Weird Al's Hamilton Polka Now A Music Video Set To Footage From Movie
Weird Al Yankovic used Hamilton's Disney+ launch as an opportunity to resurrect his "Hamilton Polka." The musical's creator, composer and star, Lin-Manuel Miranda, has previously made the decision to record the original Hamilton cast's performance, wanting to make it available to those who didn't have access to the musical due to either geography or financial means. However, once the pandemic hit and news broke that Broadway would remain closed significantly longer than expected, Miranda was determined to push up the release date. Hamilton launched on Disney+ on July 3rd and proved to be a big win for the streaming platform, with Disney+ experiencing a 72.4% increase in app downloads on the weekend following Hamilton's release.
Weird Al originally released his Hamilton medley in February 2018. While Weird Al is a champion of song parodies in which the lyrics are changed, he wisely decided not to mess with the lyrical perfection of Hamilton. Instead, he took bits from the most popular song in the musical and gave them a quirky-yet-catchy polka remix. "Hamilton Polka" was a collaboration with Miranda as a part of the Hamildrops project that saw different artists reinterpret the musical's songs, with one releasing every month from December 2017 to 2018. The Hamildrops came about following the success of Hamilton's album of pop covers, The Hamilton Mixtape. Since then, Miranda has released more pop covers and even new songs inspired by the music of Hamilton. Now, though, Weird Al's jaunty polka has resurfaced in a new stage of evolution.
While the first release of the song was just an audio track, Weird Al has used the footage from the recorded production of Hamilton and created a "Hamilton Polka" music video. He pounced on the opportunity and published the video just a day after Disney+'s Hamilton release. The video is an impressive feat. He not only found footage from the many songs he covers in the polka, from the show-stopping opening number "Alexander Hamilton" to Burr's fiery "The Room Where It Happens," but he also lined up the footage perfectly so that the characters' mouths are moving to the pace of the polka. He even filled the musical interludes with some of the musical's eye-catching choreography and sped it up to be in tempo with the polka.
Weird Al and Miranda's collaboration is the gift that no one knew they needed, but continues to keep on giving. What makes it especially hilarious is to see characters like Angelica and Thomas Jefferson mouthing along to Weird Al's voice. Given the strong response to the "Hamilton Polka" and now its music video, perhaps Weird Al could nab himself some sort of cameo once Hamilton reopens on Broadway? He'd make a hilarious choice for the role of King George, and he could probably get through "You'll Be Back" without spitting quite so much.
Weird Al is one of many artists who have has created humorous Hamilton content since its Disney+ release. Miranda has made fan interaction and artist collaboration a key part of Hamilton. This is atypical for musical theater but it is part of what has made Hamilton all that more popular than your typical Broadway musical. Miranda isn't afraid to let other artists get their hands on his work and give their own unique interpretation of it. Since its Disney+ release, significantly more artists have taken their shot at creating Hamilton content including Ricky Downes III's Hamilton starring The Muppets, an Animal Crossing New Horizons reenactment and many more. Hopefully, Hamilton will continue to inspire artists both big and small to "rise up."
Source: Weird Al Yankovic / YouTube