Now if you haven’t heard of Hamilton by Lin Manuel Miranda I must ask where you’ve been for the past few years. Hamilton created quite a stir when it was first introduced to the Broadway community because hip-hop was typically not used in musicals. In a way Hamilton was about the American Revolution and the hip-hop revolution in Broadway (Miranda). It also made a point to cast minorities for all of the characters except for King George III. Miranda never intended Hamilton to be a musical, it began as The Hamilton Mixtape in 2008. He performed the opening song at the White House Poetry Jam on May 12, 2009. It was suggested that Miranda write a book about the process called Hamilton the Revolution, which I have used as reference, in 2011. Opening night for Hamilton was on August 6, 2015. Hamilton took nine years to complete with the help and influence of so many people. The idea to create a musical about Alexander Hamilton, of all people, came to Miranda when he bought a biography titled Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow. Chernow was a vital part of the process, he acted as a fact checker because Miranda wanted to keep most of the events accurate. It’s a good thing it took so long to complete because I don’t think the kairos of the situation was right until 2015. As Miranda said, “just as we continue to forget that immigrants are the backbone of the country, we forget that musical theater is a mongrel art form.” His deliberate casting of minorities plays a huge role in showing that immigrants helped create this country. It says in the book that they wanted to create a cast that portrays America then with performers from America now. Miranda does this with his music too, he takes, “conventions of a rap song to help a 21st century audience understand 18th century social distinctions” (McCarter).

Characters: From the original off-Broadway/Broadway shows

The performers themselves are insanely talented, it seems like they were made for their roles. There are instances where some like Leslie Odom Jr. carried around biographies about their character and others like Renée Elise Goldsberry could not believe that the role was theirs. They also got to bring in part of themselves into their characters, Miranda added a growl to a line because it made Phillipa Soo laugh.

Alexander Hamilton – the main character, can write like nobody’s business, is very good with words, a giant flirt, will fight any and every one including himself

 

 

Lin-Manuel Miranda

Aaron Burr – Hamilton’s friend turned frenemie turned foe, Burr and Hamilton are basically foils of each other

 

 

 

Leslie Odom Jr.

George Washington – Hamilton’s father figure but you won’t catch Hamilton believing that, like the only person Hamilton respects actually

 

 

Christopher Jackson

John Laurens/Philip Hamilton – in Act 1 Laurens is Hamilton’s best friend(or more-depends on how you look at it), in Act 2 Philip is Hamilton’s son

 

Anthony Ramos

Marquis de Lafayette/Thomas Jefferson – in Act 1 Lafayette gets the French to help in the Revolution-amazing rapper, in Act 2 Jefferson is a big opposer of Hamilton’s

 

 

David Diggs

Hercules Mulligan/James Madison – in Act 1 Mulligan helped spy on the British, in Act 2 Madison is Jefferson’s ally-is always sick

 

 

Okieriete Onaodowan

Eliza Hamilton (nee Schuyler) – Eliza is the middle Schuyler sister and marries Hamilton, likes Hamilton’s eyes

 

 

 

Phillipa Soo

Angelica Schuyler – Angelica is the eldest sister and loves them to the point of sacrificing her own happiness

 

 

 

Renée Elise Goldsberry

Peggy Schuyler/Maria Reynolds – in Act 1 Peggy is the youngest Schuyler sister, in Act 2 Reynolds has an affair with Hamilton

 

 

Jasmine Cephas Jones

King George III – super sassy and very putout about the war

 

 

 

Jonathan Groff

Alexander Hamilton – Burr, Laurens/Philip Hamilton, Lafayette/Jefferson, and Mulligan/Madison take turns introducing Hamilton and his life; all of the characters get a bit of themselves introduced as well, whether they were enemies, friends, or lovers; they have lines that play on their roles in Act 2

Aaron Burr, Sir – this song is fun because Burr rhymes with a lot of words; Hamilton gets introduced as ambitious-wanting to get through college as fast as he can; Hamilton and the audience are introduced to Laurens, Lafayette, and Mulligan for the first time; this is where we see that Hamilton and Burr are fundamental different about expressing their opinions

My Shot – to further explain their differences My Shot is about Hamilton boldly stating that he will fight in the upcoming war while Burr says he would rather wait it out until the right situation comes up; Laurens, Lafayette, and Mulligan get to share why they want to win this war; this is the “I want” song in the musical

The Story of Tonight – Miranda wrote the melody of this song when he was 16 years old and it serves as a musical theme throughout Hamilton; it’s basically a bar song, the group of four (Hamilton, Laurens, Lafayette, and Mulligan) are drinking to their friendship and the war

The Schuyler Sisters – this song introduces the Schuyler sisters who are a big part in Hamilton’s life; the eldest is portrayed by Angelica who wants a revolution for women saying she’ll put women in the sequel of The Declaration of Independence when she meets Thomas Jefferson; it serves as a love letter to NYC – there are pamphlets and flyers being handed out, and you can see the city being built around the three sisters; the line “look around, look around at how lucky we are to be alive right now!” – sung by Eliza – will be repeated later on and always resonates with me when I hear it

Farmer Refuted – this is basically just a song to show off Hamilton’s skills with words/speech by having him play with the vowels and cadences when arguing with Samuel Seabury who did not support the war; Miranda also adds in a meta joke about modulating keys

You’ll Be Back – if The Schuyler Sisters was a love letter to NYC, You’ll Be Back is a break up letter to the colonies from King George III

Right Hand Man – Hamilton always thought he was going to die in a battle which is something that many people do today – join the military to be secure in a job; here we see Washington trying to be a father figure towards Hamilton which he does not appreciate; Hamilton becomes Washington’s right hand man and helps organize troops to get a better chance of winning the Revolution

A Winter’s Ball – this short song sets up the next two songs and shows the soldiers as ladies’ mans; apparently Hamilton and Burr were both big flirts; the Schuyler sisters are also in attendance at this ball and are said to be rich

Helpless – this is when Eliza falls in love with Hamilton and gets married to him; Eliza has always been in Angelica’s shadows until she sees Hamilton and calls dibs; Angelica introduces Hamilton to Eliza and they begin courting; Hamilton meets their father and asks to marry Eliza even though he is poor; Hamilton actually tries to get Eliza to understand that although he is poor he is very smart; Hamilton’s use of the word “helpless” is in the context of losing his mother at a young age while Eliza means she is “helpless” against falling in love with him; the song ends with them getting married

Satisfied – this is Angelica’s version of Helpless, Angelica also knew she could have fallen in love with Hamilton but she introduced Hamilton to Eliza because she loved her sister more; the choreography is so impressive here – they go back in time to when Angelica and Hamilton met, they reverse all of their movements from Helpless; Satisfied also has many meanings – it can be sexual, financially, emotional and even used in dueling; Angelica is portrayed as a woman who thinks as fast as she speaks, she knew that Hamilton wanted a Schuyler sister for the money but that could not be her because she had responsibilities as the oldest daughter; she is happy that Eliza gets to marry Hamilton because at least she can still be in his life

That is about the first quarter of the show, there is so much I want to talk about so Hamilton will be sectioned off quite a bit.