Disney is releasing a recorded movie version of the Hamilton stage musical in 2021. Written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, the show tells the story of lesser-known American Founding Father Alexander Hamilton through a variety of modern musical styles. It was easily the biggest Broadway sensation in the 2010s, making a star out of Miranda - who also played Hamilton in the musical’s original Broadway run - in the process. The multi-hyphenate has since gone on to co-write the music for Disney’s Moana and star in films like Mary Poppins Returns, in addition to his role on the BBC and HBO’s His Dark Materials TV series.
Given its sustained popularity, many have wondered when, if ever, Hamilton would make the leap to the big screen. Broadway stage musicals-turned movies are certainly in fashion at the moment and a film version of Miranda’s other hit stage show, In the Heights, is even slated to open this summer. As it turns out, Hamilton will be making its way to theaters much sooner than expected - just not as a traditional film musical.
Today, Disney announced it will release a movie version of Hamilton in theaters next fall on October 15, 2021, featuring Miranda and the rest of the stage show’s original Broadway cast. Directed by Thomas Kail, this screen take on the musical was “live captured” and promises to immerse audiences in the show by “combining the best elements of live theater and film [to produce a] cinematic stage performance that is a wholly new way to experience Hamilton”, per the studio’s press release.
Filmed at The Richard Rodgers Theatre in June 2016, the Hamilton movie stars Miranda along with Daveed Diggs as Marquis de Lafayette/Thomas Jefferson, Renée Elise Goldsberry as Angelica Schuyler, Leslie Odom, Jr. as Aaron Burr, Christopher Jackson as George Washington, Jonathan Groff as King George, Phillipa Soo as Eliza Hamilton, and Jasmine Cephas Jones as Peggy Schuyler/Maria Reynolds. By the sound of it, it wasn’t shot like a traditional recorded version of a Broadway stage show, either. Miranda confirmed as much in his official statement, describing the Hamilton film as “a live theatrical experience that feels just as immediate in your local movie theater”. He and Kail further emphasized the intention behind this move is to give both people who’ve seen Hamilton live before and those who haven’t “the same seat” to experience it from.
All things considered, this might end up being the best possible version of a Hamilton movie. The original stage show (winner of 11 Tony Awards and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama) is so specifically fitted for the medium of live theater that many fans have wondered if a traditional film adaptation could ever work, no matter how well done it was. It also gives the millions out there who couldn’t afford to see the original Broadway cast in action on-stage the chance to do so at a much more reasonable price. It won’t be exactly the same as being in the room where it happened (sorry, had to be done), but for hardcore Hamilton fans and those who love all things musical theater, it should be more than close enough.
Source: Disney
