Meet the future of movie musicals
The director behind Hamilton, In The Heights and now Fiddler On The Roof — THOMAS KAIL — is not throwing away his shot
AT THE GENESIS of generation-defining musical Hamilton, director Thomas Kail was, as they say, in the room where it happened — a small New York City theatre in 2011, where Lin-manuel Miranda, after debuting mixtape track ‘Alexander Hamilton’ at a White House poetry jam, performed new cut ‘My Shot’ for a live audience. “In that moment I knew there was a live version of the show,” says Kail.
Four years later the fully formed Hamilton hit Broadway, astonishing audiences with its hip-hop retelling of America’s no-longerundersung founding father, complete with an intentionally diverse cast, and Kail as its director. Before the original cast — including breakout stars Daveed Diggs and Anthony Ramos — faced their final curtain-call, Kail directed the filmed version of Hamilton, now streaming on Disney+, which he calls “a cinematic version of what it was like to be in the Richard Rodgers Theatre on three days in June 2016”.
Kail had form presenting theatrical experiences with a filmic sensibility, having directed Fox’s broadcast TV event Grease LIVE!. For Hamilton, he recorded two performances with live audiences from a multitude of angles, and shot one day on stage. “I’m as influenced by movie musicals as I am by live productions, so
I knew there was an opportunity to harness the energy in the theatre, but allow you to have proximity to performance that would be quite different,” he explains. “Here, everybody has the same seat.”
If Hamilton is technically Kail’s first movie, in the years since the 2016 shoot he’s moved further into the realm of film and TV. Last year saw the arrival of Fosse/verdon, the Emmywinning drama about legendary choregrapher Bob Fosse and Broadway dancer Gwen Verdon (“Even when I make a seven-hour limited series, it’s about the theatre”), with Kail executiveproducing and helming five episodes. Next, he’s bringing Fiddler On The Roof back to the big screen. “It’s my favourite musical,” he says. “The original movie is fantastic. I want to make something that can live alongside it, and exist as a version of the show as told cinematically that embraces our affection for the original film. ”
Moving fluidly between theatre, film and TV, Kail is emblematic of the increasingly varied shapes musicals are taking. “There are so many incredible forms for musical storytelling to exist in,” he enthuses. “Think about Beyoncé’s Lemonade, or what the movie Chicago did 20 years ago. What I’m most interested in is finding the right medium for the message. I’m excited to see where musicals go, because they keep redefining themselves. I’ll be there — hopefully making it, but definitely buying tickets for it.” There’s a million things he hasn’t done — but just you wait.