Tag: Hamilton

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God and Hamilton: An Interview with Hamilton Broadway cast member Lauren Boyd

The following is an excerpt from an interview with Hamilton Broadway cast member Lauren Boyd.   In it, Lauren and I have a conversation about the spiritual nature of Hamilton, how the musical can transform our lives, and how reading my upcoming book, God and Hamilton: Spiritual Themes From the Life of Alexander Hamilton & the Broadway Musical He Inspired impacted her.

Kevin Cloud:   So many people talk about Hamilton not only as a brilliant musical, but as a life changing experience.   Why do you think that happens?   Why does this musical and the story it tells resonate so deeply with audiences?

Lauren Boyd:   Before every show Chris Jackson (George Washington, original Broadway cast) would gather up a circle of people to pray”¦that tradition has kept going.   We do that to this day.   We get in a circle and pray before every performance.   So the presence of God is there in the theatre.   Even if audiences don’t realize it, they are coming to see a service. They are coming to church.

KC:   This musical is much more than a play.   It creates a spiritual experience for people. There are so many moments of transcendence in this musical. You can feel the atmosphere in the theatre change.   Do you feel those moments on stage?   What is it like on stage when it happens?

LB:   Yes, you can absolutely feel it. There are definitely moments where there is an energy in the audience and on stage and you can feel something that is not tangible.   It’s quite exciting to be a part of that and a part of this story.

KC: Are there specific moments where that happens for you?   Where you feel a weight or presence?

LB: When Eliza forgives Hamilton. I find it sometimes difficult from a woman’s standpoint forgiving Hamilton for what he did. He cheated on his wife.   That is a very hard thing to forgive. But the way you presented it (in your book) I realized I needed to have more mercy and compassion towards Hamilton because he is a sinner like all of us.   Your book broke down these walls I had put up toward him”¦I was looking at it as “How dare he do that do me?”

KC: You wrote such a nice blurb for my book. You wrote: “God and Hamilton turned me inside out and revealed to me a side of Hamilton that I never thought to explore.” Can you expound on that quote?

LB: Mercy is a huge thing that I learned (reading God and Hamilton). I learned that Hamilton is, in fact, a human being that lived and died and breathed”¦the book helped me to humanize him in a way that I didn’t approach him before because I came into the show knowing Hamilton from a different angle.   When we think about Hamilton we think about this amazing show”¦it is already glorified.   You were able to demystify all of that and bring Hamilton to life.   That’s where I was able to have a little more mercy and kindness (towards Hamilton).

God and Hamilton

God and Hamilton  weaves together insights from the musical itself, the lives of Alexander and Eliza Hamilton, and the story of Scripture into a tapestry that challenges people of faith to reexamine their lives.

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Hamilton Opens in London to Rave Reviews

Hamilton, An American Musical, at the Richard Rodgers Theatre

Hamilton is no longer just an American sensation. Lin-Manuel Miranda’s smash hit Broadway Musical opened last week in London, at the Historical Victoria Palace Theatre.   The musical has been met with five-star reviews from the London media, crossing a cultural boundary with little resistance.

Manuel didn’t sense much difference from the audiences across the Atlantic.

“I was here for all of tech (rehearsals) and I was here for the first few previews, and the audience is exactly like New York,” he said.

Miranda believes that making the jump to London would make Alexander Hamilton smile. “Alexander Hamilton had so much admiration for Britain and Europe but never left US soil. So to have his story on the stage here in London, well – I think he would be very proud.”

The overwhelming response of London wasn’t a slam dunk.   Some wondered if a story about the Founding Fathers of America, fighting for their independence from Britain would resonate as deeply with London crowds.   But the London success points to the reality that this story resonates with audiences, even across national and cultural boundaries.

Matt Trueman writes in his Variety review, “Hamilton is going to be just fine here in London”¦Reviewing it feels like sizing up the Mona Lisa or Beethoven’s Fifth and, in truth, Hamilton lands on the London stage looking every inch the classic.”

He closes his review with the thought that “it is Hamilton’s story that stirs.”

Hamilton’s story does indeed stir something powerful in us, a point I make in my upcoming book, God, and Hamilton: Spiritual Themes From The Life of Alexander Hamilton & the Broadway Musical He Inspired.

One universal reason this musical stirs audiences so deeply is that Hamilton’s story is a deeply spiritual one.   His story intersects with our lives across a number of significant spiritual themes.

His story is a story of grace, as his entire life in America was made possible by a generous financial gift by someone who saw great potential in him.   His story is a story of shame, as he never quite escaped the stigma from being an illegitimate orphan.   His story is a story of forgiveness, as his wife Eliza wrestled through forgiving Alexander for betraying her in the worst possible way.   His story is a story of redemption, as the musical ends with Eliza singing about the orphanage she built out of love for her late husband.

This story stirs us because it is a spiritual story.   It stirs us because it is our story.   We too live our lives built on the foundation of grace.   We too struggle mightily with shame from our failures and shortcomings.   We too must give and receive forgiveness for all the mistakes we make in our lives.   Hopefully, our story is one of redemption, where God takes all the broken pieces of our lives and makes them beautiful.

The story Hamilton tells stirs audiences, no matter the culture, the nationality, the race.   It does so because it tells a deeply spiritual story, one that intersects with our lives, and has the power to transform our lives if we let it.

Even, apparently, across the great expanse of the Atlantic Ocean.

God and Hamilton

My  upcoming book: God and Hamilton is available June 2018 on Amazon.com, (www.godandhamilton.com).

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God and Hamilton

I will never forget the moment I walked out of the Richard Rogers Theatre in New York City, having just experienced Hamilton the musical. Hamilton has captured our culture’s imagination like no Broadway musical ever before. It currently has almost 700,000 fans on Facebook, plays to sold out shows every night in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles, and is beginning a forty-plus city national tour in January.

Hamilton Mania Has Taken over Our Country

There are many reasons this musical resonates so deeply with audiences across the country.   The lyrics, music, and songwriting truly are genius.   The innovative decision to cast the Founding Fathers with actors of colour creates all kinds of imaginative possibilities. Hamilton’s life itself offers a compelling storyline, with huge triumphs and disastrous failures.

Hamilton, An American Musical, at the Richard Rodgers Theatre
Hamilton, An American Musical, at the Richard Rodgers Theatre
Hamilton, An American Musical, at the Richard Rodgers Theatre
Hamilton, An American Musical, at the Richard Rodgers Theatre
Hamilton, An American Musical, at the Richard Rodgers Theatre
Hamilton, An American Musical, at the Richard Rodgers Theatre
Hamilton, An American Musical, at the Richard Rodgers Theatre
Hamilton, An American Musical, at the Richard Rodgers Theatre
Hamilton, An American Musical, at the Richard Rodgers Theatre
Hamilton, An American Musical, at the Richard Rodgers Theatre
Hamilton, An American Musical, at the Richard Rodgers Theatre
Hamilton, An American Musical, at the Richard Rodgers Theatre
Hamilton, An American Musical, at the Richard Rodgers Theatre

But another reason exists that explains why Hamilton impacts audiences at the level that it does. Hamilton offers people a transcendent experience, a story that draws audiences into the presence of the Holy. Actress Rosie O’Donnell, who has seen the show over fifteen times observes that Hamilton “is medicine that I need for my soul.   It feels vital to me; it feels like going to church.”

Lin-Manuel Miranda, the creator of Hamilton, gave a speech recently where he talked about one of his favourite aspects of live theatre: its ability to create moments of transcendence. Hamilton teems with such moments.   Moments where a poignant scene takes place on stage, an act of betrayal, an offer of forgiveness, the grieving of a loss of a child, and the entire atmosphere changes in the theatre. Everyone watching can feel the weight, or the presence, of an important truth, or even of God himself.

After my experience watching Hamilton, I read Ron Chernow’s biography of Hamilton. As I read more about Alexander and his wife Eliza, my conviction grew that this story was a deeply spiritual one.   Alexander grew up with a robust faith, prayed and studied the Scriptures in college, and interpreted the world through a spiritual lens. His wife Eliza might have been even more devout. She followed God faithfully and served him throughout her life.

God and Hamilton

After experiencing the musical and reading the biography, I felt compelled to write a book that connected this cultural phenomenon with the spiritual themes found at its centre. Themes such as grace, despair, surrender, death, and redemption. Themes that are not only at the centre of Hamilton’s life, but at the centre of our lives as well. By diving deeper into these themes, and their presence in Hamilton’s life, this story and musical have the power to transform our lives. We only need to open ourselves up to it.

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42 Masterful Quotes to Inspire Healthier Relationships

42 Masterful Quotes to Inspire Healthier Relationships

Conflict is part of our working life and is often used as a way to work out our differences and reach a conclusion. It’s usually the approach you take that tends to exacerbate the issues and cause undue stress. How you deal with conflict reveals your character.

  1. The wise man doesn’t give the right answers, he poses the right questions — Claude Lvi-Strauss
  2. A crisis is a turning point — Anne Lindthorst
  3. Conflict is inevitable, but combat is optional — Max Lucade
  4. Don’t be afraid of opposition. Remember, a kite rises against, not with, the wind — Hamilton Mabie
  5. There is no way to peace. Peace is the way — AJ Muste
  6. The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing in the right place but to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment — Dorothy Nevill
  7. The most basic of all human needs is the need to understand and be understood. The best way to understand people is to listen to them — Ralph Nichols
  8. The more we sweat in peace the less we bleed in war — Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit
  9. To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong — Joseph Chilton Pearce
  10. A man convinced against his will”¦is not convinced — Laurence J. Peter
  11. My problem is I say what I’m thinking before I think what I’m saying — Laurence J. Peter
  12. Discussion is an exchange of knowledge; argument an exchange of emotion  –  Robert Quillen
  13. You can’t influence somebody when you’re judging them — Tony Robbins
  14. Quarrels would not last long if the fault were only on one side — Duke François de La Rochefoucauld
  15. It is astonishing how elements which seem insoluble become soluble when someone listens. How confusions which seem irremediable turn into relatively clear flowing streams when one is heard — Carl Rogers
  16. If it’s mentionable, it’s manageable— Mr. Rogers
  17. Don’t let yesterday use up too much of today — Will Rogers
  18. The best way to persuade people is with your ears,  by listening to them  — Dean Rusk
  19. The greatest challenge to any thinker is stating the problem in a way that will allow a solution — Bertrand Russell
  20. It is with the heart that one sees rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye — Antoine de Saint-Exupry
  21. Human beings love to be right. When a person is willing to give up being right, a whole world of possibilities opens up — Pete Salmansohn
  22. The test of a successful person is not an ability to eliminate all problems before they arise, but to meet and work out difficulties when they do arise — David J. Schwartz
  23. Why not go out on a limb? Isn’t that where the fruit is? — Frank Scully
  24. Before you speak, ask yourself: Is it kind, is it necessary, is it true, does it improve the silence? — Shirdi Sai Baba
  25. When things are not working for us, instead of fighting and struggling, we need to say, “What’s happening here? How am I not being true to who I am? What is pulling me away from my purpose?” — June Singer
  26. The only people with whom you should try to get even are those who have helped you — John E. Southard
  27. It takes two to quarrel, but only one to end it — Spanish Proverb
  28. The first problem for all of us, men and women, is not to learn, but to unlearn— Source unknown
  29. Confidence, like art, never comes from having all the answers; it comes from being open to all the questions — Earl Gray Stevens
  30. Life is ten percent what happens to me and ninety percent how I react to it — Charles Swindoll
  31. If you are patient in one moment of anger, you will escape a hundred days of sorrow — Carol Tavris
  32. Peace is not the absence of conflict but the presence of creative alternatives for responding to conflict—alternatives to passive or aggressive responses, alternatives to violence — Dorothy Thompson
  33. Let us not look back in anger, nor forward in fear, but around in awareness — James Thurber
  34. A good manager doesn’t try to eliminate conflict; he tries to keep it from wasting the energies of his people. If you’re the boss and your people fight you openly when they think that you are wrong,  that’s healthy — Robert Townsend
  35. Knowledge becomes wisdom only after it has been put to good use — Mark Twain
  36. People who fight fire with fire usually end up with ashes — Abigail VanBuren
  37. The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any — Alice Walker
  38. It isn’t a mistake to have strong views. The mistake is to have nothing else — Anthony Weston
  39. I’ve found that I can only change how I act if I stay aware of my beliefs and assumptions. Thoughts always reveal themselves in behavior — Margaret Wheatley
  40. I would not waste my life in friction when it could be turned into momentum — Frances Willard
  41. When you’re at the edge of a cliff, sometimes progress is a step backward — Source unknown

 

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