Lin-Manuel Miranda has done it again!
What has the creator of one of the hottest shows
ever to play Broadway done?
Nothing less than double his remarkable success with the opening of his latest musical, a hip hoppin’ retelling of the Star Wars legend called Hamill Town!
Miranda's second tune-filled masterpiece presents a play
within a play as the residents of a small Kansas community named after an actor who was box office
poison for 40 years annually presents a thrilling Star Wars
pageant.
Opening with a rousing tribute to the
town of Hamill Town (Welcome
All to Hamill Town), the townsfolk enact the tale of Alexander Skywalker, abandoned
by his father and living on the forgotten spot planet of Tatooine.
Longing for more, Alexander finds himself in the middle of the Revolutionary War against the Empire. Befriended by the leader of the Revolution, Obie-Wan Washington, Alexander shares adventures with Chewbacca Adams, the Marquis de R2-D2, Jabba the Jefferson and his enigmatic
rival Darth Burr, who may actually be his father.
The play ends spectacularly in a light saber duel between the two as Skywalker sings "Who Lives, Who Dies,George Lucas Tells Your Story."
Once again the incomparable Miranda stars in the lead role and his voice is as strong and lyrical as ever as he sings:
I'm blasting into space
To save the human race
And through my veins does course
The Mighty Feder-a-list Force!
A revelation in the role of Darth Burr, however, is Nicolas Cage. Who'd have thought he could sing hip hop? Who'd have thought he could dance? Who'd have thought he could act?
If you've got a trust fund, rich uncle, or are a porn star who's had sex with Donald Trump and recently received your lump sum payoff, get yourself down to the Helen Hunt Theater and marvel to Hamill Town!
And good news! Word is that before long Lin-Manuel may have a third hit show on his hands, a musical based on the life of one of the beloved stars of the movie The Wizard of Oz.
Personally, I just can't wait for:I TOWN
HAMILTON
AN
AMERICAN WIZARD OF OZ MUSICAL
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nels Noodleman is a
nationally known and reviled theater critic who writes on the Broadway stage. Whenever he's discovered writing on the stage, he's usually thrown out of the theater. Over the course of his checkered but mostly plaid career Nels has
reviewed all of the major Broadway plays of the last half century.
Someday he hopes to see them too.
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