Going HAMilton

The one thing about the revolutionary musical no one's talking about

You've already heard that Hamilton is phenomenal and will win all the Tonys. If you're lucky enough, you've seen it in action yourselves. At the very least, you should take a listen to the soundtrack if you haven't already. But you've known all of this for a while now. What you don't necessarily know about is the cast's remarkable diversity.

On last week's No Limits pod, we, like many others got into a detailed talk about every Oscar nominee being white. But we missed a key point during the discussion because it's easy to forget minorities need to actually get those roles in the first place. And even if we've made progress, it still seems like African Americans only play athletes, or hip-hop moguls, or slaves, or athletes again.

Put it this way. You're a movie executive who just got this great script about Thomas Jefferson. Will Smith reads it and is totally on board. Awesome! Except for the part where the business doesn't allow him to portray Jefferson. Being one of his slaves is totally cool though.

But when you enter the Lin-Manuel Miranda universe, those rules don't apply. You can tell from listening to the musical's cabinet battles that Jefferson's character sounds more like Kendrick Lamar than Anna Kendrick. I actually hear Andre 3000 more than anyone else, but I needed to get in that nice little quip, so deal with it.

That list goes on. Miranda could be a Nas impersonator if this Broadway thing somehow doesn't work out. Aaron Burr's character has that same sneering confidence and composure that remind me of Big Sean. If someone told me Dr. Dre was asked to play George Washington, I'd totally buy it based on the guy they actually got. And the most important factor here: these guys look the part.

It's a refreshingly diverse color palette. And that hasn't exactly been one of Broadway's strong suits before. Miranda's first musical, In the Heights, certainly featured a diverse cast, too. But this is different. Every one of these performers is portraying a white guy. For the devastatingly large amount of this country that thinks reverse racism is real, that's a pretty serious nut punch. For the rest of us sane people, it's a small win in a fight entertainment has been losing for years.

The Danish Girl may be one of this year's best movies. And Eddie Redmayne is a terrific young actor. But it's an absolute joke that the studio couldn't find a single trans woman to play that film's lead role. It was also a joke when casting a black woman as Hermione in this Harry Potter play sparked an outcry. It was also a joke when this travesty of a movie tried to pass off Emma Stone as half Asian instead of, you know, casting someone who's half Asian. Let's not forget this was an acceptable form of comedy less than 75 years ago.

That's how surprised he was when he
found out this was offensive

So for all of Hamilton's stunning musical numbers, historical accuracy, and well-deserved hype, maybe its all-minority cast will prove to be its longest-lasting legacy. I certainly hope so. Minority actors have had far too tough go of it for a long time. But this musical turned that on its head with tremendous results. It's proof that there's a massive market for both performers of color and the culture they embody, even in places you wouldn't expect.