Cultural Industry: Hamilton

David Hesmondhalg's theory of cultural industries focuses on "core" cultural industries which he feels have the biggest social and cultural influences in today's society, he uses the term "peripheral" cultural industires for industries such as art, music concerts and theatre (Hesmondhalg, 2006). However, for me, the change I have noticed most within the cultural industry is in the theatre "industry" or "business". Theatre companies have a hard job on their hands because their business is based on artistic choices but need financial support (like everything else). I believe that the theatre business is bigger than ever and theatre owners have to think about how they will bring the money into the company but also how to make audiences feel like they are watching art, not just contributing to a cold, hard business (Phillips, 2002). I will discuss how a new Broadway show "Hamilton" has taken the world by storm and how they have been able to do so in an every changing technological world.

"Hamilton" is the story of America's Founding Father, Alexander Hamilton. It is already one of the most successful Broadway musicals of all time and most of its fan base have not even seen it yet (Runchie, 2017). This is mainly because of its soundtrack which has caught the imagination of musical lovers across the globe, and it tells the story through the songs (Runchie, 2017). But that is just as well, because the West End version of this new musical has sold out and it hasn't even opened yet! And the next lot of tickets will go for hundreds of pounds.

"Hamilton" has become so famous because of the amount of publicity it has gotten, even from seven years ago when the composer and writer of the musical, Lin-Manuel Miranda sang a draft version of the opening song at the White House for the President and First Lady.

 And of course, in recent times the story of "Hamilton" seems to be resonating with many Americans after President Trump's victory. In fact there is a famous video of one of the cast members addressing Vice-President Pence before votes were announced (BBC, 2016). All this publicity can only mean good things for the creator and the theatre company of "Hamilton".

Theatres as a whole industry has been able to adapt its output to suit a modern audience. For example, websites for shows when they used to simply sell tickets, now sell merchandise to promote the show (Coleman, 2011). The content is also highly important, especially its soundtracks that they can release before the first production of the show (Phillips, 2002). This certainly seems to be the case when it comes to "Hamilton" as the soundtrack is in a hip-hop style, however it has big hit songs to engage with musical fans.

It seems that musicals and theatres have to survive by thinking of what the larger public will enjoy, even if that audience will never see the show because they are not in the same country or because they simple cannot afford the rising cost of a single seat. The idea that the theatre is not a big influence around the world is constantly being proven wrong. It is a changing arena as more films are turning into musical shows such as "Shrek" and "Sister Act" more biographies of musical talents are turned into stage productions "Thriller", "Beatlemania". For Broadway and for the West End in particular, it is a massive tourist market and finding songs that follow a story and engage with as many people around the world that is possible is essential to keep tourists coming to the spectacle. Therefore it is important for this cultural industry to keep influencing people within society. "Hamilton" has been an unprecedented success, it was nominated for 16 Tony Awards and won 11 (Tony Awards, 2016). The timing of the first shows as Trump began to run for President and the soundtrack as well as all the videos on YouTube and across the internet shows how, now a stage show that is produced for one room, one theatre can have a massive cultural impact.

Word count: 684

References

BBC, 2016. Trump locks horns with Hamilton musical cast over Pence booing. BBC News. [online] 19 November. Available at: <www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38039286> [Accessed 20/02/2017]

Coleman, B., 2011. New horizons: the musical at the dawn of the twenty-first century. The Cambridge Companion to the Musical. Cambridge University Press. pp 284- 302.

Hesmondhalg, D., 2006. The Cultural Industries. London: Sage. 

Phillips, L., 2002. Understanding Cultural Industries. Journal of Management Inquiry. Sage. pp430-441.

Runchie, C., 2017., What is Hamilton? a 12-step Guide to your new musical obsession. The Telegraph. [online]30 January. Available at: <www.telegraph.co.uk/theatre/what-to-see/what-is-hamilton-a-12-step-guide-to-your-new-musical-obsession/> [Accessed 20/02/2017]

The Obama White House, 2009. Lin-Manuel Miranda Performs at the White House Poetry Jam. [video online]. Available at: <www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNFf7nMIGnE> [Accessed 20/02/2017]

Tony Awards, 2016. Tony Awards Hamilton. [online]. Available at: <www.tonyawards.com/en_US/nominees/shows/201509271443330008934.html> [Accessed 20/02/2017]

Wavy TV 10, 2016. Cast of "Hamilton" has message for VP-Elect Mike Pence. [video online]. Available at: <www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJaWGUoeQLk> [Accessed 20/02/2017]