The Perfect Balance Of The Hamilton Mixtape

I was just in the mood to talk about this, that's it. We all love Hamilton and this is much like the month Hamildrops that came out monthly for a year's time, which was an added surprise. Seeing other artists take on Broadway songs and add a new style and flare while keeping the themes of what made the songs great. Only holding on to some of the lyrics or the chorus but then adding new lyrics and stories around these well-known songs. Harkening back to days when Broadway hits would be performed by popular musicians outside of the theaters and even with some slight changes, and has been here and there such as the Sara Bareilles Waitress album or Owl City performing "Waving Through A Window", but not as common of an act as it once was. So I wanted to dive into this and see what made this mixtape truly something worth listening to, and why it works on levels for theather fans and music enjoyers at the same time. The Hamildrops will have their time to shine another day in another post, for today I am going to focus on just the Hamilton Mixtape. 

For the musical enjoyers, it has demos of early songs that didn't make it into the final show from the rough drafts of the long process the show underwent, but also cut songs. That alone is worth preserving to get a peek into pieces of the show that didn't end up making the cut but were originally there. 

The remixes are amazing when "My Shot" greets the listener right after the intro, showing what this album is made of. Showing plenty of remixes that stand on their own, building off of a chorus or lyric to make something new. Singing about immigration, struggles, creating, working hard, and many other themes that make for great inspiration and a great listen. Hearing some of the songs as covers is also great to hear different musicians takes on the songs we love from the show even with multiple artists on one song.

The different instrumentals show how the lyrics can even fit into different styles, how the instruments in "Satisfied" or "It's Quite Up Town" sometimes the song stay the same or make only slight changes to fit a broader topic or audience like in "Wait For It".  So on top of cut songs which are a cool piece of history to have in this historical musical mixtape, there are also covers and remixes. So many of the songs also just flow into each other so well that you hear pieces of the previous song as it flows into the next, which is one of the reasons why I rarely put this on shuffle. 

Sometimes songs can be slowed down to change their style entirely or change a lyric of two. 

My favorites and go-to listens are always "My Shot", "Wrote My Way Out", "Congratulations",  "Immigrants We Get The Job Done", "It's Quiet Up Town", "Burn" and "Who Tells Your Story" with only one song in the album that I skip "You'll Be Back" and often comedic and amazing song in the show is ruined by Jimmy Fallon, yes some of this is due to me thinking he is not funny already but it just doesn't work. There are so many songs that have so much heart in this album whether it is performing the song in a new way or adding something with pieces of something great to make some just as great in a new way, then there's this. It is just him being goofy and I feel like anyone else could have captured the comedy and charm of the song while still making it fun without being this obnoxious. Every other piece of music presented here is great. 

Overall this is one of my favorites to pop in every once in a while, when writing, running errands, or just relaxing, this album is a must even for new Hamilton fans who caught it on Disney Plus due to the word of mouth and the pro shot, this is simply amazing. I love going to this for creative inspiration and to just unwind, it is an album packed with variety and all the songs but one is worth your time. Seeing songs that did not make it in, seeing new takes, and whole new songs, this album has a bit of everything. 

The New Wicked Trailer

 A new trailer for the first half of a two-part musical epic has dropped, and I am here to talk about it once again, the movie comes out around Thanksgiving and lasts almost four minutes long, what did I think? Well, let's defy gravity and dive into it shall we?

The trailer this time was one step forward and two steps back, now that it is done trying to hide the fact it is a musical, we got two songs and what seemed like a couple dance numbers. Most of the trailer for this musical movie consisted of talking and showing big scenic and dramatic shots and building up the story. We got a few looks into "Popular" and then another peek at "Defying Gravity" maybe some shots of "What Is This Feeling?" or "I'm Not That Girl" but only in visual not in song, the former two being the only ones displayed in the trailer we were presented today in a musical format.

I will say it feels like this trailer showed the entire plot of the first movie, it showed the beginning, some plot, and what seems to be dire straights. Revealing the villain's hands already and their identities, showing the characters growing close and apart, all while one song played. If any more trailers come I feel like we will have seen even more of the film. The only thing that seems held close to their chest is the music and performances, showing two solo performances and no group numbers. 

That interests me as the director's previous musical film "In The Heights" when it was given a trailer seemed to show the big group aspect and save the duets and solo far for the movie, which I find interesting just to see the differences. Mostly plot and dialogue were shown and now the stage was set, with only small morsels of "Defying Gravity" and "Popular" that felt like blink-and-you-miss-it showings. I wish more of the musical aspect was shown instead of showing only about ten seconds and trying to focus on being this big and grand, epic story. 

This trailer has me still cautiously optimistic, it shows promise and the visuals are very striking, it just seems that it is trying to be something more than a musical, and trying to have these big, emotional, epic moments. The only problem is a big epic story with emotional moments already exists, it's called the stage version. 

Are Biopics Musicals?

 We have seen countless movies based on famous people's lives but one trend is musicians, whether it is Whitney Houston, Bob Marley, Elton John and so many more. But it is not just the big screen the stage has seen shows cataloging the life of musicians and featuring songs from their career, such as Cher, Carole King, and Gloria Estefan which I have seen. So today I wanted to ask, do biopics count as musical movies?

Biopics have been on a range of famous people and historical figures but I wanted to focus specifically on those concerning musicians, as those are where songs and music are shown the most. There are plenty of musicals on stage, at least one per year if not more that either tells the story of a musician's life while showcasing their music, such as Tina Tuner, but those are different than musicals where they use popular music to advance a story. Though both are classified as jukebox musicals, Mama Mia or Moulin Rouge use popular music and fit it into places that push the plot along in a fictional story that uses the music to convey its emotions, almost like fitting pieces into a puzzle. 

The movies mainly show musician' struggles and how they overcame the odds to be where they are now while showing how their popular songs came to be, and are performed, much like how musicals of that same vein do. In terms of plot either one could be on stage or as a movie and have a vast amount of similarities, but there is one major difference.

Most of these biopic movies do not stop the movie to show the song, they will show a small snippet of the song and only have one or two songs performed in their entirety. Whereas on stage the songs are numerous and the show stops to shine a light on them and let either a shorter or the whole song be performed depending on the moment in the show. Many Broadway shows try to put in as many songs as possible from the musician's career shorter versions of the songs are performed to give a fun sample of the song you know and check it off the list. When I saw "On Your Feet" which is the Gloria Estefan musical, many of the songs were cut down to put in as many as possible, same as when I reviewed the album for the Carole King musical, "On Your Feet" even having a medley at the end to add even more songs. 

When I watch these movies based on famous musicians it seems the focus is more on them as a person outside their music career and how the music got made. It seems to focus more on the events surrounding the song and then gives you a small version of it. Most of them end with concerts which then are the big emotional focal points and showcase multiple songs in a rapid fire way. Emulating the excitement of seeing a concert live to help balance with all the emotional storytelling shown in the movie and show the song in its entirety as a reward for watching where the lead is in their life now and for going through the struggles presented in the film.  

On stage, the balance comes from trying to not be just a concert, but rather present a story in the musical format. The stage version has to find the story and song balance, while still having enough times where the music can shine and so it can be labeled as a musical. The live stage musical has a different set of standards than a movie, it is just interesting to see the similarities and how the two have as much in common as they do different. I hope to keep exploring this idea and topic, diving deeper, and keep searching around until I have a definitive answer or opinion. Until then I say they are different until proven otherwise. I say this because the music is often not used as much in a movie as it is on stage, and is often shown as a reward rather than move the plot along. 

Predicting The Wicked Movie

 At Cinema Con there was some footage shown of the Wicked movie, and it had me speculating, this movie has had audiences predicting and speculating long before it even had a trailer. There is so much riding on this adaptation of one of the biggest musicals in theater history. So I thought until the next trailer or teaser comes around, that I would use the information given and shown, throw my black hat into the ring, and see how much I get right. When the movie does come out, it will be fun to look back at this and see how much I got right and what I did not, as a sort of time capsule, so here are my guesses as to how the Wicked movie will turn out when it hits the big screen this November. 

So from what we know from the Super Bowl trailer I went through, and some articles that have come out before and since, this movie will be in two parts, the singing is live, we know the cast, and a release window but not a specific date. Some footage was shown at Cinema Con and it seemed to garner some buzz but much like everything there, not much has made it to the public eye and was just used to generate buzz, so mission accomplished.

going off of that information we know, here are my predictions for what the movie will turn out to be. The safest guess is that Act One is a movie, and Act Two is a movie, including every song from the show doing a rare adaptation of not cutting any songs. Depending on run time I would not be surprised if a new song or two is added to get that Best Original Song Oscar nomination. The visuals will be big and grand adding to the musical numbers. Each one will have visual flare and be big, stand-out moments for the show. I wonder if the movie will open with "No One Mourns The Wicked" or if like the director's previous work "In The Heights" the songs will be shuffled.

I do not think the show will appear in the order of the way events play out on stage, there is a possibility for some original performances, remixes, or new songs for promotions and the credits. I would not be surprised if there was a pop version of "Popular" and "Defying Gravity" during the credits when they roll around. 

I feel the order of songs will be shuffled around if "In The Heights" is anything to go off of. I also feel that songs will feel different, by that I mean different pacing, perhaps even different lyrics, and different instrumentation. To go off of "In The Heights" once more, the instrumentation in that was very quiet and subdued, trying to create real and relatable moments, and I wonder if songs like "I'm Not That Girl" will sound more like sad songs you hear on the radio then somber solo Broadway ballad. 

I could see the final chords of "Defying Gravity" leading to a "To Be Continued" if they want to be clever an "End Of Act One" before the credits. That moment leaving the audiences wondering how the rest of the tale will unfold, but with all the extra run time allotted to having two films, I wonder if more original songs are going to be added to spice things up, which I hope is not the case. This movie has been so long in the making, that I feel playing it safe is truly the best option, I am already questioning the part one and part two format. 

But those are my thoughts and predictions while we all wait for that footage, or a new trailer to come, my guess for certain for a new trailer will drop at San Diego Comicon and if it does, I will be here to discuss it. 

The Tony Award Nomniations And The Mufasa Trailer

 The time of year is here once more. Time to see what musicals will take home the gold and which ones will get fan reactions saying they deserved more. The awards are not here just yet, but the nominations are, roughly a month early, this also means for people like me who can not see these shows until they go on tour due to not living in New York that hopefully some cast albums will be released, giving me and many others a taste of these shows by giving us the songs that are featured in the shows. But we also got a new trailer for a musical movie, so I wanted to address that too.

The Tony Nomniations

I don't feel very equipped to make predictions as I have listened to very few of these shows let alone seen them, but I have listened to Back To The Future and as mentioned before, awaiting cast album releases for many of these. Hell's Kitchen leading the pack and I intend on listening to that musical as soon as possible, but there are some movie adaptations sprinkled throughout from Back To The Future, Water For Elephants, The Outsiders which was a book and movie, and even The Notebook. I am interested to see how Water For Elephants and The Outsiders turn out, the latter being a book and film I was familiar with due to the school, the former is new to me. 

Suffs is in the mix, bringing some more historical musical theater to the stage, but the nominees for best musical and best revival are quite small compared to some years. I am used to about three or four more nominees in the best musical category and maybe one or two for revival. All I hope for is a show where the awards are spread around and not a complete sweep one way, last year was a great example of that. And of course, I am looking forward to the performances, speeches, and more from one of my favorite awards shows. I am excited to hear Hell's Kitchen and Water For Elephants the most and eagerly await many of these songs to be shown to those outside New York. The news of the host, date, and time are sure to come but now we know the lineup for the night and some of the performances we are going to see, and I as usual am quite excited. 

The Mufasa Trailer

At first glance, I was not going to talk about this, but then I saw, the words at the end of the trailer that said "With Original Songs By Lin Manuel Miranda" and I was very surprised. I was wondering why he was doing music for this but not Moana 2 which is due just a month before this movie debuts.

In terms of the trailer it looked like nothing to write home about, just the young Mufasa running around in an original story no one asked for. The antics looked similar to The Lion King, just set in the past, and visually just looked bland like the movie that made so much money it caused this one to come to be. I am not a fan of the live-action Disney takes on classic films, I feel the originals when it comes to Renaissance films are good enough, I like when they remake a super old film to remove the parts that reflect a more ignorant time, but for the musicals from the 90's I always ask, just why? With the news of Moana getting one and it is barely ten years old, and all of these classics, it makes me sad to see the industry as well just disregard the credibility of movies just because they are animated. Animated movies can move someone just as much and just because it is animated should not be labeled as just for kids, if they are good enough to be put on the big screen, there is a quality behind them for everyone. 

Seeing Lin Manuel Miranda shift from making really good animated soundtracks to making songs such as "The Scuttlebutt" and doing only live-action, shifting from Encanto and Moana, not even doing the sequel to do live-action adaptions has me scratching my head. He has made some really good songs with Disney but these live-action outings and his not returning to follow-ups to what he has worked on before, have me just questioning.

In terms of musical movies, we have already had Mean Girls 2024 this year, and we still have :

. Moana 2

.Joker Folie A' Deux

.Mufasa

.Wicked Part One 

Moana 2 is the one I am most concerned about due to Wish falling flat but also that so little has been shown, there has been only a logo, and a static image, with a release date. No trailers, no songs, not even a teaser, and this movie is fast approaching, making me fear Ai could be involved as well, which I hope is not the case. Either way, this Mufasa trailer only left me not impressed and asking way more questions then I thought I would.