Hamilton has been part of Ollie’s cultural diet for most of his life. I jumped on the Hamilton train when after the soundtrack had been out for a couple months in 2015, when Ollie was two years old.
I have always been mindful of Ollie’s cultural diet. What our children watch, listen to, and observe effect the way that they see the world, other people, and themselves. If all we feed our children is food that is not healthy, it will effect their physical and mental health. Art has a similar effect on our mental health and our souls. Images, song lyrics, and musical sounds stay with out and reverberate in our souls, long after we the songs leave our attention. Most of the information that we receive about culture and values, we get through art. And the way that we see ourselves is greatly influenced by the way that we see others in art. If you want your daughter to see themselves as strong, they must see strong women in art, and if you want your son who is a person of color to value themselves as a human being, then it’s essential that they read books that have positive characters that are people of color.
For almost a year, my musical diet was all Hamilton, and Ollie partook in that starting at age two. Hamilton is the musical equivalent of a super-food, and everything I wanted Ollie to consume and understand about America and himself. Hamilton includes almost every genre of music, feature people of color, showcase virtuoso musicianship, questions gender roles, and expresses the full range of human emotions.
Before I knew it I had a toddler singing along to, “My Shot,” in his car seat holding a Moana stuff dolled during the drive to school. We usually only listened to the songs that were lighter and more of a party. While I was concerned about the explicit language, Ollie was only two. I figured that he wouldn’t notice most of it, and so far he hasn’t shown any signs that we did pick up in the swear words from the musical.
As my interest died down, Ollie’s did as well and he got into learning songs from his music class, and various Disney movies.
Over the past four years, the idea of bringing Ollie to see Hamilton was on our mind. Diana and I went to the show together, and I went with my mom. It’s a long show, and while we continued to take Ollie to children’s theaters all over Chicago, Hamilton just seemed like too much for our little guy.
As the years past we toyed around with the idea, and as the end of Hamilton’s run became more clear in the horizon, we made the call to make it happen.
For the week before the show, I played the soundtrack from Hamilton in the car and around the house. The day of the show, I dressed Ollie in his Hamilton shirt and we got him loaded up in the car. Diana tried to get him to guess where we were taking him, and when he finally figured out where we were going he quietly smiled and bounced in his seat in excitement.
I wasn’t worried but I was prepared. We got seats by the aisle just in case Ollie needed to leave at the some point in the performance. Diana wisely asked me to buy some candy before the performance, which was critical to getting Ollie through the sections of the show he found less engaging.
Hamilton is a long show and even though Ollie knew a lot the songs, much of the show was new for him, and most of the plot was too complex for him to fully understand. With ask of this working against him Ollie did great. We had to remind him to sit down nicely a couple time and we did get through candy and a bag of popcorn, but for the most part he sat nicely and enjoyed the show.
I looked over at Ollie as the first song started the sudden knock on a door and a creak of a hinge. I was pleased to see him at the edge of the seat taking it all in. I felt a rush of excitement as the cast presented themselves on stage showing the beauty and talent of America to my son.
I held Ollie’s hand during, “Dear Theodosia,” and felt the wonderful joy of parenthood with my son next it me. During, “It’s Quiet Uptown,” I felt Ollie’s presence strongly next to me and held onto his arm gently as the song forced me to consider, “the unimaginable” through my own tears. As the musical closed, I reflected for the first time how Hamilton’s hubris effected his children. For the first time I took the story as a warning against the choices that we take that seem to further ourselves and also hurt our children.
Hamilton continues to give so much to our family, and I feel grateful to have had the opportunity to share this wonderful piece of art with Ollie.
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