What’s wrong with Hamilton?

Now that Hamilton has landed on Disney +, it’s ignited a whole new round of discourse on the popular play. After being workshopped for years and praised by the Obamas, the show landed on Broadway in 2015, and five years later, is available for regular folks at home to stream. Hamilton has earned it’s fair share of praise: as a show that highlights the immense talent of people of color working on Broadway; as an accessible glimpse into America’s past; and in the current era, as a vision of how America could be with just the right amount of pluck and willingness to stick to your ideals. Many parts of the play are extremely moving. In particular, the song Eliza sings after Hamilton’s affair comes to light is very good, as is the series of small reprises that play as the bullet that will kill Hamilton travels toward him. The historical content, most can admit, is a little in the vein of Schoolhouse Rock: sometimes clumsily trying to set the stage. But then, you try to write a rap opera about history and have it sound really, truly cool.

Some new criticism has come to light, especially from people like me, who were really into the show when it was at it’s peak, but for whom a little distance and a shift in politics may have caused our view of the play to change. Parts of the play hit differently after some time, or with added context. Criticism of Lin Manuel-Miranda has also mounted as he has…