“I was knocked out – I thought it was wonderful,” Sondheim told The New Yorker of hearing some early songs. (Miranda and Jackson are core members of the rap/comedy group Freestyle Love Supreme.)Īnd he has a secret weapon: musical theater legend Stephen Sondheim, an acquaintance. There are his “teammates,” as he calls them, including director Thomas Kail, scenic designer David Korins and cast members Diggs, Christopher Jackson and Leslie Odom Jr. “There’s lots of moments … where I’m holding a sword and shooting a gun and it’s 7-year-old Lin wish fulfillment,” he told “The New Yorker Radio Hour.”īut he’s the first to say it’s not just him. Miranda is not only the composer and star: He’s been “Hamilton’s” best ambassador, relentlessly doing interviews, maintaining an entertaining Twitter account and enthusiastically celebrating his work. “It’s got a real vision of America and it takes our history very seriously,” said New Yorker editor David Remnick on “The New Yorker Radio Hour.” Miranda enlisted Chernow, who wrote the biography, as an adviser and read voraciously – other books about the founding fathers, biographies of Aaron Burr, Hamilton’s writings. … The beefs between Hamilton and Jefferson are the beefs we’re always going to have.” “The fact that you could take the rap battles of our show, put them in the mouths of different talking heads and put them on MSNBC tomorrow and they’d be just as relevant, gives me hope,” he told “The New Yorker Radio Hour.” “It’s heartening to me to know that this was never a perfect union. internationalism are as current as this year’s presidential campaign. small government, of the value of immigrants, of isolationism vs. “Hamilton” may be set in the 18th century, but it’s just as relatable to today, Miranda says. I am.’ And then, you know, he took a bunch of selfies, and we talked for a little while.” “I was like, ‘That’s the first time anyone’s ever said that to me, but yeah. ‘Oh my God, you’re Thomas Jefferson!’” Diggs said with a laugh. I’m running past him, and he dropped his stuff on the ground. “This, like, 17-year-old kid is crossing the street. Daveed Diggs, who plays Thomas Jefferson, told GQ he was recognized by a teenager – in the Bronx. “Hamilton” is no slacker there, either: Its songs were streamed 16 million times that first week, and the album – which is more than two hours long – was still in iTunes’ top 25 as of February 10.īut perhaps the real indicator is recognition. Selling CDs is fine, but the coin of the realm these days is downloads and streams. It’s still on the charts more than four months later. 12 and selling more than 50,000 copies its first week.

The “Hamilton” cast album had the highest debut for any Broadway cast album since 1963, hitting No. It’s not just New York’s theater patrons who have embraced the show. “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.” “‘Hamilton’ is making its own resonant history by changing the language of musicals,” wrote The New York Times’ Ben Brantley in his rave review. He’s a master of both intricate rhyme and hummable melody. (The classic term refers to streetlights, incidentally.)īut Miranda, who dazzled with the salsa- and hip-hop-infused “In the Heights,” has created a show steeped in both urban sound and urbanity. So a show that brashly features rap battles, shoutouts to Biggie Smalls and Eminem, and a cast of color might not be the easiest sell for the, ahem, Great White Way. It’s taken decades for rock ‘n’ roll to make an impact, never mind other genres. What makes the show so special? Here are five reasons:īroadway is usually slow to follow musical trends. “We’re going to do the opening number, scream with joy, and then celebrate the fact that we were just on the Grammys. Much of America will get its first look at “Hamilton” on Monday’s Grammy Awards, and Miranda couldn’t be more thrilled. Good luck getting a seat: The show is sold out until the fall.

The musical was widely anticipated before its off-Broadway debut in January 2015, followed by a move to Broadway in August.

Hamilton broadway debut