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Readers probably don't recall a 2002 congressional effort to mark the first anniversary of 9/11 with a catchy musical number from a Broadway smash hit.
And perhaps that says it all about the Democrats' Thursday production to mark one year since the Capitol riot of 2021. Two decades ago, no one had to sell the idea that America had suffered a devastating attack. Today the political appetites of incumbent Democrats require pretending that last year's riot was an insurrection. On Thursday the show had to go on.

Take it away, Chloe Rabinowitz of Broadway World:

As part of the congressional events marking the first anniversary of
the January 6th attack on the Capitol, cast members from Hamilton
came together virtually to perform `Dear Theodosia'...

The groundbreaking musical sensation, Hamilton springs from the mind
of Emmy, Tony, and Grammy Award winner Lin-Manuel Miranda and tells
the unlikely story of the ten-dollar founding father, Alexander
Hamilton who was young, scrappy, and hungry and ready to mark his
mark on this new nation.

Now that's a compelling narrative. Glenn Garner of People adds:

Lin-Manuel Miranda brought a little bit of Broadway to Washington,
D.C., this week... He was introduced by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi,
who referred to Miranda as "one of the great creative talents of our
time" before quoting a lyric from the song, which was performed by
Jamael Westman, Julius Thomas III, Pierre Jean Gonzalez, Joseph
Morales, Edred Utomi, Miguel Cervantes, Nicholas Christopher, Josh
Tower and Jared Dixon.

Brilliant performers all, no doubt. A rave review of the Democrats' riot show arrives from Rania Aniftos at Billboard, who writes:

Following [Mr. Miranda's] powerful words, a number of Hamilton cast
members delivered a heartfelt performance of "Dear Theodosia," which
includes fitting lyrics about building a better future for the young
generations of Americans. "If we lay a strong enough foundation /
We'll pass it on to you, we'll give the world to you," the group sang
in the chorus.

Other media observers weren't as enthusiastic. Marina Pitofsky USA Today reports:

The performance received applause from Pelosi and other viewers on
Capitol Hill, though it was not embraced by all on social media.

Callie Patteson writes for the New York Post:

Perhaps House Democrats should have thrown away their shot.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and her colleagues were
criticized Thursday after inviting Lin-Manuel Miranda and the cast
of the Broadway smash "Hamilton" to perform at a ceremony marking
the anniversary of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

David Moye at HuffPost admits:

The decision by House Democrats to honor the anniversary of the Jan.
6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot with a musical number from "Hamilton" is
striking some people as awkward.

Tim Marcin at Mashable writes:

The world is so much dumber than we can imagine in fiction...
It's kind of like if Pelosi rolled out a projector and played a
scene from The West Wing to get everyone feeling nice and warm
about democracy again.

Sometimes politicians make you wonder whether you should take them seriously. Other times they remove all doubt, as Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) did on Thursday. And while some media folk have cast the "Hamilton" performance as an aberration in an otherwise appropriate presentation, the political theater wasn't limited to the show tune. At one point the Pelosi production sought to present historians' views of last year's events, but perhaps because of weather or Covid complications, the program's producers
were forced to rely heavily on Jon Meacham.

Regular readers will recall Mr. Meacham's dramatic 2020 television
performance in which he portrayed a disinterested analyst of political news. November of that year brought a New York Times report from Annie Karni and
John Koblin:

... Mr. Meacham appeared on MSNBC before and after Mr. Biden's
acceptance speech on Saturday. About half an hour after Mr. Biden
had concluded, the anchor Brian Williams introduced Mr. Meacham by
saying, "I'm not the historian that you are, and I don't have the
Pulitzer that you do, but do you concur that is the way we are used
to hearing from our presidents?"

"Absolutely," Mr. Meacham responded, without disclosing that he had
been involved in the writing of the speech.

Shortly before Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and Mr. Biden took
the stage, Mr. Meacham commented on the symbolism of a new
administration featuring a 77-year-old institutionalist and a vice
president-elect "who represents in many ways the changing demography
of the country."

"It's poetic," Mr. Meacham said. "There's a lot of poetry tonight."

This week's Pelosi program was no less creative, but the partisan effort to capitalize on last year's events is a show many Americans have already chosen not to watch.

--
Let's go Brandon!

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