ABSTRACT
In the weeks preceding the opening of Hamilton in London, Lin-Manuel Miranda publicly fretted about how his award-winning musical would be received. He wondered whether West End audiences would be interested in an ostensibly American story. Whereas the mythology of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson loom large in the United States—and the duel-to-the-death of Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton often captivate US schoolchildren—Miranda understood that these historical figures might be less familiar and, more worrisome, less interesting to theatre-goers in the United Kingdom. What especially concerned him was how audiences, who continued to revere the British monarchy, would respond to the portrayal of George III, the British king under whose reign the American colonies won independence. George III in Hamilton, as The Guardian reports, “is a figure of ineffable absurdity.” 1 Miranda’s anxiety was unfounded. Audiences were dazzled by his fusion of rap and R&B music in a multicultural retelling of an episode of US history. They laughed and sang (and rapped) along as they watched a musical that called attention to the after empire status of their nation.
