‘Completely original’ musical Midnight tries (and fails) to imagine a slavery-era romance

Todrick Hall’s off-Broadway show is about a doomed interracial love affair during US slavery in the 1860s

During the intermission of Midnight, an off-Broadway musical about a doomed interracial love affair during US slavery in the 1860s, a woman sitting behind me lauded the show and compared it to Hamilton. On the surface, she was correct. Midnight also has a diverse cast with stunning vocals and a story that reimagines a time within American history. The difference, however, is that Hamilton’s creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda, used source material – a 2004 biography on Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow – to develop his original work, something the Midnight creator and star, Todrick Hall, eschewed entirely. Therein lies the issue.