Will Hamilton resonate in 2020’s America?

IN JUNE 2016, THE BROADWAY PHENOMENON Hamilton was filmed in all its syllable-spraying, suede-coat-shaking glory. Director Tommy Kail used Steadicams and camera cranes to capture composer Lin-Manuel Miranda’s definitive cultural artifact of Obama’s America: a multicultural, optimistic narrative in which an immigrant lifts himself out of poverty by “working a lot harder” and “being a self-starter” to become an American Founding Father.

Hamilton remains an astonishing triumph in so many ways: as a rebuke to a white-dominated theater world; as a genre-crossing musical monument; as a subversive interrogation of who gets to claim American greatness. It scored a record-setting 16 Tony Award nominations, set box-office records and reimagined theater in the 21st century.

But when the film drops on Disney+ on July 3, it will arrive into a world that has been transformed by the past four years. celebrates through song and dance.