'Hamilton' on Disney Plus Hotstar sets the bar very hig

In a first of its kind experiment, a Broadway production has been released on an OTT platform as a ‘movie’

Theatre has become the forte of a few who take culture to be a serious business. So, it may be counter-intuitive that Disney, probably the world’s greatest marketer of art, suddenly showed an unprecedented interest in the medium.

Earlier this month, Disney dropped a video rendering of the Broadway show ‘Hamilton’ on their OTT platform Disney Plus, which has been dubbed a “movie”. Traditionally, a videographed theatre production is an insipid affair. The camera is just another person sitting in the auditorium, and with all the action taking place within the four walls of a stage, you miss the potential that cranes and trolley shots offer.

‘Hamilton’ is different. The 2015 Broadway production, which won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, is a well-shot production with song, dance and an ever-changing set, technically closer to how a reality show -- a genre that is a staple of the small screen -- is shot. It is a retelling of the story of Alexander Hamilton, one of the founding fathers of the US. But breaking convention, director Lin-Manuel Miranda created a sing-and-rap production, keeping the reverence for the old rules low and setting the bars high.

And that quotient, coupled with shots through steadicam, crane and dolly, makes ‘Hamilton’ feel less like a play that was taped than a hybrid medium invented for 21st-century consumption.

But form is not the only place where ‘Hamilton’ leaves convention behind. It is neither realistic nor instructive, and Miranda, who plays Hamilton, and the extraordinary Daveed Diggs, who plays a dandy avatar of Thomas Jefferson, battle out their difference before an impartial George Washington. Elsewhere, Hamilton’s wife beatboxes her concerns. While the production’s erudition helps it touch on nuances in political philosophy, its idea of fun is accelerating and devil-may-care.

What makes it a play for 2020 is its unabashed anachronism. Traditionally, the American and European stages have been exceedingly White. Black people, when they got roles, stood in the margin. And for the sake of “historical accuracy”, white characters are played by white actors, leaving thespians of colour hoping that good roles for them will soon be written.

Miranda reimagines the founding fathers through a diverse group of characters, with Presidents George Washington and Thomas Jefferson and Vice President Aaron Burr being portrayed by black men. ‘Hamilton’ uses anachronism in casting as a tool for empowerment.

‘Hamilton’ retorts to the conservative calls against the immigration as well. Hamilton, one of the architects of the US, was himself an immigrant from Puerto Rico. During the war against the British, when Hamilton teamed up with the French revolutionary Marquis de Lafayett, they high-five, saying, “Immigrants! We get things done.”

‘Hamilton’ may have a message for India. People here will sue the socks off any production that attempts to talk about an influential historical figure with anything but a poker face, or better yet, factually mangled romanticism. The acceptance of Hamilton’s irreverence in its homeland may be proof of a country confident in its own democracy.