Suddenly, I'm willing to actually watch the Grammy Awards again. I'm not against the Grammy Awards like some. I believe they are legitimate and relevant to how the music industry works. The combination of nominees in open categories, such as Best New Artist or Song of the Year, always grabs my interest.
The ceremony itself is a bloated, uneven mess that randomly chooses which popular, largely male, categories they'll actually acknowledge on the air. Further, the categories dominated by men that usually get the ax from the telecast are those defined by non-white nominees. All of this is problematic. The awards will gladly promote themselves with performances by nominees of color but not actually show their categories live.
At least the Hamilton performance is something to tune in for. Here we have a celebration of the hands-on favorite in the Musical Theater category (which will never be televised, because eww, theater). The hands-on favorite is a musical retelling of the early history of the United States of America reimagined through a modern lens of diversity. It's the story of the founding fathers told through the descendants of the people exploited to create America.
The cast of Hamilton will not be doing a watered down version of the opening song "Alexander Hamilton," either. Their performance is going to happen via satellite feed at the Richard Rodgers Theater in NYC. We'll get to see the actual lighting and set design, including the wonderful and inventive use of two theatrical turntables for a hip hop musical.
The voters I know in NARAS did try their best to get Hamilton nominated in other categories. Album of the Year was probably the closest; the momentum just picked up a bit too late in the nomination process. Moves were made for Hip-Hop and R&B categories, as well.
Hamilton has quickly become a cultural zeitgeist. You cannot just pick up a ticket for this show unless you're willing to pay top dollar the day of on the cancellation line. Lin Manuel-Miranda's style demonstrated in his Tony Award-winning In the Heights has radically matured into one of the strongest voices in the pantheon of musical theater.
The diverse cast and imaginative retelling of well-tread historical events opens up history, musical theater, gender and racial politics, and hip-hop to a whole new audience. Teachers can use the cast recording in their classroom, while students are probably already listening to the songs because they're better than most of the hits on the radio.
The 2016 Grammy Awards will air live on CBS on 15 February 2016 at 8PM EST.
