Arts & Culture
DOOLITTLE | History Has Its Eyes on You: Revisionism on Stage
|
By SEAN DOOLITTLE
On the eve of the Battle of Yorktown, George Washington sang a few words of advice to the newly promoted Alexander Hamilton: “You have no control, who lives, who dies, who tells your story.” Or, at least, that’s what Hamilton composer-star Lin-Manuel Miranda thought George Washington should have said, because it’s a really great thematic through line for a musical about their lives. The scene itself is an introspective, even self-referential moment for a show that literally tells a story about people who have no control over the narrative. Yes, I’m talking about Hamilton in another column. Get over it. Ponder the phrase “historical fiction.” It sounds like an oxymoron, an innate paradox at first glance.