Ever since my sister came home for her fresh- man year Winter Break with a song called “Sat- isfied,” “Hamilton” has been a part of my life. I met one of my closest friends because of it, I passed AP US History because of it and (sort of) passed AP Government because of it. I even got a chance to see the Chicago cast a few summers ago because of how much I loved it. As much as I loved that show, I knew it was nowhere near as incredible as the original cast’s show was. That same friend I mentioned before got to see the original cast’s show in New York and told me how amazing it was, and how much it meant to her to see the show with its creator Lin-Manuel Miranda in the starring role. So when I heard that Disney+ was going to be releasing the origi- nal Broadway cast’s show, I was elated, posi- tive that it would be one of the most incredible things I would ever see. I was right. Getting to see the show from a couple hun- dred rows away from the stage does not com- pare to seeing the movie that Disney+ released. I got to see the heartbreak on Angelica’s (Renée Elise Goldsberry, “The Immortal Life of Henri- etta Lacks”) face during “Satisfied,” the good- natured teasing between Laurens (Anthony Ramos, “A Star is Born”), Mulligan (Okieriete Onaodowan, “The Super”), Lafayette (Daveed Diggs, “Wonder”) and Burr (Leslie Odom Jr., “Murder on the Orient Express”) in “Story of Tonight (Reprise),” the genuine tears rolling down Eliza’s (Phillipa Soo, “Here and Now”) face during “It’s Quiet Uptown …” The Disney+ film combines the best parts of a Broadway show with the intimacy of an at-home film. Seeing every carefully choreographed moment up close, while still having the audience reac- tions of laughter and applause, makes the show a truly unique experience. If Broadway had a flaw, it would be that very few audience mem- bers get the “perfect” view to see every detail that occurs onstage. The film removes that con- cern, allowing any and every viewer to experi- ence the show in the best way possible. One might think that you can just listen to the “Hamilton” soundtrack and that would be enough, but that couldn’t be more wrong. The soundtrack doesn’t have Hercules Mulligan as Eliza’s and Alexander’s (Lin-Manuel Miranda, “Mary Poppins Returns”) flower girl, it doesn’t have Eliza’s heart-wrenching scream in “Stay Alive (Reprise)” and it doesn’t have the magic of a true Broadway show. Broadway is all about exaggeration; neither the soundtrack by itself nor a movie version of the show could capture what the actual Broadway performance does. However, you get live, in-time reactions from both the cast and the audience when you see the recorded performance of “Hamilton.” But the real genius of “Hamilton” is that you learn something beyond the history of Alexan- der Hamilton’s life when you watch it. Onstage, you see a version of America that we don’t have in real life. A version that we can work toward. There are women who vow to make “women a part of the [Declaration of Independence’s] sequel” in “The Schuyler Sisters,” there are people of color in positions of power — such as Christopher Jackson’s (“Bull”) George Wash- ington — which is a step towards change (even if it isn’t enough) and there is a president who knows when it’s time to step down. It’s not a perfect America by any means; there is infi- delity, murder and mourning. But it truly is a story of America’s history told by Americans today, as Lin-Manuel Miranda intended. The show has historical inaccuracies, to be sure, but those almost don’t matter in the grand scheme of things. You could read about the founding of America any time to get historical facts, but a textbook doesn’t provide hope for change the way that “Hamilton” does. 6 Thursday, July 9, 2020 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com ARTS MUSIC NOTEBOOK MUSIC NOTEBOOK Gil Scott-Heron and ‘60s campus politics Before “The Revolution Will Not be Tele- vised,” Gil Scott-Heron was a member of the Black & Blues. Following the summer of 1969, he returned to Lincoln University where he and fellow musician Brian Jackson worked on combining jazz arrangements with poetry. As members of the Black & Blues, they laid the foundation for their future work as a duo and solo artists. A lot of their work centered on the civil unrest and animosity Lincoln students had towards the university at the time. Given its small, rural setting, the intensity didn’t par- allel those of other HBCU campuses like How- ard University and Morgan State, but students with different beliefs directed their anger towards the conservative administration. And Scott-Heron was at the center of Lincoln’s pro- test culture. Protests broke out on campus after a stu- dent, Ron Colbert, died from an asthma attack. He was taken to the infirmary the night before when his inhaler wasn’t working, only for it to be closed. The administration denied respon- sibility, erroneously claiming that Colbert died from marijuana use. Students’ rallied under demands for the institution to provide essen- tial medical services. Scott-Heron gathered students at the school chapel the following morning and called for the student body to boycott classes. They rallied around demands he drew up for a 24/7 infirmary, a fully equipped ambulance and a replacement for the on-campus physician Dr. Davies. Colbert’s death was merely the tip of the iceberg. Several students had misdiagnoses from Dr. Davies, the infirmary wasn’t open around the clock and students were dying as a result of these limitations. After a week, the administration replaced Davies and Scott-Heron called the protests off. Things didn’t calm down on cam- pus, though; students demanded the school’s president, Dr. Marvin Wachman, be replaced by a Black president. After students relentless- ly pressured trustees, protested and circulated a petition, the administration named Herman Branson the first Black president of Lincoln University. The protests at Lincoln didn’t end though. Injustices towards Black Americans still endured on campus and beyond and stu- dents refused to stay silent. Scott-Heron had initially feared he couldn’t pursue music alongside activism. He found compromise in embedding his activism into his artwork. His writing often harkens back to his experiences at Lincoln. Following Lincoln’s administration for helping the FBI collect surveillance on its own students, Scott-Heron captured students’ collective rage in his poetry: “But something else was happening / and stu- dents weren’t supposed to know / Lincoln’s state relationship included COIN-TEL-PRO / As now that you’ve got background and a / cer- tain point of view / I’m awarding you a schol- arship to go with me to Lincoln U.” The plot of his dystopian second novel, “The N***er Factory,” is centered around campuses turning young Black men into obedient members of bourgeois society. However, most notable in his work is his style of music. The basis is the work he did early on with Jackson, turning poems in spo- ken word songs over Blues music. In many ways, this music became the basis for hip hop and rap music that would emerge in decades to come. No song has embodied this legacy better than “The Revolution Will Not Be Tele- vised.” The title speaks for itself, but there’s often some confusion, in part because people misconstrue the nature of the medium. Why is it not enough to sit at home and watch cover- age of protests on the television? Or “plug in, turn on and cop out” over social media and the internet? For one thing, you’re not really wary of the revolution if you’re not living it. No matter how “unbiased” the news touts itself to be, the content is curated and presented with many pieces of the story missing. This goes beyond the liberal or conservative slant of any particular media distributor. Rather, this results from both journalists’ and editors’ individual biases as well as the influence of a looming white supremacy, especially given an over three-quarters white U.S. workforce of newsroom employees. There’s an obvious passivity to staring at a screen, and when people aren’t willing to engage in actions that lead to change, they don’t do anything to help any cause. The televi- sion also exists for purposes that have nothing to do with the revolution. The song’s pop cul- ture references illustrate this point: “[The rev- olution] will not star Natalie Woods and Steve McQueen or Bullwinkle and Julia” to “The theme song will not be written by Jim Webb or Francis Scott Keys.” These parallels to white American culture showcase the blithe, white lens of the television screen — how could any- one expect anything different from the news it broadcasts? Gil Scott-Heron speaks from a first person point of view; he was very much a part of “the revolution,” from the protests he led on his col- lege campus to the poems, songs and books he released throughout his career. In a video from 1990 that recently made its rounds across the internet, he describes the revolution not as something people can see or talk about, but something they must experience: DIANA YASSIN Daily Arts Writer A beloved musical comes to Disney Plus Read more at michigandaily.com SABRIYA IMAMI Daily Arts Writer Read more at michigandaily.com FILM REVIEW FILM REVIEW