List slides
Like many people who went through a deep and virulent
Hamilton phase, my listens of the Broadway juggernaut’s cast album often petered out some time around the start of Act II. Partly, that’s just because the back half of
Hamilton drags a bit it
does, fight me, sorry, not sorry but also because it’s vitally important that I not hear “It’s Quiet Uptown,”
Lin-Manuel Miranda’s attempt to channel the grief of parents Alexander and Eliza over the death of their son Philip, unless I’m ready for a protracted sobbing session. Some of this is my own baggage, and my own processing of sorrow. But it’s also just the sheer, unrestrained grief of the song, Renée Elise Goldsberry’s heart audibly breaking, even as her voice rings out crystal clear, paying tribute to two people learning to “live with the unimaginable.” [William Hughes]