Ishmael Reed Tries to Undo the Damage ‘Hamilton’ Has Wrought

On our mindsTheNation.comJune 6, 2019Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton, Puerto Rico, The Nation, American History, Musical, Theater, The Haunting of Lin-Manuel Miranda, Rome Neal, Directed by Rome Neal, Nuyorican Poets Cafe, Ambien-addled Miranda, Alexander Hamilton, Native American Man, Native American Woman, Harriet Tubman

Review: ‘The Haunting’ Has a Big Problem With ‘Hamilton’

Ishmael Reed's new Play "The Haunting of Lin-Manuel Miranda" Opens at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe

On our minds, Film & TheatreChavisa WoodsMay 14, 2019Ishmael Reed, Hamilton, nuyorican poets cafe, theater, play, US History, The Haunting of Lin-Manuel Miranda

We deserve more than a corny, highly processed past: Ishmael Reed’s “The Haunting of Lin-Manuel Miranda”

During the 2016 election, I worked at a large, well known national nonprofit. The organization was firmly part of the political establishment, and among my colleagues, getting tickets to Lin-Manuel Miranda’s frequently sold-out musical “Hamilton” was a marker of social status on par with visiting Cuba in the wake of the warming of Cuba-US relationships. I personally never really understood the appeal of Hamilton. It was everywhere, so I had of course listened to parts of the soundtrack, but it never appealed to me. Overdone. Corny. Yet it sparked something in others.

Did ‘Hamilton’ Get the Story Wrong? One Playwright Thinks So (The New York Times)

The 15 or 20 minutes before the performance ticked by the same way they do on nights when Rome Neal presides over jazz at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. But this time Mr. Neal was directing a reading of a play. It takes aim at the sensation that is the theatrical juggernaut “Hamilton” and its creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda.