On May 17^th Bellaire students boarded a school bus at 8 a.m. to the Hobby Center to watch the Broadway show “Hamilton: An American Musical.” This opportunity was provided by the Hamilton Education Program funded by Gilder Lehrman and the Rockefeller Foundation. The program ties to Gilder Lehrman’s larger goal in improving the teaching of American history. To qualify for the activity students were required to research and complete a creative piece, a song, script or poem, related to the founding era, the time period the musical is set.

Junior Natalie Romero listened to the musical and wanted to watch it live. She learned facts about Hamilton’s life and the American Revolution.

“I went to Hamilton because I have listened to the album on Spotify a lot, and I really enjoyed it,” Romero said. “It was honestly a dream to watch and hear it live. Listening to the musical taught me more about the people involved in the American Revolution that was not mentioned in the course. Lafayette is one of the characters in Hamilton who I think was very essential in leading American troops, but we didn’t talk about him in the course.”

Watching it on stage is different from hearing it because there are so many more elements when seeing it live. Romero shared how the live performance added more to the songs she already loved.

“My favorite part of the experience was seeing all the parts come together,” Romero said. “Seeing the musical live with the props, actors and background dancers really changed my understanding of the musical. For example, I wouldn’t have thought that Mulligan and Lafayette had such a great and funny friendship if I hadn’t seen the musical live.”

Not only did students learn more about American history, but the Q&A session taught students more about the production aspect of the musical. Junior Megan Finkle also learned about the importance of parts of the musical that are usually ignored or not paid close attention too.

“I had seen the show once before last year, and I still love everything about the musical,” Finkle said.  “I wanted to be able to meet the cast of a Broadway show, something I had never done before. The story, music and dancing of the production are really fun and engaging, so I knew I wanted to see it again. I learned that the cast of the show is a very close group and that the dancers and ensemble are considered of equal importance.”

In the Q&A actors urged students to pay attention to the backup dancers who are present throughout the show and add to the mood as much as the lighting and music with their various dances.

Also included in the day was a session where students watched performances from other high schools. The performances’ execution was a surprise to Romero.

“The student performances were so amazing,” Romero said. “I didn’t expect to enjoy it as much as I did It was so much fun to see and be a part of the audience reactions to the performance, specifically the ones where they rapped. The best, in my opinion, was Bellaire’s performance.”

“Freedom for who? Not for you.” Along with other schools, Bellaire was chosen to perform with their own piece on the Declaration of Independence. Junior Chloe Turner, Joy Olikabor and Katia Mendoza criticized the hypocrisy of the declaration in not including “all men” with a rap. Mendoza will never forget her own performance and understood the importance of their words.

“My favorite part was performing an eduHam piece on the ‘Hamilton’ stage,” Mendoza said. “It was so thrilling and an experience like no other.  I think that our own performance was
moving. We tackled the Declaration of Independence and the slaves’ reaction to this. I think that it was an important topic to cover because even though not every ethnicity or race has faced slavery, there’s always the issue of racism and oppression that many can relate to today, so I think it was important to voice that.”

In 2016 Hamilton tickets averaged $1,300. The Hamilton Education program gave students the opportunity to watch a show for $10, and whether it be from students who have been dying to watch the show since the album was released or students who jumped in at the opportunity, the experience will be an unforgettable one.