Following the Rhetorical Tradition, Twisting the Rhetorical Tradition
Theodore F. Sheckels
Index
About the Authors
