Music and the Fictive Dream
One of the most powerful examples of music used to tell a story is found in Hamilton (2015), created by Lin-Manuel Miranda in the United States. Hamilton blends hip-hop, R&B, and traditional musical theater, and tells the life story of Alexander Hamilton through a modern musical lens. Miranda based the musical on Ron Chernow’s biography and transformed a historical narrative into a dynamic performance that speaks to contemporary audiences. Scholars note that the musical reinterprets American history by centering diverse voices and reexamining who gets to tell national stories (Román and Sandoval-Sánchez). A key song that drives both the narrative and thematic development of the musical is “My Shot” (2015), composed and written by Miranda. This song appears early in Hamilton and introduces Hamilton’s relentless ambition and desire to rise above his circumstances. It also establishes relationships with important figures such as Aaron Burr , John Laurens , and Marquis de Laf...