If you haven’t had the privilege of seeing Hamilton, The Musical, you’ll have a chance to see it on Disney+ starting on July 3rd. If you are not a fan of theater, you may not know how rare this sort of thing is. Broadway musicals are almost never shown on television, much less when they are currently running on Broadway. And, while I’m sure you lose a lot of the show’s energy by watching it on TV versus in a live theater setting, Hamilton is special and I think will be amazing to see it on the small screen. As most people know, Hamilton chronicles the extraordinary life of one of America’s least known founding fathers, Alexander Hamilton. Lin Manuel Miranda, the show’s creator, has been credited with reinventing the theater genre by using hip-hop music and Black and Latino actors, exclusively, to tell a traditional American story. I am an avid theater fan, but didn’t get a chance to see the show until two years after it premiered. By the time I saw Hamilton, there was so much hype around it, I was sure I was going to be disappointed. I was wrong, and can honestly say it was even better than I expected. I plan on hosting a watch party with my parents and sisters, who haven’t seen it yet. I can’t wait.
Regardless of political persuasion, most people think the rhetoric of politics has gotten out of control. If you believe that, as I do, there IS something you can do about it. You can ask yourself whether you are helping or hurting the situation. I like to say that there are two types of people in the world: people who add stress and people who relieve stress. I think similarly, some people are adding to the political spectacle in the country, and others are at least trying for something better.
Gary's Blog will return next week.
This past week, the National Association of Realtors invited me to participate in a meeting with the NAR leadership and Jonathan Kanter, the Assistant Attorney General of the United States.