A story celebrating constitutionalism – the rule of law – even when told through the life of American statesman Alexander Hamilton (1755/57...
A story celebrating constitutionalism – the rule of law – even when told through the life of American statesman Alexander Hamilton (1755/57-1804), does not seem to be a promising basis for a super-hit Broadway musical. Yet, as we all now know, Hamilton: The Musical has defied this belief, playing to a full house every show despite eye-watering ticket prices to become one of the top 10 grossing Broadway musicals of all time. It was still going strong before Covid-19 interrupted its run. On Friday, Disney+ Hotstar released Hamilton, a filmed version of the play that was recorded in 2016. The whole world will now get to see what the fuss was about.
For us in India, American history is mostly an unknown, only thinly covered in schools. What we do learn, however, is hard to forget because of the many unlikely linkages between the two countries on opposite sides of the globe. It starts with Christopher Columbus, who famously set out for India, stumbled onto what is now Bahamas, and still somehow got famous for the laughable claim of “discovering” America.
Then there was the Boston Tea Party, which, we all learned, wasted good Indian tea. The...
