はじめに

ミュージカル『ハミルトン』は、ロン・チャーナウ著『ハミルトン伝』(邦訳：日経BP社)をもとにした作品である。

物語の舞台は18世紀後半から19世紀初頭のアメリカ。恵まれぬ境遇に生まれたアレグザンダー・ハミルトンは、移民としてアメリカに渡り、激動の時代の中を駆け抜ける。アメリカをアメリカたらしめる精神がミュージカル『ハミルトン』には宿っている。

劇中では、友情、愛情、嫉妬、憎悪など様々な人間ドラマが展開される。ここでは、そうしたドラマをより深く理解できるように、当時の時代背景や人間関係を詳しく解説する。

”Hurricane”

※歌詞の和訳はわかりやすく意訳。

※歌詞の原文は『Hamilton the Revolution』に準拠。

HAMILTON:

In the eye of a hurricane There is quiet For just a moment, A yellow sky. When I was seventeen a hurricane Destroyed my town. I didn’t drown. I couldn’t seem to die. I wrote my way out, Wrote everything down far as I could see. I wrote my way out. I looked up and the town had its eyes on me. They passed a plate around. Total strangers Moved to kindness by my story Raised enough for me to book passage on a ship that was New York bound… I wrote my way out of hell. I wrote my way to revolution. I was louder than the crack in the bell. I wrote Eliza love letters until she fell. I wrote about The Constitution and defended it well. And in the face of ignorance and resistance, I wrote financial systems into existence. And when my prayers to God were met with indifference, I picked up a pen, I wrote my own deliverance. In the eye of a hurricane There is quiet For just a moment, A yellow sky, I was twelve when my mother died. She was holding me. We were sick and she was holding me. I couldn’t seem to die.