Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Broadway musical Hamilton is coming to Disney+ this Friday. A theatrically-filmed recording of the performance, which dramatizes the life and death of U.S. founding father and government official Alexander Hamilton, will only be available to subscribers of Disney’s freshly-launched streaming service.
Based on an eventful but admittedly long-winded and somewhat boringly-written biography composed by the man himself, Hamilton tells its previously-unknown yet historically-impactful story with more originality than any history professor could have ever dreamed of doing.
Incorporating hip-hop and modern dance styles, Miranda infuses his musical with a level of energy that’s rare, even for Broadway standards. For all these reasons and more, Hamilton became a smash hit, one that potential audience members had to wait years to see.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, which shut down not only the film and television industries, but the Broadway one as well, Hamilton ceased performances earlier this spring. Although tickets had already been sold out far into the future, Miranda and his team suddenly found themselves facing empty rows of seats.
Given the current state of the world, Disney’s theatrically-filmed version of the musical is sure to be a warm welcome for both the musical’s creators and the world at large. Indeed, not only will this version allow those who never got a ticket to see the story for the first time check it out, but it will also give that lucky minority a chance to view the experience in an entirely new light, and here’s how you can do so.
As ComicBook.com explains:
Hamilton will be released exclusively on the Disney+ streaming service, which is accessible through TV, desktop computers, gaming consoles, and mobile/tablet apps. Disney+ allows for digital downloads of many of its movies and TV shows, so that option should be available, as well. [Furthermore], the only cost to watch Hamilton is the price of a Disney+ subscription. If you already have a DIsney+ subscription, it is free to watch as part of your subscription package. Hamilton will NOT be available to people using the Disney+ trial subscription. It will only be available to full subscribers.
In case you might be wondering, this version of Hamilton was not shot during the pandemic. Since the state of New York still forbids large, non-essential businesses from operating, filming such a thing would have been simply impossible.
No, this will be a performance that was recorded back in 2016, when the musical had just arrived on Broadway. The recording was initially scheduled to show in theatres come October next year, but Disney – as usual – swooped in for the spoils.