Hamilton


Show Details

Music
Lin-Manuel Miranda (70)
Lyrics
Lin-Manuel Miranda (70)
Book
Lin-Manuel Miranda (70)
Additional Music
The Decemberists (2), John Kander (301)
Type
Musical
Source
Inspired by Ron Chernow's biography, "Alexander Hamilton"
Notes
From the creative team behind the Tony Award-winning In The Heights comes a wildly inventive new musical about the scrappy young immigrant who forever changed America: Alexander Hamilton. Tony and Grammy Award winner Lin-Manuel Miranda wields his pen and takes the stage as the unlikely founding father determined to make his mark on a new nation as hungry and ambitious as he is.
Plot
From bastard orphan to Washington's right hand man, rebel to war hero, loving husband caught in the country's first sex scandal to Treasury head who made an untrusting world believe in the American economy, Hamilton is an exploration of a political mastermind. George Washington,Thomas Jefferson, Eliza Hamilton, and lifelong Hamilton friend and foe, Aaron Burr, all attend this revolutionary tale of America's fiery past told through the sounds of the ever-changing nation we've become. Tony Award nominee Thomas Kail directs this new musical about taking your shot, speaking your mind, and turning the world upside down.
Premiere
2015

Recordings


Audio Recordings

Hamilton - 2015 Original Broadway Cast
Hamilton - 2016 Piano Dreamers
Hamilton Mixtape - 2016 Various Artists
The Story of Tonight - 2016 We the Kings
Hamildrops - 2018 Various Artists
Hamilton a Capella - 2020 Various Artists
Hamilton - 2023 Original Hamburg Cast

Video Recordings

Hamilton - 2016 Original Broadway Cast

Noncommercial Audio Recordings

Hamilton - 2013 Demo

Noncommercial Video Recordings

Hamilton: German Mashup - 2018 Various Artists
Hamilton - 2022 Original Hamburg Cast
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Songs also appear on these recordings (13)


Recording Songs
Leading Ladies: Songs from the Stage - 2017 Amber Riley, Beverley Knight, & Cassidy Janson Helpless
The Story of My Life: Lea Salonga Live from Manila - 2017 Lea Salonga Burn
For You, For Me - 2018 Louise Dearman Burn
From Now On - 2018 Ramin Karimloo You'll Be Back
When the Curtain Falls - 2018 Carrie Hope Fletcher Burn
The Debut - 2019 Jackie Evancho Burn
Drama Club - 2019 Brittain Ashford It's Quiet Uptown
Broadway Lullabies - 2020 Various Artists Dear Theodosia
Burn - 2020 Florencia Cuenca Burn
Always Like New - 2021 Jennifer Nettles Wait for It
The Show Must Go On! - 2021 Various Artists You'll Be Back
New York, New York - 2023 Original Broadway Cast Cheering for Me Now
All the Girls - Rebecca Luker & Sally Wilfert Dear Theodosia


Songs

Added Later

Cut Song

  • Ben Franklin's Song
  • Congratulations (2)
    • Taking place between The Reynolds Pamphlet and Burn in the Off-Broadway version of Hamilton, Congratulations was cut from the final version. However, several lines appear into the final version of The Reynolds Pamphlet.

      In the song, Angelica has returned to the United States following the events of The Reynolds Pamphlet and Alexander's confession to the affair. And she really lets him have it.

      In Hamilton: The Revolution (p. 235), Lin wrote of this song: "It came between The Reynolds Pamphlet and Burn, But we realized that the audience desperately wanted to see Eliza's reaction, so I folded the best parts of it into The Reynolds Pamphlet.
  • Dear Theodosia (Reprise) (2)
    • During Hamilton's Off-Broadway run, Dear Theodosia had a brief reprise, between Burn and Blow Us All Away. Burr is telling his daughter that her mother has passed away.

      Miranda has said this reprise was cut from the Broadway version because it dedicated too much time to two off-stage characters, and was confusing for the audience because Burr's wife and daughter both had the same name, Theodosia.
  • First Burn
    • First draft of Eliza's song, "Burn."
  • Let It Go
    • Taking place directly after Schuyler Defeated in the Off-Broadway production, Alexander yells at Eliza for interrupting his confrontation with Burr. She calms him down with the help of Washington as they advise him to let it go.

      "Let it go" is an idiom meaning to give up a past grudge, something that Hamilton isn't great at. For example, his relationship with Burr was always marred by the events of the past, as highlighted in Your Obedient Servant.
  • No John Trumbull
    • From the 2014 Workshop recording of Hamilton, this song sets up the cabinet meeting of next song, Cabinet Battle #1.

      The title and first verse refer to American artist, John Trumbull, famous for his Revolutionary War paintings including portraits of George Washington, John Adams and several of Alexander Hamilton. The painting referenced in this song, "Declaration of Independence", is his most famous and is featured on the US two dollar bill.
  • Schuyler Defeated (Off-Broadway Version)
    • The Off-Broadway version of Hamilton delved much deeper into Burr's life, and this song originally played a much larger role than it now does in the Broadway version. Here, we see not only Burr's love for Theodosia, but also the concern that Philip and Eliza have for Hamilton. Through a few extra lyrics, Lin worked to humanize Burr, Philip, and Eliza, and set up this version of Burr's motivation to challenge Hamilton to a duel. It leads into the cut song, Let It Go, which has a tune that reappears several times in the musical.
  • Ten Things One Thing
    • An earlier version of The World Was Wide Enough featuring a "rewind" similar to that from Satisfied, which serves to show what both Burr and Hamilton were thinking in the countdown to the duel, instead of Hamilton's soliloquy taking place as Burr's bullet is traveling.

      This song is one of the last changes made to Hamilton, according to the Lin-Manuel's interview in the New Yorker: "The solution came to Miranda at almost the last moment, early in the morning on New Year's Day. He was lying in bed, with his infant son sleeping on his chest, and Nadal sleeping next to him. It was the quietest Miranda could remember his life being for a long time. Quiet, he thought. That was the one card he hadn't yet played in "Hamilton." What if he didn't write any music at all? He took his dog out for a walk, leaving his headphones at home this time, occasionally stopping to scribble in a notebook. He stayed up working until five the next morning, hearing Hamilton's final moments at last.

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