Hamilton Fever

当记忆和历史相遇时，有时结果是讽刺. The Broadway smash hit Hamilton, which is now engaged in a raucous Boston run, 在全球观众的欢呼声中，全场爆满, with no sign of flagging interest from the public. 的确，看的人越多，想看的人就越多. 几年前，如果有人听说百老汇正在制作一部利记APP官网手机版开国元勋和国债创造的戏剧, 都配上说唱音乐，由非裔美国演员表演, no one would have predicted it would ever be performed, much less become a national sensation. But the great genius of Lin-Manuel Miranda is that Hamilton is a play about ambition, fame, and the creation of the United States, all put to arresting music, brilliant lyrics, astounding performances, and streaked with gripping tragedy. 它以美国政治理论的策划者亚历山大·汉密尔顿(1755)与金融的历史关系为中心?-1804) and his former friend-turned nemesis, the adventurer, former senator, and vice-president Aaron Burr (1756-1836).

Dramatis Personae: Hamilton and Burr

亚历山大·汉密尔顿(Alexander Hamilton)一直被誉为一位具有批判精神的开国元勋, handsome, brilliant, and indispensable to the creation of the United States. As a child, his favorite authors were Pope and Plutarch. 拉维恩的私生子，出生于英属西印度群岛的尼维斯岛, Hamilton became, perhaps, the nation's most illustrious emigrant, and right hand man to George Washington. He embodies American drive, ambition, and determination as no other could and, as is sung throughout the play, he will endure, succeed, and never "throw away his shot." The ultimate irony, of course, 是汉密尔顿建议他十几岁的儿子菲利普这么做的吗, 这导致他在1801年的一场决斗中死亡，汉密尔顿也同样在威霍肯的血腥土地上死亡, New Jersey, in 1804.

Aaron Burr, on the other hand, 他和他的竞争对手年龄相仿，野心勃勃，却从未在美国历史上获得同样受人尊敬的地位. 正如斯坦利·埃尔金斯和埃里克·麦基特里克在1993年所写的那样 Age of Federalism, for nearly all historians, Burr remains "an enigma.他是美国神学家乔纳森·爱德华兹的孙子, 尽管如此，伯尔仍被视为这支部队的“黑暗面”, seeming to represent pure greed, unalloyed ambition, "not" as Elkins and McKitrick asserted, a "representative man" but a "deviant type." Drawing on what historians have written about Burr, 小说家戈尔·维达尔称亚伦·伯尔是“一个具有完美魅力和魅力的人”. A monster, in short." In his highly amusing and perceptive novel, 维达尔扮演了伯尔的传记作者的角色，并将他描述为“魔鬼——假设魔鬼不超过五英尺六英寸(比我矮一英寸)”。, slender, with tiny feet (hooves?), 高额头(在暗淡的光线下，我想象着退化的角), bald in front with hair piled high on his head, powdered absently in the old style, and held in place with a shell comb."

The musical's true genius, however, 是让伯尔重新回到美国主流，并给予他近乎平等的权力, punctuating the American fixation with self-ascendency, greed, power, and ambition. 他不像戈尔·维达尔(Gore Vidal)所塑造的那样，是一个戴着假发的魔鬼. Seeking to "correct" Hamilton's faults, 好心的伯尔告诉他的朋友，他的问题是他把自己的想法告诉了别人. 他建议说，少说话是获得权力的必由之路，因为汉密尔顿是一个细心但有抵抗力的人. Miranda's Hamilton, based on the biography by Ron Chernow, 将历史和创造力融合在一起，与美国人的记忆一起玩耍, to change how we think about our past and ourselves. Key, of course, 让才华横溢的有色人种演员来扮演这些角色吗. 它挑战了我们对过去过于安逸——而且往往是片面的——理解, forcing us to rethink who we have been and, one hopes, what we should be.

Aaron Burr sees the sights in Boston

这部音乐剧并不是汉密尔顿和伯尔第一次在波士顿发生戏剧性的相遇, 正如1890年著名作家卡洛斯·马丁为伟大的波士顿废奴主义者和劳工活动家温德尔·菲利普斯所写的传记所揭示的那样. Phillips, son of the city's first mayor, 住在比肯山脚下查尔斯·布尔芬奇设计的房子里, with the Common as his front yard. A graduate of Harvard College and the Law School, he was, as Thomas Wentworth Higginson recalled, "placed by birth in the most favored worldly position.但在此之前，他背弃了波士顿的婆罗门阶级，成为了一名尖锐的废奴主义者, Phillips tried his hand at lawyering. 1833年完成法律学位后的第二年，菲利普斯前往费城和纽约. While in New York City he somehow met Aaron Burr, 是谁花时间带小菲利普斯参观了纽约的风景.

菲利普斯回家后不久，伯尔来到波士顿，住进了特雷蒙特酒店. Phillips, 感谢神秘莫测的伯尔在纽约对他的殷勤款待, 在特雷蒙特看到了他，并带着这位78岁的前副总统参观了波士顿的一些重要景点. 两人最先参观的地方之一是当时位于珍珠街的波士顿雅典娜博物馆(Boston Athenæum). The Athenæum, then as now, was renowned for its art collections, 代表了一个不容任何19世纪精英游客错过的地方. As they meandered down one hall, Phillips, for perhaps the only time in his life, 他惊慌失措，想把伯尔引到另一个房间去. But it was too late. Like the young Phillips, 伯尔已经看到了朱塞佩·塞拉奇的亚历山大·汉密尔顿的石膏半身像, which had been modeled from life, and had been in the Athenæum's collections since 1817.

你可以想象菲利普斯脑子里闪过的利记APP官网手机版, perhaps feel his racing heart, 还有那婆罗门本来就干燥的皮肤上流下来的汗水. Burr, however, walked right up to the bust, and stood facing it, staring into its all-too familiar face. After a moment, 他转向年轻的侍从，平静地说:“一个了不起的人——一个非常了不起的人." He then, military-like, turned on his heels and completely calm and composed, walked off into history.