For this week’s edition of Hard NOC Life, we’re changing it up and focusing our attention on a genre that doesn’t get much attention on the site: musical theater! At a time when Hollywood still thinks it’s risky business to put people of color in their movies, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton is literally poppin’ a squat on conventional wisdom, like it or not. With its company of African American, Latinx, and Asian American actors playing the men (and women) who founded our country, Hamilton is proof that diversity equals box office. Joining Keith to talk all things Ham, are super-fan Constance Gibbs, Hollywood Reporter Rebecca Sun, and #OscarsSoWhite creator April Reign.
Topics covered on the show include:
- Connie’s high school connection to Lin-Manuel Miranda and how her Arrow recap turned Keith into a Hamilton stan
- Having seen the show, Connie describes what it’s like being in the room where it happens and gives the story behind her own Lin selfie:
- How Hamilton and the Hamiltome has brought diverse groups of people together
- A brief public service announcement to support Black Girl Nerds on Patreon
- Rebecca remarks on how Hamilton handles its financial situation
- How Hamilton is challenging the whiteness of Broadway
- April recounts her twitter debate with Max Landis, affectionately titled “Screenwriter Refuted“
All this and more on Hard NOC Life! Watch it on your screen, hit “play,” and check this.
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