Everyone knows about “Hamilton,” and if you don’t, where have you been? For those who need a refresher, “Hamilton” is a Broadway musical that is about the life of the United States’ first Treasury Secretary, Alexander Hamilton. The musical was written by Lin-Manual Miranda, the mastermind behind the blockbuster Pixar movie “Moana.” “Hamilton” is also very notable for having a company that is almost all people of color (with the exception of King George III). This is a characteristic that is showcased in the original company and all the touring shows.
“The Room Where It Happens” is narrated by Aaron Burr, and he talks about the Compromise of 1790. The compromise between Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison resulted in Hamilton receiving enough votes to allow the national government to assume state debts from the Revolutionary Way and gave Jefferson and Madison the national capital. As sung from Burr’s perspective, where he was not part of the dinner table bargain, he is an outsider along with the rest of the country when looking at this historic event.
I consider this song as Burr’s villain song, even reminding me of Dr. Facilier and his iconic song “Friends on the Other Side” from “Princess and The Frog.” In Act one, Burr was willing to wait for opportunities to come to him and wants to keep his plans and ideas to himself. Although this song was the start of his downfall, “The Room Where It Happens” is the song where he is starting to take charge and finally chasing what he wants, a lesson he learned from Hamilton. He declares that he wants to be in the room where all the important decisions happen, and that drives him to run for the New York Senate seat and for the presidency against Thomas Jefferson. The sequence of words from the title becomes a repetitive motif through the rest of the play, being mentioned in “We Know” and “Your Obedient Servant.”
I love this song so much because of the jazz style, the ending and the overall message of the song. “The Room Where It Happens” starts out pretty strong, but it keeps getting bigger and bigger towards the end. Leslie Odom Jr. does an amazing job truly capturing Burr’s transition from waiting for it to going for it. His vocals at the end are absolutely incredible and mind-blowing.
The message of not waiting around for opportunities and seizing what you can is a message I want to live by, and this song is the perfect embodiment of it. Life these days is so fast-paced, and waiting for opportunities results in missing so much because they are gone in a blink of an eye. If you want to be the best, you have to in the room where it happens. You have to be the one making the decisions. Want to be the boss? You have to make it into the office first. This is the type of lifestyle I strive for, and this song is helping me stay on that path. It may be about a colonial figure that wants more power on the surface, but deep down, it’s a boss anthem.