Anniversaries prompt reflection on life’s big questions

This year marks two anniversaries – 244 years since the end of the American Revolutionary War with the British surrender at Yorktown in 1781, and ten years since the first performance of Lin Manuel Miranda’s record-breaking musical Hamilton which commemorates the former as part of its retelling of the life of founding father Alexander Hamilton.

From late September onwards there is the opportunity to watch the original Broadway cast in UK cinemas or see it live in the West End or catch the UK tour as it visits Norwich and Glasgow, and I would highly recommend doing so. But what has made this musical such a runaway success?

On paper the marriage of hip-hop music and history seems an unlikely pairing, but the clever lyrics, innovative re-imagining of the story and foregrounding of the immigrant identity of the young USA makes for a compelling watch. The almost Shakespearean arc of the protagonist – sometimes hero and sometimes villain – follows a familiar tale of rags to riches to pride to the inevitable fall. I won’t give away any spoilers but the second half of the musical shows the power of grace, forgiveness and a kind of redemption.