Hamilton

Alexander Hamilton arrives in New York as a penniless, ambitious immigrant from the Caribbean just as revolution is brewing in the American colonies. He quickly falls in with fellow revolutionaries John Laurens, Hercules Mulligan, and the Marquis de Lafayette, and catches the eye of General George Washington, who makes him a trusted aide during the Revolutionary War. Hamilton marries Eliza Schuyler, one of three accomplished sisters, while forming a lifelong rivalry with the more cautious Aaron Burr, a fellow lawyer and politician who watches Hamilton's rise with a mix of admiration and resentment. As the new United States takes shape, Hamilton's ambition and gift for words push him into the center of the fight over what kind of country America will become.

Hamilton has music, lyrics, and book by Lin-Manuel Miranda, based on Ron Chernow's biography of Alexander Hamilton. It opened off-Broadway in 2015 before transferring to Broadway later that year, where it won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and eleven Tony Awards, including best musical, and became one of the most celebrated musicals of its era.

"Alexander Hamilton" opens the show, laying out his backstory in a rapid-fire hip-hop number performed by the full company. "My Shot" establishes Hamilton's restless ambition early in Act One. "The Room Where It Happens" is Burr's showcase, a tense look at political dealmaking from the outside. The score mixes hip-hop, R&B, and traditional Broadway ballad writing, with recurring musical motifs that return as characters' fortunes change. Act One builds to a rousing finale as independence is won; Act Two turns more personal and political. It suits history buffs, fans of hip-hop and R&B, and anyone curious why a founding father inspired a modern musical phenomenon.