Why Does Michael Riedel hate "Hamilton"? — Page 3

"#1. I didn't realize this site was an exclusive "Rah Rah Hamilton" fangurl site. If it were, I definitely wouldn't visit it."

Actually, it's the rah-rah site for any and all overhyped critics' darlings: du jour, du mois, or de l'éternité.

"#2. I didn't click on the puff pieces masquerading as journalism. The headlines and accompanying pics proved nauseating enough."

Expect more of the same.

Lots more.

Updated On: 7/23/15 at 07:28 AM

I think Hamilton deserves the praise it has received, although I think it has gone a little overboard. Also, I think Lin Manuel Miranda comes off as a little arrogant when he keeps quoting himself (i.e. his Wesleyan commencement speech, the In the Heights Tony rap to the rush crowd, and to some extent the #yayhamlet shirts) and it can rub people the wrong way, making them want to criticize his work.

I'm surprised Riedel is trying to trash Hamilton. If he gets them to appear on his TV program, that would be quite a coup. Bad-mouthing the production isn't going to help that.

I don't think he hates it by any means, this is a quote from his column about whether or not the show was gonna come to Broadway in time for the 2015 Tony Awards:

“Hamilton” is by no means perfect (overrated, if you ask me)

Full Story Here!

So you people basically have no lives whatsoever

I would love to hear your reasoning for that comment.

What is there to hate? That the show has transcended the narrow confines of musical theatre junkies and has actually captured the attention of our culture?

Precisely. The only way that happens is through publicity. When a show grabs the attention of the public in a hugely significant way, it gets tons of publicity. For some reason, people HATE when a show receives a lot of publicity (even if all they actually read is a headline), regardless the show's quality. I saw the show and I believe it's worthy of all the positive buzz and press. I haven't read every article written about it, so I really haven't been bothered by it. It's the sort of show that will be wildly popular among the general public, musical theatre fans and critics, so it's going to be discussed often for quite a while. If someone like AfterHate is annoyed that the majority opinion is different from their own, that's AfterHate's problem and has nothing to do with anyone else.

Theatre, musical theatre especially, has needed to expand it's audience and catch a younger age group

It's actually been doing pretty well no that front. From Rent to Wicked to Spring Awakening to If/Then, at least once a decade, a show has come along that has created a surge in tween/teen/twentysomething fans, whether it is the show itself or its cast.

I enjoyed HAMILTON at the Public; found it exhilarating except during a lull in Act II. In fact, I have tickets to sample the Broadway mounting. But afterwards I didn't find myself humming the songs; instead, ditties like "Hard to Be the Bard" ended up nestling in my consciousness. Sue me.

Devil's advocate query here re the publicity angle: Never mind the qualitative difference between the shows, but Harvey Weinstein was roundly castigated for his publicity shenanigans on FINDING NEVERLAND, while Miranda's efforts in that vein are pretty much readily accepted. Why the difference in reception?

Plus Miranda publicly dissed Madonna so that's worth at least a few brownie points to the the theater crowd.

"To me, Miranda comes off as extremely down-to-earth and gracious in every interview. And the fact that he's giving / organizing these mini-performances at every lottery so the event is special to the hundreds of losers is pretty darn great. There's a level of connection with his audience and fanbase that is unmatched right now. "

please, he's doing that for publicity. But continue, keep thinking LMM is in it for the people as you're paying 400 dollars to see the show

""To me, Miranda comes off as extremely down-to-earth and gracious in every interview. And the fact that he's giving / organizing these mini-performances at every lottery so the event is special to the hundreds of losers is pretty darn great. There's a level of connection with his audience and fanbase that is unmatched right now. "

please, he's doing that for publicity. But continue, keep thinking LMM is in it for the people as you're paying 400 dollars to see the show"

JayG 2 and Phillypinto I am so pleased the success of HAMILTON is rubbing you in every wrong way possible. That with each new article and every word of praise bestowed upon Lin Manuel, his show and his excellent cast and crew that you both continue to seethe with the anger that is on display in this thread. The more it displeases you the happier I get.

Keep hating!

Updated On: 7/23/15 at 01:37 PM