Dear Reader
Almost five years ago, I was one of the very fortunate souls to see Hamilton in its opening week on Broadway. Today Lin-Manuel Miranda’s game-changing, lexicon-shaping is now streaming on Disney Plus — a whole year ahead of when it was scheduled to be released as a film. It’s almost difficult to remember a time when we didn’t use phrases like “the room where it happens,” “not throwing away my shot” and other Hamilquotes. The show will always be remembered for its audacious and much-welcomed flipping the casting of ‘dead white men.’ But it’s no small feat to continue to acknowledge the show’s impact, and the questions it plays with — of personal agency, collective action, and ultimately, who gets to tell your story and, then, our history.
The film’s timing comes at a moment when Broadway announced it will stay shut until the end of the year, due to the coronavirus pandemic, and the theatre world finds itself grappling with issues around representation and that very question of who does the story-telling. It’s not a moment, it’s a movement! And we keep doing the work.
This week’s list of arts and entertainment options, hand-picked by me for you:
1. This year’s Independence Day feels different for more than one reason. The “certain unalienable rights,” the Declaration of Independence enshrines have not been available to all equally. The New-York Historical Society has planned online events that mix revelry with reflection. One of the events takes place at midday on Saturday, the 4th, and is an exploration of Jackie Robinson’s lifelong commitment to civil rights, and after that, an historical interpreter from the society will read excerpts from Frederick Douglass’s seminal 1852 speech “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?”
2. The Whitney Museum of American Art will stream on Vimeo “National Anthem,” artist Kota Ezawa’s two-minute watercolour-animation of the football players who followed Colin Kaepernick’s lead of kneeling during the national anthem to show opposition to racial injustice. Friday, 4pm PST / 7pm EST, until Sunday 7pm PST / 10pm EST.
3. Comedian Hannibal Burress is giving us his latest comedy special, Miami Nights, on YouTube tonight, Friday night, at 6pm PST / 9pm EST. It’s based on his arrest in Miami in 2017. A few weeks ago, Burress posted a teaser clip of it made up of body-cam footage of his arrest, for disorderly intoxication in 2017 because he asked a police officer to call him an Uber.
4. Sir Elton John has joined the likes of Radiohead and Pink Floyd in releasing back concerts. From today for the next 6 weeks, a different concert from his archive will be streaming on YouTube. It kicks off at 9am PST / 12pm EST / 5pm London time, with his show at the Playhouse Theatre in Edinburgh from 1976. The series will raise funds for the EJAF Covid-19 Emergency Fund, which helps respond to marginalized communities dealing with the impact of the pandemic on HIV/Aids conditions.
5. Cirque du Soleil, which sadly announced filing for bankruptcy this week, is still sharing gems from its vault as part of its ongoing CirqueConnect series. Cirque du Soleil: Best of Aerial is an hour-long special that features aerialism from three recent shows: Luzia (2016), Kurios (2014) and Amaluna (2012). Available from 3pm EST / 8pm BST.
6. The legendary Allen Toussaint and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band will share a rarely-seen concert, originally recorded in November 2014. From Friday, 5pm PST / 8pm EST. Proceeds will be going to the Preservation Hall Foundation for their Emergency Legacy Musician Relief Fund, supporting over 60 musicians.
Thank you for reading. I’ll leave you with the St James Joy that Gail, Jo and Chad, the family who live around the corner from where I stay in Brooklyn, have created.
Stay safe, stay sane
Your neighbour
Nadia