Ladies and Gentlemen, the first Secretary of the Treasury for the United States of America, founding father, Alexander Hamilton! Hip-hop, Jazz, R&B, and Show tunes abound in this breathtaking retelling of the life of one of Americas long lost treasures, Hamilton is a revolutionary moment in theater, a musical that has had a profound impact on culture, politics, and education.
“The music is exhilarating, but the lyrics are a big surprise.” – Variety
“If the musical makes the past more feisty, it also makes the present more weighty.” – SFGate
“The music is phenomenal and game-changing for Broadway, the choreography is stunning.” – Sfist
Arriving in New York in 1776, Hamilton meets Aaron Burr, John Laurens, Marquis de Lafayette, and Hercules Mulligan, and impresses them with his rhetorical skills, and Hamilton states that he is not going to mis his shot at building the new America. The musical then continues to set Hamilton and Burr as opposites and frequently pits them against one another. General George Washington recognizes that the American troops are at a severe disadvantage against the British, and is frustrated that the rebels keep retreating, but a mind like Hamilton’s shouldn’t be wasted, or risked, on a battle field and the General holds Hamilton back from the fighting until Hamilton has the bright idea to steal the English canons, and shows that he is willing to take risks and break the rules for the sake of America, thus gaining a powerful ally in the General. By 1781, the Battle of Yorktown is a complete success and the British surrender, with King George challenging America with, “what comes next? It’s hard to build a country on your own.” But this is not the end of the American revolution, it is ongoing, even today, and that there are Founders of America being born even as we speak. Both Hamilton and Burr meet their children for the first time after the battle for Yorktown and both have hope that they can build a better country and that their children can do the same.
The first premier of Hamilton was Off-Broadway at the Public Theater in New York City, in February 2015, where its several-month engagement was entirely sold out. This Off-Broadway production won eight Drama Desk Awards, including Outstanding Musical. Moving to the Richard Rodgers Theatre on Broadway and opening in 2015, the show received near perfect reviews and insanely high box office sales, followed by a record-breaking 16 Tony nominations, and winning a staggering 11 awards, including Best Musical at the 70th Tony Awards in 2016. The musical was also awarded the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and the album of music won the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theatre Album and is ranked the 2nd best album of 2015 by Billboard. In 2017 the West End production of Hamilton opened at the Victoria Palace Theatre in London, winning seven Olivier Awards in 2018, including Best New Musical. A film of the show, captured at the Richard Rodgers Theater on Broadway, was released in July 2020, acclaimed by critics for its visuals, performances, and direction, it became one of the most-streamed films of 2020, and was named as one of the best films of 2020 by the American Film Institute, getting nominated for Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy and Best Actor in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy at the 78th Golden Globe Awards in 2020.
“Hamilton has near-universal critical acclaim” – The Economist
“The only thing Dick Cheney and I agree on.” – Barack Obama
“A show about young rebels grabbing and shaping the future of an unformed country, “Hamilton” is making its own resonant history by changing the language of musicals. And it does so by insisting that the forms of song most frequently heard on pop radio stations in recent years — rap, hip-hop, R&B ballads — have both the narrative force and the emotional interiority to propel a hefty musical about long-dead white men whose solemn faces glower from the green bills in our wallets…But these guys don’t exactly look like the marble statues of the men they’re portraying…when they open their mouths, the words that tumble out are a fervid mix of contemporary street talk, wild and florid declarations of ambition and, oh yes, elegant phrases from momentous political documents you studied in school…And you never doubt for a second that these eclectic words don’t belong in proximity to one another…Mr. Miranda’s Hamilton, a propulsive mix of hubris and insecurity, may be the center of the show. But he is not its star. That would be history itself, that collision of time and character that molds the fates of nations and their inhabitants.” – Ben Brantley for The New York Times.