November 04, 2024

Ep. 478 Death & Grief in Pop Culture: Hamilton with Benjamin Kintisch

1 hour 8 minutes

Learn how grief is a major theme of Alexander Hamilton’s life as portrayed in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s hit musical Hamilton.

Today I’m joined once again by my co-host Benjamin Kintisch for another episode of the Death & Grief in Pop Culture Series. Ben is a cantor, hospice and eldercare chaplain, music teacher, and the creator of Life Review: The Hospice Musical. Together we talk about all the interesting ways death shows up in culture, what we might learn about death and grief through the lens of pop culture, and how we can utilize popular references to death and grief to increase death literacy for ourselves and others. This week we are discussing the Broadway musical “Hamilton” Learn more about Ben’s work at his website:

lifereviewmusical.com

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This episode includes:

How we can talk about difficult subjects with a touch of lightness and humor

Some of the most memorable moments in theatre deal with uncomfortable topics

Grief is a powerful lens through which to view the mega-Broadway hit Hamilton

Alexander Hamilton experienced multiple types of grief including survivor’s grief and guilt as a war hero

The poignancy of the death of Hamilton’s son Phillip and subsequent grief as expressed in the song It’s Quiet Uptown

How setting apart this song in contrast to others in the musical made it even more emotionally evocative

We need to experience the full spectrum of emotions in our grief

How Eliza Hamilton utilized her grief to take action and make a difference in the world

Links mentioned in this episode:

Previous episode in this series

Watch Hamilton the movie on Disney+

Listen to the soundtrack on Spotify

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By Karen Wyatt MD

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