The Broadway musical “Hamilton” may be sold out for months, but fans of the founding father – who died in a duel on Weehawken’s waterfront in 1804 – got to learn more about him through a special performance sponsored by the town’s library last month.
A performance duo called the Hudson River Ramblers gave the audience a collaborative song/spoken-word performance covering important events in Hamilton’s life on Friday, Sept. 30. More than 20 locals turned out for “Alexander Hamilton: His Life in Story and Song.”
After a quick spiel about Hamilton’s presence on the $10 bill (withstanding recent events by the U.S. Treasury to remove him from it), the Ramblers launched into “Free America-y,” a song crafted during the American Revolutionary War.
“Most of the songs sort of provide a background or context of what Hamilton was going through during his career,” said Rich Bala, one-half of the Ramblers, after the performance. “They’re all authentic songs from the time period. I just researched them and did a little arranging for the music.”
Bala credits renewed interest in Hamilton, the country’s first secretary of the treasury, to the hit Broadway show.
Hamilton’s influence on America
“Hamilton was one of the lesser known founding fathers, being that he wasn’t a president, being that he wasn’t a flamboyant character like Benjamin Franklin,” Bala said. “Hamilton was, for the most part, pretty much nose to the grindstone.”
In 2004, to mark the 200th anniversary of the Burr/Hamilton duel, the Ramblers created a different show about Hamilton. But strong interest in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical convinced them to create a totally new program. This was their fourth time performing it.
According to Rambler Jonathan Kruk, who played Hamilton, their efforts were to “bring out the fascinating story of Hamilton and show that among the Founding Fathers, arguably, he may have been the most instrumental in terms of creating the country.”
“I learned a lot of things about Hamilton that I did not know.” — Holly Pizzuta
____________
The Theater District adaptation also drew audience members to the Weehawken program.
“It’s just so popular right now. Between the play in New York, and I had also gone to the [duel] anniversary on July 11 over at the Hamilton Plaza. They brought in some very interesting people, and it’s where I first met the [Ramblers],” said Leona Nersesian, president of the Weehawken Library’s Board of Trustees.
They amazed her so much, she unanimously voted with her colleagues to approve the program for the library.
“He was very captivating; they’re both very captivating,” said Holly Pizzuta, the library’s director of Operations and Administration, about the Ramblers’ performance. “I thought it was a very interesting performance. I learned a lot of things about Hamilton that I did not know, actually.”
But the performance did leave Pizzuta with a burning question about the aftermath of the duel.
“I just don’t understand why they took him an hour and a half over to New York by boat and they just could’ve taken him to a house in Weehawken!”