Reel Talk with Julia

by Julia Kelm

About three weeks ago, I was lucky enough to see the 10-year anniversary showing of Hamilton at the Broadway Cinema in Eureka. The crowd was like none other — the back row sang beautifully — surprisingly — along to every song and other members of the audience raised their glasses to freedom. It was a perfect night, but it was only about a year ago that I would sooner jump into the freezing Delaware River than sit down to watch Hamilton. 

Yes, it’s true; I used to despise Hamilton, but I assure you I had valid reasons. It all started around 2016 when Hamilton began to hit the mainstream. I was either 13 or 14-years-old, entering my freshman year of high school. For lack of a better term, I went to a very small, weird charter school. To put small in comparison to your average public school, my graduation class was around 25 people, and that was the largest class to have graduated when I attended. However, the largest and most active part of my old school was the theater department. So imagine high school, but everyone you knew was a theater kid — that was my life!

When Hamilton came out, it was inescapable. Every break between periods, lunch and carpools on the way to and back from school. Hamilton — Hamilton — HAMILTON. It drove me insane, so I began to despise it, and musical theater in general — which I’m still trying to heal from. 

Now you might be wondering, ‘Julia, if you had such a vitriolic reaction to Hamilton for so long, what got you to change your mind?’ I’m so glad you asked, friend. 

My best friend would play Hamilton for me, I would hear Hamilton on the radio and even my sister, who used to dislike Hamilton much like me, tried to show me the light. Alas, still no, I could not bear to hear another second. That is, until I attended a voice recital at this very school, I decided to give Hamilton one more shot.

It was around October of last year that I heard the most beautiful cover of the song Burn sung in music building B. Faith Byington, a student choir singer, has one of the greatest student voices I have ever heard live. Her performance of that single song brought me to tears and full-body chills. In that moment, the words, ‘I finally get it,’ echoed in my mind. Since then, I have healed and I see Hamilton for the masterpiece it truly is.

I suppose the moral of the story here is that it’s never too late to change. You don’t have to be a hater; you can learn to love again, just like me.

Julia is a journalism major, and is the life and arts editor for the paper. She loves film and is a regular on Letterboxd. She also enjoys going on walks in the forest, and taking pictures to relax. If you have a movie you want her to review, email her at jk328@humboldt.edu.