Hamilton landed at Disney + this Friday, July 3 with a hopeful atmosphere. Over the past five years, Hamilton has become the most influential show on Broadway, inspiring inflated ticket prices and launching star and puppeteer fame, Lin-Manuel Miranda. The new film version – shooting between June 26-28, 2016 – now stands as an important historical artifact. This is not only a recording of a significant theater performance, but a viewer’s experience that is carefully crafted. Reviewing stage shows in this format reveals a new level of genius in the show, with some playing moments better in 2020 than they did before in 2015. The film version of Disney + Hamilton prove how powerful the show was in the first place and how great it still is.

Story HamiltonStarting now might be as mythic as a musical performance about Alexander Hamilton himself. After his first Broadway musical success, At Altitude, Lin-Manuel Miranda goes on vacation with the doorstop of Ron Chernow’s Hamilton biography. While losing herself in the life of a Caribbean immigrant who formed the United States irrevocably, Miranda got an idea for the next magnum opus. After a series of star-studded workshops and a preview slipped in public in front of Obama, Hamilton: An American Musical it finally opened on Broadway in the summer of 2015. Soon, it surpassed the word “success,” and became synonymous with the word “great work.”

Hamilton follows the life of Founder Father Alexander Hamilton, emphasizing the background of his immigrants. However, it can be said that way Hamilton less about men and more about the people affected. Nearly every famous historical figure in the show is played by the BPOC actor, who underlines the status of this revolutionary outsider as a rebel, invaders and wide-eyed dreamer. While the musical follows Hamilton’s rise to power and untimely death, the story is united by a series of musical number performances, many of which act as monologues for characters other from Hamilton. True star Hamilton not Lin-Manuel Miranda as well as Lin-Manuel Miranda’s remarkable book and score.

This new film version Hamilton took the audience out of the nosebleed chair and immediately went on stage with the players. Directed by Thomas Kail, director of stage shows, this film uses various camera angles to emphasize HamiltonLight choreography and design. We only get our first stage closeup when it’s time for Alexander Hamilton’s great introduction. Likewise, when the ensemble is busy using their own bodies to make a scene, the camera pulls back to give us a full view of the stage. Through Kail’s direction, viewers are not only always guaranteed the best seats in the house, but also given close and personal views to the actors. We see saliva on Jonathan Groff’s chin when King George loses his patience and sweat on Christopher Jackson’s forehead after President Washington survived a tense cabinet meeting. These details do not reduce the show, but instead make the characters feel more alive than before.

So many post-Hamilton the spotlight was cast on just one person: Lin-Manuel Miranda. Ironically, he sometimes seems somewhat defeated by his colleagues. Is it like the way Philippa Soo’s face was crushed staring at the camera in Round II or the subtle nuances that Anthony Ramos gave to the live performances, all the players Hamilton amazing to watch. If something stands out, then it’s Leslie Odom, Jr. Aaron Burr. As the narrator of the show – and possibly the true protagonist – Odom, Jr. does so many circles around other people, he almost resembles a tornado. It says something considering how strong others are Hamilton is, gets to the background player.

No matter how extraordinary the achievement of this film, this film does not fully replicate the direct theater experience. No one can. Even if Kail slowly edits the audience’s chats during the one minute break of the film, it only serves to remind the audience at home that they are, well, at home. In addition, although it has been reported that two “f * cks” were cut from the film, it was not the only part of the censored show. Super sensual choreography in Act II “No to This” is tamed to eliminate the more erotic movements of Jasmine Cephas-Jones. That might make numbers more family friendly, but it also changes the story a bit. Without the sexuality of that number, the affair of Hamilton and Maria Reynold feels much more sentimental, and therefore more romantic.

Weakness in Hamilton small and lightweight, but because the Hook camera enlarges millions of new details, fans can see it more easily. What can fans see? A new source of inspiration emerged in a show that once seemed like a love letter to the Obama era. When Hamilton premiering on Broadway, it feels like the rejection of a tidal wave of anti-immigrant sentiment and the promise that America will continue to push forward towards progress. (Seeing Christopher Jackson’s “One Last Time” belt a few weeks before the 2016 election remained a chill experience for many years later.) However, by 2020, another part of Hamilton bubbles to the surface, emphasizing their weight. In Act I, young Hamilton is bound by his friends about the need for revolution. Their words – especially John Laurens’ emphasis on elimination – take on new strength today. Hamilton is about rebellion as about anything else.

Hamilton it has appeared so big on zeitgeist culture for five years that it’s hard to imagine that the film version has anything more to say. Hamilton at Disney + adds to musical heritage. This gives broad access to the original production while also giving hardcore fans a close look. The smallest tics of the players and the biggest swings of the book come together beautifully in this new format. If anything, a 2015 stage show feels more urgent in 2020. This is not only a time capsule from a different time in modern America, but also a love letter to ambitious souls who never stop fighting for more perfect unity.

Hamilton will premiere on Disney + on Friday, July 3.

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