Monday, September 3, 2018

The Hamilton birthday rap


How does a mom beg, steal borrow or barter
A gift for her only daughter
Now turning twenty-one
Show her history and a night of fun?

A musical named Hamilton
Sellin' tickets by the metric ton
They're the price of an airfare
Take a trip to another age

The mom loves history
Not rap or hip hop
Mom says check out this old song
the daughter says, what?

The World Turned Upside Down.
That's the one, says mom, with violins and flutes
That's the tune they played
On the Yorktown parade
When the British went mute.

Nah-unh says the girl
It's in this great show
Lemme play it all for you
Mom says whoa!

They play it all again and again
Sing the songs from Miranda
A time-breaking story for us today
With the music and the colors,
It's a whole new play.

Fast forward to the day.
They start at Fraunces Tavern
Downtown Manhattan.
In the late 18th century,
The room that they sat in.

The centuries meet
They walk past Federal Hall
Where Washington took the oath
And started it all.

They arrive soon at Trinity.
Alexander, Angelica,
Philip, Eliza
Resting for infinity.

Up at Times Square
At last they're gonna walk in
The Rodgers theater
So excited they're barely talkin'.

Daniel Breaker starts the show as Burr
Man what a performance
From suave to anger-murder
We clutch hands
We get the whole sense.

Michael Luwoye
Yeah, we say Whoa yay
A Hamilton with passion
When brilliance was in fashion.

Lexi Lawson does Eliza
Alex's wife with her sister to advise her
Mandy Gonzalez, Angelica
Sees in Alex a new America

The story of the nation
Born from war with the King
Euan Morton as George
You rebels don't get a thing

The American miracle
Seen at heart-pounding speed
The dancing, the costumes
Light the words and seal the deed.

Tired, happy, sated
They leave the theater slowly
In awe of the work
Now none of it's dated.

Make Hamilton and all of
the rest of them proud.
Go high, don't go low
and do it out loud.