Hamilton has inspired parodies of everything from Jeb Bush’s failed presidential campaign to Batman, but here’s one spoof that comes straight from the pen of Lin-Manuel Miranda himself. He and the cast of Hamilton opened the annual Easter Bonnet Competition (a fundraising event that benefits Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS) with their own mashup that combines their Pulitzer-winning musical with Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd, with Miranda taking the role of the bloody demon barber.
As far as Hamilton parodies go, it’s no surprise that Miranda’s is one of the best, fitting Sweeney references neatly into the opening song’s framework with lines like: “Nobody knew that she imbued the yeast with just a little priest” or “Put a razor to his nasal, connected it to his brain/ And he straight up went insane, his arm was complete again.” The cast is good-spirited about the whole thing, too, with Renée Elise Goldsberry leaning into the role of Mrs. Lovett, Anthony Ramos playing Anthony (naturally), and Leslie Odom Jr. earning some laughs for his take on the Sweeney Todd equivalent of Aaron Burr. Even Jonathan Groff, who left the production a few weeks ago after a long run as King George, gets in on the fun, replacing his usual crown with something a little more suited to such a dark tale.
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