Tag: 07.12.15

Hip Hop ‘Hamilton’ Heads To Broadway With Massive Advance Ticket Sales

“Mr. Miranda, at an airport on his way to a vacation with his wife in Mexico, picked up a copy of ‘Alexander Hamilton,’ a 2004 biography by Ron Chernow. By the second chapter, Mr. Miranda thought the story was made for hip-hop: Hamilton, an orphaned immigrant, plays a key role both in the American Revolution and in the nation’s foundational years, only to stumble with a sex scandal and to die in a duel. Hamilton’s childhood, Mr. Miranda said, made him think of Jay Z’s early days in the Marcy Houses in Brooklyn, and Eminem’s upbringing in Detroit.”

When New York Vanished

“Prior to the landmarks law there was no legal means for protecting historic sites like the Roxy. Many had fallen into disrepair. … It took the destruction of many beloved places before the law gained the political support it needed.

The Avant-Garde Opera Director Who Has To Dodge The Paparazzi

Sophie Hunter, an opera director and actor who happens to be married to Benedict Cumberbatch, “sees no real distinction between her niche work in opera and the kind of commercial success that her husband enjoys in films such as The Imitation Game or in next month’s production of Hamlet at the Barbican, for which all but ‘on the day’ tickets sold out quickly. ‘My job now is to make work, to tell stories,’ Hunter said.”