Found Tonight

Since 2015 the world has been going crazy over musicals, an art form that me and my friends have been obsessed with since I can remember. Musicals have always been popular, but something has happened since Hamilton which has meant they have become sensations, and the people who write them massive influences. A few weeks ago two of the most famous men in musical theatre came together to do something truly amazing, and thus Found Tonight was created. 

There have been 26 shootings on school campuses in 2018, and its only April. With all the anxieties that we deal with as teenagers in school, imagine having the added pressure of knowing any of your classmates could possess a gun. School is a time for learning and personal growth, and increasingly becoming a time associated with violence and fear. The future of the world are being corrupted by laws that are meant to protect us. However, you've heard all that before. And I'm not an activist or a politician. Lin Manuel Miranda and Ben Platt, however, have created something that cuts to the core of the issue, and will pull the heartstrings of young and old alike.

The musical Hamilton won literally all the Tony awards in 2015 for its retelling of the creation of America through Alexander Hamilton, a rebel and a minority. Dear Evan Hansen tells the less historical, but equally compelling, tale of a socially awkward teenager who gets wrapped up in a lie concerning the suicide of one of his classmates. While the two narratives take place in completely different time periods, and deal with situations of varying gravity, both tell of a person with faults and flaws changing the world for the better. Alexander Hamilton changed history forever and Evan Hansen creates a legacy for a boy who's life was plighted with depression and sadness. But what both musicals do, ever so poignantly, is show how we are learning throughout our lives. And that the biggest thing we can do to hinder ourselves is refuse to learn from our mistakes. Hamilton and Evan both learn from their mistakes, and their stories have become some of the most popular musicals of all time.

So, Lin Manuel Miranda and Ben Platt raise this question to their society- why aren't we learning from our mistakes? Why are we not seeing the number of young people killed by gun laws and do something about it? It is never too late to learn.

The relevance of these musicals to America's current political situation is painfully ironic, and so the two stars have created a song that combines a number from each show. The Story of Tonight is sung by Hamilton and his pals as they embark upon their revolution, while You Will Be Found celebrates the change in Evan's life when he discovers that he is not alone. When the two are mashed together and sung by these incredible men, you have Found Tonight, a song raising money for the anti-gun race in America and reminding us that we are never alone, and it is never to late to revolutionise the way we think.

I have spent a lot of my life defending why musicals are worthy of praise. They're cheesy, they're simple, they have no depth bla bla bla. Why do you have to sing all the time etc etc. Well this is why, this is exactly why. Because it gets a message across, and makes you cry with joy along the way.

Listen to this wonderful song right here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aQykuIaJVI