Alexander Hamilton Musical- short review

 

Alexander Hamilton is by far one of the most well-made, original, and spectacular American Musicals that has ever been created. Lin-Manuel Miranda is a pure genius! In this short review, I will write about my personal opinions and thoughts after watching Hamilton the Musical.

The story revolves around Hamilton and other America's founding fathers who fought for America's independence and freedom from British Empire. 

Hamilton, a poor orphan, and immigrant managed to survive his miserable life condition. He got the scholarship and graduated from King's College with a top-notched result. He always dreamed to fight the revolutionary war, free America from the British empire, and build a nation. With the help from Hercules Mulligan, Laurens, Marquis de Lafayette, and George Washington - together they finally brought America into freedom and ended slavery. Hamilton was America's first secretary of the treasury and one of America's founding fathers. The show then focuses on Hamilton’s life, his relationships with his political enemies, spouse, family, and friends; and on how and why it ended in an infamous duel with Aaron Burr.  

This musical successfully portrays "the human" sides of the founding fathers, particularly Hamilton, who made not only great things during his political career but also flaws and errors as the story unfolds. 

The musical starring Lin-Manuel as Hamilton, Phillipa Soo as Elizabeth Schuyler, Reneè Elise Goldsberry as Angelica Schuyler, Leslie Odom Jr as Aaron Burr, Jonathan groff as King George, Christopher Jackson as George Washington, and Daveed Diggs as Lafayette is well-known as one of the most successful Broadway musicals worldwide.

Lin's fresh idea to bring the story into a live-staged musical really is a breakthrough in today's broadway musical industry. Depicting the real American history, the two-hour-and-fifty-minute show doesn't fall flat and make us bored. On the contrary, the show keeps surprising us with the actors' great performances, amazing music scores, great ensembles, remarkable orchestration, sophisticated stage setting, complex choreography, and beautiful costumes. 

No wonder this musical got 16 nominations in 13 categories and ultimately winning 11 in the 70th Annual Tony Awards. 

If you are not familiar with American history, watching this musical won't make you feel like an outcast. On the other hand, the messages about patriotism, optimism, nationalism, hope, friendship, and love are universally conveyed and interpreted. Those messages are still relevant these days. As an audience, I am subconsciously drawn by the storylines as if I witnessed the conflict and struggle of each character firsthand. Therefore, I highly recommend that you watch this musical. I've probably watched this musical thousands of times and never once I got bored. I still get the same goosebumps and astonishment just like when I saw it the first time. 

I've seen this musical long before Disney+ released it on July 3, 2020. Back then, about one and a half years ago, I only watched the poor quality bootleg on Youtube. I wonder, how if, the story of Indonesian independence along with the founding fathers, was made into a world quality musical like Hamilton 🤔 that would be awesome!

To close this review, I'll quote my favorite line from Alexander Hamilton the musical.

"I'll make the world safe and sound for you. You will come of age with our young nation. We'll bleed and fight for you, we'll make it right for you. If we lay a strong enough foundation. We'll pass it on to you, we'll give the world to you and you'll blow us all away"

 

-Alexander Hamilton-

Written by: Elleny

The Girl in The Scarlet Dress

She is sitting alone peacefully on the park bench, closing her beautiful brown eyes.
Enjoying the sound of the chirping birds and the sweet laughter of the children in the distance.
She loves the feeling of the fresh air on her face and the wind blowing gently through her short hair. The summer breeze, the perfect season of the year. Her loose, short scarlet dress made from silk hanging gracefully on her shoulders- revealing her pale beautiful skin.
There she is.. drowning in her own thoughts-in her tiny yet magical world. Her imagination takes her above- soaring, wandering around her misterious world. She speaks no words but her mind is busy examining every possibility-how things work, how this universe works. Observing, thinking, finding the answer. No one can drag her from her private, peaceful sanctuary unless she allows it. She is a girl with deep thoughts and remarkable mind, fond of knowledge and full of curiosity.
Sometimes people might misunderstand her..
they think that she is icy cold.
Stiff like an ice berg.
Ignorant and clumsy.
Old fashioned girl with conservative perspective.
No... they are wrong!
She is special on her own way.
She is amazing with her own thoughts
You might get lost in her world.
You will completely mesmerized by her persistence and astonished by her unbelievably different points of view.
Reach her soul... softly, deftly
take her fly, far away above the horizon
And feel the warmth of her heart.
The caring and beautiful soul unfurls its splendor.
A unique girl with passion, perseverance and kindness.
Very few people can see the sparks-the light that comes out from her heart
A tender, mild and sensitive heart of her can be so fragile for this cruel world..
Indeed..
she gets hurt too, thousand times
Yet she chooses to conceal it.
She puts on that mask once again to please everyone, sadly... she doesn't even realize that she also deserves to be pleased.
She weeps in silence, in the midst of the darkness
her laughter has gone long time ago. Her cheerful smile- a pure smile which colours up everyone's day has vanished..
She has reached her limit
Her light has been fading, the flames that used to shine so bright.. it almost dies.
She is weary
She is tired
She is no longer able to hide it
Then, she sheds tears
tears of bitterness
She stops expecting
She stops hoping, wishing upon the stars
Little does she know that she has given up to prettend, to hold on too tight.
At last.. she realizes that sometimes it is better to let things go because some things are simply not meant to be there no matter how hard she tries to keep them.
She chooses to be who she is even though it means that she must lose someone that simply will not stay.
In a tremulous voice she whispers : "It's all over, i stop, i'll let you go"

January 21th 2018

The art of letting go

The art of letting go

You said to me once
It is better for us now, to forget each other
To simply move on and continue our life as it used to be
As if those have never happened

Forget all the sweet memories that we made together
Forget all the things that happened in the past

As if we have never met before

You said to me once that we need to act like strangers if we met someday
Because there would not be future for both of us.. if we denied the realities and forced ourselves to be together.

It was torturing to hear you say that, i admit.
As if i do not matter to you
As if all the affection that i gave to you all dissapeared, failed for nothing.
As if those beautiful memories that we made together simply meant nothing to you

But if you choose that way..
If you decide to leave all the bittersweet of our memories behind and
if you simply choose to walk away
so do i...
I am letting you go
It's hard indeed - but i must.

If i had another chance, then i would not choose this one..
Because it impossible to erase you completely from my mind

I still have the vivid images of your sweet smile and gorgeous eyes
It is still clear in my mind the way you laugh
The way you try to touch me and hold my hand.

Unfortunately,
There is only one choice..
The choice that i would never choose if i had another option.
But i simply didn't

Now..
I am letting you go
I let you walk away
Leaving me with the scar that you made
Eventhough it is hard for me to stare at your back from distance, when you walk away, leaving me alone with this uncertainty.
But i must

I secretly cry tears
But you don't know it, do you?
Because, i don't want to show the vulnerable side of me
I want you to remember me as a cheerful and sometimes reckless sweet girl with sweet laughter and beautiful smile.
Am i selfish to ask you to think of me sometimes?

No..
I shouldn't ask you that
Because i have no priviledge to make you stay
That's not how the art of letting go works

The art of letting go works in a very complicated way
It's mysterious, yet so powerful and magical
It unveils vulnarebility of one's feeling, yet it requires enough courage to simply do it
Nevertheless, there is an unexplainable beauty in the art of letting go
It would never be understood by one who refuses to believe.

It hurts at the begining, but it heals at the end
It lifts up all the burden in your heart
It enables you to breath the fresh air again

Go now,
I simply let you go
Let me free from this feeling
Let me free from this bond
So that I can really set you free

- E-

Just be Who You are

Just be who you are

You don't have to change in order to impress someone
you don't need to put on make up in order to look beautiful in front of him
You don't have to wear short skirt or dress in order to look good
You don't need to starve in order to look skinny
No! You don't have to !
Do it for your own sake! Do it to please yourself not others!
Darling, It's your life!
You are amazing with all of your flaws, freckles, perfects and imperfections!
Do what ever you want to do, be whoever you want to be! You are different, you are unique, you are special!
Do not waste your time trying to live someone else's life
Remember! Since the very beginning, you were made with love and affection. Do not beg for love from people that don't deserve your love. Leave all the past regrets behind and you can always start all over again.
Right now, focus on your goals and dreams, go travelling, dream big, try out new things, make a lot of new friends and sweet memories
Break down those bricks- the barrier-the high stiff wall that separates you from the outside world. Challenge yourself and have courage.
Be grateful, darling!
You are a tough, strong-willed, and independent woman. You can determine your own life.
Go now! Make your own history - a remarkable story of your own!
Feel the blessing everyday
The affection that you get from God, your family and close friends.
And eventually, you will know that you are loved more than you have ever known before.
You have received much love that you have never realized all these times.

Fidelis Elleny Averina

January 19th 2018

What Can We Do to Preserve Our Culture?

What Can We Do to Preserve Our Culture? The Youth Movement to Promote Local Culture in Globalization Era 

Written By : Fidelis Elleny Averina

As we know, culture is an important part of human life. The tradition passed down from one generation to generation has been deeply rooted and become one of the characteristics which defines one particular group from another. Culture is also related with local languages, beliefs, cuisines, social habits, musics and arts. In short, culture plays a role as an identity which distinguishes one place from another. Through culture, we are governed by norms, wisdom, and customs; which are the pillars of any society. If these pillars are not properly preserved in our society, our culture will be eventually extinct and there will no more left for our next generation to be inherited.

We are all also aware that the rapid development of technology and globalization gives huge impact to the existence of culture. Globalization itself points to the whole effort towards making the world global community as a one village. Therefore, the development of globalization seems like the double-edge sword which gives both the negative and positive consequences. On one side, the advancement of technology will give us easy access to learn about other cultures. In the era of the internet and fast communication, people can interact easily with each other. As a result, it will develop a wider cultural understanding, foreign values, and attitudes which means that it will help to spread and promote the culture rapidly. On the other hand, it will dilute the unique aspects of each culture and force us to live in homogeneous world. The presence of technology will create standardize values and beliefs, that eventually will make one culture more superior than others. Some small cultures may also lose their distinct features and at the end, they will be extinct.

Let’s take a look of the reality nowadays. In Indonesia, teenagers’ pride on their local culture is decreasing every day. The western culture or the Hallyu waves have changed their lifestyle and their point of view. Of course it is not entirely wrong, but it becomes wrong when they forget their own local culture. Many local traditions such as: wedding traditions and local events have also been neglected for the sake of practicality. This miserable condition should be stopped before it’s too late. Obviously, we cannot simply eliminate the presence of technology in our daily life. What we can do is to make use the benefit of technology to promote local culture

We, the Millenials, are very fond of social media. Everyday and every time the millenials access the internet including their social media. Unfortunately, most of them use it for not-so-important purposes. Here, we can use social media and make this a beneficial tool to promote our local culture. The next question might be: How can that be? that must be boring! Actually, that is the challenge. Are you creative enough to promote and show your local culture to the world?  

The easiest and smartest way is by utilizing Youtube. Youtube is an online video platform where all of us from different part of the world can upload, share, and even download the video. You can record many videos about your local culture as creative as you can and share them world wide. We can upload and show the local dances, events, traditions that exist in our place. We can also tell particular customs, values, beliefs, or everything that we’d like to share about local culture. There will be comments  part where we can give comments to each video, discuss something, or simply share our story about local culture. You can also use other social media such as facebook, instagram, twitter, etc. The other way is by making poetry, song, or article, just like I do. 

Of course, this movement will be useless without the involvement of the youth itself. Therefore, I try to promote this idea so that all teenagers from all around the world can join it. We, as the legacy of our culture, hold the responsibility to preserve our local culture from extinction. Having said that, I would like to say that It has taken ages for our forefathers to form such a composite and ethnically rich culture, what is important for us is to preserve it so that we can pass it to the next generation. I believe that together, through this simple action and movement, we can achieve and make positive changes for our future generation

The Little Lady

The Little Lady

The most tender and mild it is
One thing that makes them feel at ease
A thing so precious that she gives
Never makes them feel enough at least

The crowd has grown greedy like a beast
They betrayed her with a kiss
And took away her eternal bliss
Then the little lady silently ceased

The smile in her face has vanished
Her strength was greatly diminished
Abandoned, neglected like rubbish
When trust turned into ashes

In the midst of the autumn breeze
She weeps hoping for peace
Yet nobody seems eager to glimpse
Eventough she deserves to be pleased

7 june 2018

The Night

The Night 

by: Fidelis Elleny Averina

In the dark, serene night
The moon shines with tremulous, fitful light
reflects the sky with the hazy metallic shimmer
Sparks faintly with a wavering glimmer 
As if the moonlight and the darkness are dancing together
The night is getting late
The moon now is hiding reluctanly behind the clouds as if it's looking for warmth
In the midst of the darkest twilight
Beneath the constellations billion miles away 
a vague figure strikes the sight
The little lady standing stiffly
Gazing at the thousand stars above intensely
Recalling the image of her memory vividly
Singing a lullaby for the nature
Leaving a good night kiss for the creature

10 june 2018