Last November, season tickets went on sale for the 2018-2019 Broadway shows, coming to our city. The season included the coveted Hamilton. The season tickets go on sale before the season starts. Then, a couple of months beforehand, they put individual tickets on sale. Due to unprecedented response, subscriptions for the season tickets sold out in the same day. Actually, it crashed their system in the morning for several hours. My husband was at work, on his computer, notebook, and phone. I was on my computer and cell phone, for hours, listening to the automated “hold” music and hitting refresh on my computer, while engaged at work.
After three hours he finally got an operator, who said she would call him back. We needed four tickets, all together, balcony, in the front. In the meantime, in case the ticket agent did not call back, he was able to secure 2 sets of two, and so did I. The sales agent called my husband back with 4 tickets, all together. Now we had a lot of money on tickets, fortunately, we were able to return the other season tickets.
Our adult children were excited. They loved Broadway. They became hooked when we took them to New York City for Christmas of 2010. My son was in high school and my daughter in grade school. We saw In the Heights. A musical with music and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda (who also wrote the music, lyrics, and story, for Hamilton). In the Heights was nominated for 13 Tony Awards, and received four, including Best Musical. Lin-Manuel Miranda also received the Tony for the Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical for his role as Usnavi (In the Heights’ protagonist).
Our children, as adults now, shared how fortunate they were to have seen such a great piece of art, in acting, choreography, and music, and the guy (Lin-Manuel Miranda), who is now renowned famous.
My son was very happy we secured the season tickets. My daughter, her college friend, and my son stood around the island in the kitchen talking about what a great season it will be when we get to see Hamilton as well as several other big hits.
I am sure you all know that Hamilton is a hip-hop based musical about Alexander Hamilton, a “founding father” of the United States of America. Most of the lyrics are sung fast, so we all did our homework beforehand, listening to the soundtrack, watching the PBS special on the making of Hamilton, Hamilton’s America(2016). and read the story. We knew what was coming, the death of Hamilton’s son, and the post-song, “It’s Quiet Uptown”, describing the unimaginable. It is different, seeing it in person; the actors on stage take you in and make it real, as it if were truly happening; you are feeling their pain. My daughter and I lost control of our emotions, and the tears poured out. It is also emotional when Hamilton is shot and dies.
We walked out of the theater in silence. My son’s friend took his place, who is a hip-hop artist. He wrote a song which he performed at my son’s funeral. He graciously thanked us and we parted ways with a hug. Driving home, the three of us were all off: short with each other. We each were missing him, our son, her brother.
My son loved music and most genres. He had three plays list on Spotify, which contained 50 hours of rap music. I never cared much for rap music, mostly because of the explicit language and references to drugs. Going through his computer, I found he also had music on an additional streaming service, Soundcloud. There was a single playlist, titled, “Favorites.” It is hip-hop/rap music, containing 24 songs posted a year ago. It includes artists like “Chance the Rapper” (given name, ChancelorJonathan Bennett), Snoop Dogg, The Americanos, Kidswaste, Towkio, and a few others. The music in this playlist is uplifting, and there are some references to Christian theology and struggles with faith. I learned that each of these songs has a story. I looked up some of the lyrics to understand them. The song, “Somewhere in Paradise” I think, references “tripping” which may be a reference to psychedelics, but it is relatable and spiritual.
The refrain includes the lyrics:
“I believe that if I fly, prollyend up somewhere in paradise
I believe that if I fly, I’ll prollyend up somewhere in paradise
I believe,I believe, there’s somewhere out there for us all
There’s a paradise (there is a paradise)
I believe that if I die, I’ll see my homies somewhere in paradise
(I’ll see ’em somewhere in paradise)” (Chance the Rapper, Jeremih, R. Kelly, 2015).
I hope my son is in paradise, and he is with his “homie.” That is what I need to believe.
We have four tickets to Dear Evan Hansen, a musical about mental illness and youth suicide. The musical won six Tony Awards, including Best Musical. It comes to town June 2019. That gives us some time to decide if we will attend, listen to the music, and prepare ourselves.
REFERENCES
Chance the Rapper, Jeremih, R. Kelly, Somewhere in Paradise, single, 2015, Spotify, <https://open.spotify.com/track/29BXCsh4lGLrndprkgYL6O?si=I9kkR9IqT9OWFYGTBb2C7w>.
