Top 5 fascinating facts about “Hamilton: An American Musical
Top 5 fascinating facts about “Hamilton: An American Musical
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Everyone's heard of the widely popular Broadway production, Hamilton. If not, you must have been living under a rock! Get out of there because you're missing out. Written, composed and starring the extremely talented Lin-Manuel Miranda, the musical received critical acclaim and has won several awards, including a Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album, Tony Awards for Best Featured Actor in a Musical, Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical and Best Original Score. In this countdown we take you through the Top 5 facts about Hamilton!
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#5: It Took Six Years to Write
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America wasn’t built in a day and the same can said about this musical. In fact, it took Lin-Manuel Miranda roughly six years to write “Hamilton.” After reading Ron Chernow’s biography of Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, Miranda started a concept album called “The Hamilton Mixtape.” Miranda spent a whole year writing the opening number, “Alexander Hamilton,” which he performed for President Barack Obama and company at the White House poetry jam in 2009. Following the first song’s debut, Miranda spent an additional year writing another song, “My Shot.” As the project continued to gain momentum, the album eventually evolved into a stage musical, making its off-Broadway debut at The Public Theater in early 2015. Hey, not every artist can compose a musical masterpiece as quickly as Mozart.
#4: Lin-Manuel Miranda Wrote “Wait for It” on the Subway
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An artist never knows when or where inspiration will strike. Of course when you live in the Big Apple, inspiration is waiting around every corner. The song, “Wait for It,” came to Lin-Manuel Miranda on the subway of all places. In an interview with the New Yorker, Miranda explained that he was on his way to a friend’s birthday party in Dumbo, Brooklyn when the tune came to him. He recorded the melody on his iPhone, made a cursory 15-minute appearance at the party, and the rest of the song came together while he was making his way back home. As if that’s not mind-blowing enough, Miranda wrote “You’ll Be Back” on his honeymoon in 2010. And the rest is – wait for it – history!
#3: There Are Nods to Alexander Hamilton’s Alleged Bisexuality
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While Alexander Hamilton was married to Elizabeth Schuyler and had eight children with her, there’s some speculation that he might’ve had a homosexual relationship with John Laurens, an American soldier. Historians base this theory on several letters Hamilton wrote to Laurens during the Revolutionary War. In one particular letter dated September 1779, Hamilton refers to himself as a “jealous lover.” Although historians continue to debate the nature of this relationship, Lin-Manuel Miranda believes that Hamilton was bisexual. He even included a few nods to Hamilton’s bisexuality in his musical. Sure, Hamilton had some VERY complicated relationships throughout his life, not the least of which with his sister-in-law Angelica. But from the moment Laurens and Hamilton meet in “My Shot,” it’s clear they like each other... a lot.
#2: There Are References to Other Rap Songs and Musicals
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It might’ve seemed like an odd combination, but Lin-Manuel Miranda proved that history and hip-hop do go hand in hand. “Hamilton” thus has numerous references to popular rap songs. For example, “My Shot” includes a tribute to The Notorious B.I.G.’s “Going Back to Cali” and Mobb Deep’s “Shook Ones Part II.” There are also allusions to Grandmaster Flash, DMX, and Jay-Z, just to name a few. In addition to rap, Miranda also pays homage to various Broadway musicals, including “The Last Five Years,” “The Pirates of Penzance,” and “South Pacific.” Miranda even snuck in a nod to both Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” AND Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” when a character says, “Screw your courage to the sticking place.” Honestly, there are so many Easter eggs in “Hamilton,” we can’t possibly list them all here.
#1: The Show Wasn’t Always Sung Through
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In the spirit of “Les Misérables” and “Rent,” “Hamilton” is almost entirely sung through. This wasn’t always the case, however. According to Grantland, Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote a version of Act 1 with songs and dialogue. However, he ultimately felt that it wouldn’t make sense to go back to speech following the show’s stellar opening number. As Miranda put it, “the ball is thrown too high in the air.” Thus, he decided to get any dialogue across through the language of rap. The only scene in the play that isn’t sung through is “Tomorrow There’ll Be More of Us,” which is one of the reasons why Miranda excluded it from the cast album.
So have you seen Broadway’s latest hit? What “Hamilton” fact do you find the most surprising? For more musical Top 10s and revolutionary Top 5s published every day, be sure to subscribe to MsMojo.
