Hamilton (musical)

• 1. Introduction

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  Hamilton: An American Musical, known to most people simply as Hamilton, tells the life of a Founding Father almost entirely through song and rap. Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote the music, the lyrics and the book. He boiled the show down to a single line: it is about "America then, as told by America now." That sentence raises the questions this documentary follows. How does a thick biography become a hip hop stage show? Who stands on that stage, and what are they singing about? How much of the story is true, and where did Miranda bend it? And how did one New York production grow into a phenomenon that filled theaters, arenas and even a crowded city street?

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• 2. From Biography to Mixtape

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  Ron Chernow's 2004 biography Alexander Hamilton was vacation reading for Lin-Manuel Miranda, who was then starring in his hit Broadway show In the Heights. A few chapters in, he began picturing Hamilton's life as a musical. He checked whether anyone had tried it before. The only precedent he found was a Broadway play from 1917, starring George Arliss as Alexander Hamilton.

  The first public glimpse came on the 12th of May 2009, at the White House Evening of Poetry, Music and the Spoken Word. Miranda had been invited to perform music from In the Heights. Instead he sang the first song from a project he called The Hamilton Mixtape. It was an early version of what would become the opening number, "Alexander Hamilton." He then spent a year working on "My Shot." The full score took shape between 2008 and 2015.

  The Federalist Papers and the Reynolds Pamphlet both feed lines directly into the finished score. Many songs also borrow phrases from personal letters and other primary documents. Miranda took dramatic license, yet the story and the lyrics were heavily researched. He has also named the television series The West Wing as an inspiration for his approach.

  On the 27th of July 2013, Miranda performed in a workshop of the show, still titled The Hamilton Mixtape. It took place at the Vassar College and New York Stage and Film Powerhouse Theater. Thomas Kail directed, and Alex Lacamoire handled the music, playing piano. The workshop covered the entire first act and three songs from the second. Daveed Diggs played Lafayette and Jefferson, and Christopher Jackson played Washington. Of the principal cast, only Miranda, Diggs and Jackson later appeared in the off-Broadway production.

  A 2014 workshop at the 52nd Street Project brought in Leslie Odom Jr. as Burr, Phillipa Soo as Eliza and Renée Elise Goldsberry as Angelica. Anthony Ramos played Laurens and Philip, and Okieriete Onaodowan played Mulligan and Madison. Ciara Renée took Peggy and Maria, Brian d'Arcy James took King George III, and Isaiah Johnson took Washington. An audio recording of that production is available on YouTube.

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• 3. The Story Onstage

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  Aaron Burr narrates most of Hamilton, and he is also the man who fires the shot that ends the title character's life. The story runs across two acts. It opens with an orphan on the island of St. Croix. Through his own wits and the charity of his hometown, the boy escapes and sails for New York City.

  At King's College, Hamilton falls in with Aaron Burr, John Laurens, the Marquis de Lafayette and Hercules Mulligan. His rhetorical skill impresses the group, and "My Shot" announces his ambition. Laurens, Lafayette and Mulligan share Hamilton's revolutionary goals, while Burr stays wary. Nearby, Peggy, Angelica and Eliza Schuyler, daughters of the wealthy Philip Schuyler, are thrilled by talk of revolution. The loyalist bishop Samuel Seabury argues against it, and King George III insists on his authority.

  George Washington makes Hamilton his aide-de-camp during the New York and New Jersey campaign, though Hamilton longs for a field command. At a ball hosted by Philip Schuyler, Eliza falls helplessly in love with him, and he returns her feelings all the way to marriage. Her sister Angelica hides her own feelings so that the couple can be happy. Burr watches Hamilton's swift rise and compares it to his own cautious career. He also reflects on his affair with Theodosia, the wife of a British officer.

  The Battle of Monmouth marks worsening conditions for the Continental Army. Hamilton helps Laurens in a duel against the disgraced Major General Charles Lee, and Washington suspends him for a time. At home, Eliza tells him she is pregnant with their first child, Philip. Lafayette then persuades Washington to give Hamilton a field command at the Battle of Yorktown. There the show has Hamilton and Lafayette trap the British, helped by Mulligan's work as a spy. Hamilton and Burr both become fathers, and Burr's daughter is also named Theodosia. News arrives that Laurens died in a pointless battle after the war was already over, and Hamilton throws himself into work.

  Back in New York, both Hamilton and Burr practice law. Hamilton's influence grows quickly. He takes part in the Constitutional Convention, co-authors The Federalist Papers, and becomes Secretary of the Treasury under the newly elected President Washington.

  Thomas Jefferson returns from France in 1789 to serve as Secretary of State. He and James Madison oppose Hamilton's financial proposals at a Cabinet meeting, and Washington orders Hamilton to find a compromise. While Eliza and her family spend the summer upstate, Hamilton stays in the city and begins an affair with Maria Reynolds. Her husband soon extorts him. The compromise arrives over a private dinner. Hamilton's financial plan passes, and the permanent capital is placed on the Potomac River. Burr, shut out of the room, envies such influence.

  Burr changes political parties and beats Philip Schuyler in a Senate race, which makes him Hamilton's rival. A second Cabinet fight splits Hamilton and Jefferson over whether to help France against Britain, and Washington sides with neutrality. Jefferson, Madison and Burr then plot to discredit Hamilton. Washington retires after two terms, with Hamilton helping to write his farewell address, and John Adams takes over. Adams fires Hamilton, who answers with a fierce public critique of the new president.

  Jefferson, Madison and Burr confront Hamilton about the old blackmail by James Reynolds and accuse him of embezzlement. To prove he was lustful rather than corrupt, Hamilton publishes the Reynolds Pamphlet himself. It wrecks his reputation. It also drives Eliza to burn the letters he wrote her.

  Their son Philip, aged 19, tries to defend his father's honor in a duel with George Eacker and is fatally shot. The loss slowly draws Alexander and Eliza back together. When Hamilton endorses Jefferson over Burr in the election of 1800, Burr reaches his breaking point and challenges him by letter. Hamilton writes his last letter in a rush while Eliza tells him to go back to bed. He then throws away his shot, and Burr kills him, knowing that history will cast him as the villain.

  The closing number turns to historical memory. Eliza tells how she put herself back into the record. She collected the memories of fellow veterans, raised funds for the Washington Monument, spoke out against slavery, and founded the first private orphanage in New York City. Then she turns to the audience and lets out a tearful gasp.

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• 4. America Then, America Now

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  "Our cast looks like America looks now, and that's certainly intentional," Miranda has said. In the show, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington and other white historical figures are played by Black, Latino and Asian actors. Miranda argues that this asks for no great leap of imagination from the audience. In his view, it lets viewers leave their cultural baggage about the founders at the door.

  Miranda also put the idea bluntly: "We're telling the story of old, dead white men but we're using actors of color." That choice, he added, makes the story more immediate and accessible to a contemporary audience.

  Immigration sits at the center of the show's message. The opening number credits Hamilton's rise to "working a lot harder, by being a lot smarter, by being a self-starter." Later, the cast declares, "immigrants, we get the job done." With Black, Latino and Asian American leads, audiences can literally see a nation of immigrants onstage, along with the complex racial history of America.

  Renée Elise Goldsberry, who played Angelica Schuyler, said, "We have the opportunity to reclaim a history that some of us don't necessarily think is our own." Miranda has said he is "totally open" to women playing the Founding Fathers. The British production followed the same spirit, casting predominantly Black British artists.

  Writing in New York, Jesse Green caught nods to Rodgers and Hammerstein, Gilbert and Sullivan, Stephen Sondheim, West Side Story and 1776. Other people had to point out the many hat-tips to hip hop. The score itself draws heavily on hip hop, R&B, pop, soul and traditional-style show tunes. Scholar Marvin McAllister wrote that Miranda "elevates the form through this marriage with musical theater storytelling."

  The New Yorker called the show "an achievement of historical and cultural reimagining." Paul Tazewell's costumes put the cast in velvet frock coats and knee britches. David Korins designed a wooden scaffold set against exposed brick, lit warmly enough to suggest candlelight.

  The Broadway orchestra uses two keyboards, a bass that doubles on electric, acoustic and synth bass, and a guitar that doubles on tenor banjo. It adds drums, percussion, three violins with one doubling on viola, and a cello. The first keyboard part belongs to the conductor.

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• 5. Dramatic License

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  In "Aaron Burr, Sir," Hamilton arrives in the United States in 1776, but the real Hamilton came in 1773. The same song has him meeting Laurens, Mulligan and Lafayette right after he lands. In truth, Hamilton met Mulligan early, but he met Laurens and Lafayette only after becoming Washington's aide-de-camp. Lafayette did not reach the United States until after the war had begun.

  In "My Shot," Hamilton calls himself an abolitionist, a label scholars have disputed. He generally opposed slavery and once served as president of the New York Manumission Society. Yet the fight against slavery was not a mission for him. His father-in-law Philip Schuyler and George Washington both owned slaves. In "Stay Alive," Laurens says the two men wrote essays against slavery, but Hamilton wrote none. There is also some evidence that Hamilton himself may have owned slaves.

  Angelica's story was reshaped too. In "Satisfied," she says her father has no sons, so she must marry rich. By 1780, Philip Schuyler actually had fourteen children, including two sons who survived to adulthood. A fifteenth child, a daughter, was born in 1781. Angelica had also eloped with John Barker Church three years before she met Hamilton at her sister's wedding. She was already a mother of two, and she would have eight children with Church.

  The comma in "Take a Break" is another change. In the song, Hamilton writes "my dearest,..." with the comma misplaced. In reality, Angelica made that slip, and Hamilton noticed and asked about it with a hint of flirtatious hope. Miranda said he "conveniently forgot" this, because it is stronger drama if Angelica is available but cannot marry him. In Hamilton: The Revolution, he adds that the point is that Angelica is a world-class intellect in a world that does not allow her to use it.

  Burr's role in Act I is overstated. Miranda himself says "Aaron Burr, Sir" is a fictional first meeting. Burr was at the Battle of Monmouth, but he was not Charles Lee's second in the duel with Laurens. That was Evan Edwards. Hamilton also never invited Burr to his wedding. Nor did he ask Burr to help write The Federalist Papers. He asked Madison and John Jay, who agreed, and Gouverneur Morris, who declined. Miranda calls his version "Another great What if?"

  In "A Winter's Ball," Burr says Martha Washington named her feral tomcat after Hamilton, and Hamilton replies, "That's true!" Miranda admits it is likely a tale spread by John Adams later in life. He kept it because Hamilton is at "peak cockiness" at that point. Researchers Michael E. Newton and Stephen Knott found no evidence for the story. Newton adds that the sexual sense of tomcat did not exist in the 18th century.

  "Take a Break" also has Angelica joining the Hamiltons in America for a summer, preceded by a letter. No such events took place. In the same song, nine-year-old Philip says, "I have a sister, but I want a little brother." At that age he already had two of his five younger brothers, Alexander Hamilton Jr. and James Alexander Hamilton.

  John Adams did not fire Hamilton. Hamilton resigned as Secretary of the Treasury on the 1st of December 1794, two years before Adams became president. He remained close to Washington and influential until he published a pamphlet attacking Adams during the election of 1800.

  The Reynolds affair also unfolded differently. In December 1792, it was James Monroe, Frederick Muhlenberg and Abraham Venable who approached Hamilton, not Jefferson, Madison and Burr. Monroe, a close friend of Jefferson, passed the news to him. In the summer of 1797, the journalist James T. Callender broke the story of Hamilton's infidelity. Hamilton blamed Monroe and challenged him to a duel. Burr's intervention averted it. Only then did Hamilton publish the Reynolds Pamphlet.

  Philip Hamilton's duel with George Eacker took place in 1801, not before the 1800 election. Philip died on the 24th of November. Both men refused to fire for over a minute before Eacker shot Philip in the hips. In the show, Madison tells Jefferson he won the election in a landslide. The House of Representatives actually gave Jefferson 10 votes, Burr 4, and left 2 ballots blank.

  That election did not lead to the fatal duel either. Burr became Jefferson's vice-president, but Jefferson chose not to run with him again in 1804. Burr ran for Governor of New York instead and lost to Morgan Lewis in a landslide. Then The Albany Register printed a letter from Charles D. Cooper to Philip Schuyler. It claimed Hamilton had called Burr "a dangerous man and one who ought not be trusted with the reins of government." That letter set off the exchange heard in "Your Obedient Servant."

  Historian Joanne B. Freeman of Yale has criticized the show for a simplistic Hamilton and a villainous Jefferson. She describes the real Hamilton as "a mass of contradictions." He was an immigrant who sometimes distrusted immigrants, and a revolutionary who placed a supreme value on law and order. Andrew Schocket argued in the Journal of the Early Republic that the show stays "forged in the mold" of what he calls the "American Revolution Rebooted" genre.

  Theatre professor Stacy Wolf finds that the female characters get "limited and stereotypical roles" in a male-dominated story. Musicologist Cheryl L. Keyes argues that Eliza, Angelica and Maria Reynolds follow three female tropes found in hip hop, which include the "good wife" and the "gold digger."

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• 6. Opening Nights

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  Previews at the Public Theater in Lower Manhattan began on the 20th of January 2015, and Hamilton officially opened there on the 17th of February. Thomas Kail directed, Andy Blankenbuehler choreographed, and Oskar Eustis supervised as the theater's artistic director. Chernow served as the production's historical consultant. The run sold out, and it was extended twice, first to the 5th of April and then to the 3rd of May.

  According to New York Post columnist Michael Riedel, producer Jeffrey Seller wanted to move to Broadway before the 2014-2015 season ended. That timing would have made the show eligible for that year's Tony Awards. Seller had made a similar move with Rent, which opened off-Broadway in January 1996 and reached Broadway that April. Miranda and Kail overruled him because Miranda wanted more time to work.

  That time produced real changes. Several numbers were cut, and Hamilton's final moments were rewritten. The song "One Last Ride" was trimmed and retitled "One Last Time," focusing only on Washington's decision not to seek a third term. The original cast moved uptown, except for Brian d'Arcy James, who gave way to Jonathan Groff as King George III.

  On the 13th of July 2015, Hamilton began previews at Broadway's Richard Rodgers Theatre. That theater was also home to Miranda's 2008 Broadway debut, In the Heights. The official opening followed on the 6th of August. In April 2016, the cast reached a profit-sharing deal with the producers, an uncommon arrangement in theater. On the 12th of March 2020, the show suspended performances because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and it resumed on the 14th of September 2021.

  Marilyn Stasio of Variety wrote that Miranda's narrative of one man's story "becomes the collective narrative of a nation." Jesse Green praised the three duels as highlights of a riveting if sometimes overbusy staging. Not every review was a rave. Elisabeth Vincentelli of the New York Post, a paper Hamilton himself founded, found stretches of the show exposition-heavy and dull, especially those involving Washington. David Cote of Time Out New York gave it five out of five stars and a Critics' Pick. Barack Obama joked in 2016 that admiration for the musical is "the only thing Dick Cheney and I agree on." In 2019, writers for The Guardian ranked it the second-greatest theatrical work since 2000.

  The awards followed. The off-Broadway production won eight Drama Desk Awards, including Outstanding Musical. At the 70th Tony Awards, Hamilton set a record with 16 nominations and won 11 awards, including Best Musical. Only the original production of The Producers in 2001 won more, with twelve. Hamilton also took the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and a Grammy Award. In 2018, Kennedy Center Honors went to Miranda, Blankenbuehler, Lacamoire and Kail.

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• 7. Around the World

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  CIBC Theatre in Chicago began previews on the 27th of September 2016 and opened the following month. The run closed on the 5th of January 2020 after 1,341 shows. It grossed $400 million, a box office record for Chicago theater. Critic Chris Jones credited the theater's larger seating capacity for the success. More than 2.6 million people saw the show there, including 31 thousand public school students through the Hamilton Education Program.

  On the 10th of March 2017, the first national tour began previews at San Francisco's SHN Orpheum Theatre. Tickets for the San Francisco run sold out within 24 hours, and more than 110,000 people entered the online waiting room. A second tour began previews in Seattle on the 6th of February 2018. The team named the pair the Angelica Tour and the Philip Tour.

  Fourteen truckloads of cargo traveled with the Angelica Tour alone, along with more than 60 cast, crew and musicians. The producers insisted that each tour reproduce the original choreography, which relies on two concentric turntables. That meant building four portable sets, two per tour, so one set could be assembled at the next stop while the show still played the last.

  On the 8th of November 2017, producers announced a third company, the And Peggy Tour. It was to open in Puerto Rico with Miranda returning as Hamilton. The planned venue, Teatro UPR, had been damaged by Hurricane Maria in 2017 and was restored for the occasion. After union negotiations in December 2018, the engagement moved to the Luis A. Ferré Performing Arts Center and ran from the 11th to the 27th of January 2019. A line of police stood outside on opening night. The sold-out run raised about $15 million for Miranda's Flamboyán Arts Fund, which supports arts in Puerto Rico. The company then settled in San Francisco, where Julius Thomas III took over the title role.

  The pandemic interrupted many of these runs. The Philip Tour's Toronto engagement, which began on the 11th of February 2020, ended abruptly on the 14th of March. A Los Angeles production at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre, set for the 12th of March 2020, finally opened on the 27th of August 2021 as the Eliza Tour. The Angelica Tour ended in Puerto Rico on the 25th of June 2023, then reopened in Los Angeles on the 4th of September 2024 after a resurgence of popularity.

  Cameron Mackintosh produced the London production, which reopened the Victoria Palace Theatre on the 21st of December 2017. In 2018, it won seven Olivier Awards, including Best New Musical. Prince Harry attended a charity performance that year and sang a few bars of "You'll Be Back." The song is sung in the show by King George III, his sixth great-grandfather. The West End closed on the 16th of March 2020 and reopened on the 19th of August 2021.

  Sydney's Lyric Theatre hosted the Australian premiere, with previews beginning on the 17th of March 2021. Jason Arrow led the cast as Hamilton. Performances were suspended on the 25th of June 2021 during Sydney's second wave of COVID-19 and resumed on the 19th of October. Melbourne followed on the 15th of March 2022, and The Age wrote that Arrow "wipes the floor with Miranda's performance in the Disney+ version." Brisbane's Lyric Theatre at QPAC ended the run on the 23rd of April 2023.

  In Hamburg, the Operettenhaus staged the first official non-English production. Kevin Schroeder and the rapper Sera Finale translated the lyrics into German. Previews began on the 24th of September 2022, and the opening night was the 6th of October. Disappointing ticket sales ended the run on the 15th of October 2023.

  In May 2023, an international tour opened at Auckland's Spark Arena, the first arena staging. Manila saw the Asian premiere, with previews from the 21st of September 2023 and Rachelle Ann Go returning as Eliza. Abu Dhabi's Etihad Arena followed from the 17th of January 2024, then Singapore's Sands Theatre from the 19th of April. A separate UK and Ireland tour opened at Manchester's Palace Theatre on the 11th of November 2023, with Shaq Taylor in the title role. As of 2026, no amateur or professional licenses have been granted for the show.

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• 8. Beyond the Theater

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  Twenty-one front-row seats went into the lottery before each Broadway performance. To entertain the hopefuls, Miranda began hosting small outdoor shows before each drawing. They were called Ham4Ham because winners paid a $10 bill, which carries Hamilton's portrait, for each of two tickets. HowlRound saw the practice as part of a Latina/o theater tradition of taking the theater to the people.

  The crowds grew so large that they caused congestion on West 46th Street. In early January 2016, an online lottery replaced the street drawing. More than 50,000 people entered on the first day, which crashed the website. Miranda left the show on the 9th of July 2016, and Rory O'Malley took over as host. The Ham4Ham shows officially ended on the 31st of August 2016. An official mobile app arrived in August 2017 and extended the lottery to the touring productions.

  Before the Broadway opening, advance sales reportedly reached $30 million. For the Labor Day week that ended on the 6th of September 2015, Hamilton was the second-highest-grossing show on Broadway, behind only The Lion King. In late November 2016, it set a weekly record of $3.3 million for eight performances, the first show to pass $3 million in eight performances.

  NPR made the original Broadway cast recording available to listeners on the 21st of September 2015. Atlantic Records released it digitally on the 25th of September, with physical copies following on the 16th of October. It debuted at number 12 on the Billboard 200, the highest entrance for a cast recording since 1963. It climbed to number 2 and reached number 1 on the Billboard Rap albums chart. Billboard ranked it second among the best albums of 2015, and Rolling Stone ranked it eighth.

  The Hamilton Mixtape, a collection of remixes, covers and samples, arrived on the 2nd of December 2016 and debuted at number 1 on the Billboard 200. The Hamilton Instrumentals followed on the 30th of June 2017. With that release, the producers authorized free sing-along events under the name Hamiltunes. Unauthorized sing-alongs of that name had begun in early 2016 in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.

  In July 2020, a filmed version of the Broadway production premiered on Disney+. Walt Disney Pictures followed with a theatrical release in 2025.

  Miranda announced Hamildrops, a series of 13 recordings released monthly from December 2017 to December 2018. The first, on the 15th of December 2017, was "Ben Franklin's Song" by The Decemberists. Its lyrics came from an unused song Miranda wrote while developing the show. He had long imagined Benjamin Franklin singing in a "Decemberist-y way" and sent the words to Colin Meloy, who set them to music.

  On the 2nd of March 2018, "Weird Al" Yankovic released "The Hamilton Polka," a polka medley of songs from the musical. Yankovic's tour schedule ruled out a February release, so he suggested calling the 2nd of March "February 30th." Miranda called that "the most perfect 'Weird Al' creative problem solving possible." On the 19th of March, Miranda and Ben Platt released "Found/Tonight," a mash-up of "You Will Be Found" from Dear Evan Hansen and "The Story of Tonight." Part of the proceeds supported March for Our Lives.

  The fifth release, on the 30th of April 2018, was "First Burn," Miranda's first draft of "Burn." Five actresses who had played Eliza sang it. Miranda said the early Eliza was "angrier" and "entirely reactive," and that the draft "works as a song but not as a scene." Mobb Deep's "Boom Goes the Cannon..." followed on the 18th of June, sampling "Right Hand Man." It was among the last recordings by Havoc and Prodigy, and Miranda dedicated it to Queensbridge.

  On the 20th of September 2018, the first anniversary of Hurricane Maria, Puerto Rican artists including Zion & Lennox, De La Ghetto and Ivy Queen released "A Forgotten Spot (Olvidado)." Sara Bareilles recorded "Theodosia Reprise" on the eve of Halloween 2018, with Alex Lacamoire on piano and Questlove on drums. The song, a moment between Burr and his daughter, was cut from the final production.

  The last release, on the 20th of December 2018, was "One Last Time (44 Remix)." It featured Christopher Jackson, BeBe Winans and Barack Obama, who recited lines from George Washington's farewell address. The 44 in the title refers to Obama as the 44th president. It gave the nation's 44th president the farewell address that Hamilton helps draft in the show.

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