In Professor Lei Bryant\u2019s opening class of \u201cMusic & Dance Cultures of the World\u201d this semester, she played students a clip of Jimi Hendrix\u2019s Woodstock rendition of the \u201cStar-Spangled Banner.\u201d \u00a0When it became apparent that most people in the room almost immediately recognized the piece and its cultural significance, she asked the class to brainstorm musical works or performances from our own generation that would similarly remain so potent.<\/p>\n
Hamilton<\/em>, the smash-hit 2015 Broadway show about the life of its titular founding father, was one of the first to be mentioned. \u00a0Conceived of and composed by Lin-Manuel Miranda, the hip-hop musical that cast people of color in the roles of famous white historical figures was a huge commercial and critical success, breaking box office records and receiving 11 Tony Awards. \u00a0Few cultural phenomena have registered with quite as much magnitude in the past couple of decades, with NYTimes reviewer Ben Brantley calling it \u201cproof that the American musical is not only surviving\u201d but also evolving and thriving.<\/p>\n One of the people responsible for no less than the invigorated future of an art form is Renee Elise Goldsberry, the actress who originated the role of Angelica Schuyler and who will this week visit Swarthmore College as part of the 2018-2019 Cooper Series, giving two performances on Friday, September 21st at 6:00 and 8:30 p.m. in Lang Concert Hall. \u00a0As Angelica\u2014 the sister-in-law and close friend of Alexander Hamilton\u2014Goldsberry sang one of the most memorable numbers in a show full of musical highpoints. In \u201cSatisfied,\u201d she wistfully explores her unresolved romantic feelings for Alexander, which she chooses to ignore for the benefit of her sister, who has just married him. It\u2019s a decision, she sings, that she \u201cjust might regret\u2026 for the rest of [her] days.\u201d<\/p>\n While Goldsberry has said in interviews that she draws extensively upon personal experience in playing any character, these days regrets are one aspect of life that it appears she and Angelica can\u2019t really share. \u00a0While accepting a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical in 2016, she ends by pointing out how important both her work and her family is to her, and how lucky she\u2019s been to find such fulfillment in both areas. \u00a0Goldsberry later wrote of winning the Tony that \u201cthe celebration for me was that I chased both family and career very hard, and the fact that I could celebrate having my children and that Tony award was a miracle.\u201d<\/p>\n And although she was quite a successful actress before\u00a0Hamilton<\/em>, both on Broadway and on television, the popularity of the show has given Goldsberry a level of freedom in artistic projects she didn\u2019t have before. \u00a0Since the end of her run two years ago, she has played the titular character in a movie adaptation of\u00a0The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks<\/em>, and appeared in Netflix\u2019s sci-fi series\u00a0Altered Carbon<\/em>. \u00a0She has also taken on the challenge of figuring out how to adapt the whole shebang of Hamilton into pieces that make musical and narrative sense for independent performances, such as at Swarthmore. \u00a0In an interview before her debut at the Boston Pops this summer, Goldsberry speaks to how difficult it is to perform individually songs that were meant to be interwoven into the fabric of a whole story, without real beginnings or ends, and in conversation with other actors.<\/p>\n But, she ultimately feels that \u201cto reconceive them, so that they can live as solo pieces, is really redeeming and hugely important because the message in these songs is too important, too necessary, too universal, to only be able to experience it in the entire production.\u201d \u00a0And it seems that, based on their response to her upcoming solo appearance, Swarthmore students quite agree; it sold out just a few hours after advance reservations became available. Fortunately, the college was able to accommodate a second show.<\/p>\n Between the afternoon discussion with Goldsberry on Thursday, and the two evening performances on Friday, hopefully all\u00a0Hamilton<\/em>\u00a0fans will head into their weekend on a suitably \u201csatisfied\u201d note.<\/p>\n \n \nLydia Roe ’20<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In Professor Lei Bryant\u2019s opening class of \u201cMusic & Dance Cultures of the World\u201d this semester, she played students a clip of Jimi Hendrix\u2019s Woodstock rendition of the \u201cStar-Spangled Banner.\u201d \u00a0When it became apparent that most people in the room almost immediately recognized the piece and its cultural significance, she asked the class to brainstorm […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":7480,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/academics\/music-and-dance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7488"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/academics\/music-and-dance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/academics\/music-and-dance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/academics\/music-and-dance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/academics\/music-and-dance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7488"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/academics\/music-and-dance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7488\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7489,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/academics\/music-and-dance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7488\/revisions\/7489"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/academics\/music-and-dance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/academics\/music-and-dance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/academics\/music-and-dance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/academics\/music-and-dance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}