So this is kinda weird to watch after Hamilton, because you can see that it’s a Lin-Manuel Miranda deal, right: Even though John Laurens is playing the main character, you can absolutely hear Miranda delivering the lines as if they were written for him (which they were), and it touches on themes that are developed more fully in Hamilton (“And if not me, who keeps our legacies” is a line that practically had me expecting to hear someone belt out “Eliza”).

But it’s also just not nearly as good as Hamilton. And the thing is, if Hamilton didn’t exist, I suspect this would be viewed super-positively as a career-defining work, right. Like, make this movie 7-8 years ago, and it pops and shines. The songs would be seen as combining bland Broadway musical competency with a modern edge and sharp lyrics; the choreography would be seen as excellent (which tbh it still is even in 2021; visually the movie is a treat).

But today, with the Hamilton movie released last summer, this just feels like a minor early work, like going to see Titus Andronicus after you’ve already seen Hamlet. There’s just no way around it — it’s so much more conventional than Hamilton, so much more a generic Broadway musical, so much less brilliant.

It’s great that it’s giving representation on-screen to people who haven’t had it (and disappointing that it didn’t give more representation to people who’ve had even less), and it’s not bad or anything, but in a world where Hamilton exists, this has to come off as a trifle.