Hamilton: The Revolution

When Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton: An American Musical opened on Broadway in 2015, it was already on its way to becoming an unprecedented international phenomenon. In Hamilton: The Revolution, published in 2016, Miranda and drama critic Jeremy McCarter document the musical's creation, from Miranda’s performance of the opening number at a benefit event at the Obama White House to a mobbed opening night in the 1300-seat Richard Rodgers Theatre. The book interjects stories and profiles from the show’s journey between the printing of the libretto, or the script of the musical, along with photos and documentation from both the production process and the historical archive. Throughout the libretto, Miranda provides notations that shed light into his creative impetus behind the writing, his thoughts and perspectives, and the historical basis for his decisions. One reason that Hamilton was ground-breaking was Miranda’s use of hip-hop as the score’s musical language.

Musical theater has always absorbed popular music and stylistic idioms from popular musical genres, adapting these styles into dramatic narrative. Miranda wrote Hamilton during a moment when critics and theatermakers were debating whether rap had dramatic potential at all after the failure of Holler If Ya Hear Me on Broadway in 2014, a jukebox musical that used the songs of Tupac Shakur. Miranda uses a cast of BIPOC actors to represent the historical story of the American revolution and the “founding fathers” (and mothers) who formulated the country’s original government, originating the title role himself. He has frequently described the musical as “America then told by America now,” emphasizing the unsung significance of BIPOC and immigrants in the labor of building the country. During its Off-Broadway run with the Public Theater in 2015, Hamilton won eight Drama Desk Awards. Billboard named the cast recording the Best Rap Album in 2015. After transferring to Broadway, the show broke the record with 16 Tony Award nominations (2016) and 11 wins, including Best Musical. Hamilton also received the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The musical has toured the country and opened all over the world. A filmed version of the Original Broadway production was released in 2022.

Plot Summary

The essays in Hamilton: The Revolution follow the show’s creation. Miranda first performed the opening song “Alexander Hamilton” at the Obama White House in 2009. It was meant to be a part of a future project—possibly a concept album—called The Hamilton Mixtape. Miranda had been inspired by a biography of Hamilton written by Ron Chernow. After performing another song during a show with an improv rap group, Miranda started collecting supporters and future artistic team members who urged him to finish writing and turn it into a musical. A work-in-progress performance at Lincoln Center became a workshopped production with the Public Theater that opened Off-Broadway in 2015. The show received incredible critical acclaim and awards, the attention of celebrities and politicians, and opened on Broadway to ecstatic audiences in 2016. Throughout the essays, McCarter profiles actors and designers who joined the process along the way, discussing the evolution of a piece of theater that became a revolutionary event.

Hamilton is about the life and career of Alexander Hamilton, who immigrated from the Caribbean as a teenaged orphan, funded by people who were impressed with his writing. He attends King’s College in New York, befriending three future revolutionaries, Marquis de Lafayette, John Laurens, and Hercules Mulligan. Hamilton tries to befriend Aaron Burr and ask his advice, as he managed to speed through school in two years, but he and Burr end up rivals. With the start of the American Revolution, Hamilton rises and is named General George Washington’s aide-de-camp (for which Burr was passed up). He meets the Schuyler sisters, Eliza, Angelica, and Peggy, at a ball thrown by their wealthy father, and flirts with Angelica first before falling in love with and marrying Eliza. Eliza becomes pregnant, and Hamilton finally has a chance to distinguish himself on the battlefield. After the war is won, both Hamilton and Burr welcome their first children to the world. Hamilton learns that his closest friend Laurens, who was fighting in South Carolina and rallying against slavery, has been killed. Hamilton and Burr both become lawyers, and then Hamilton decides to throw himself into politics and the defense of the US Constitution. Angelica gets married and moves to London. Washington becomes president and chooses Hamilton to become his Secretary of the Treasury.

In Act II, Thomas Jefferson returns from France with an offer waiting to become Washington’s Secretary of State. Jefferson and Hamilton debate in a cabinet rap battle, and Hamilton’s career depends on pushing his financial plan through. Eliza and Angelica take Philip to spend the summer with their father, but Hamilton stays to work. He has an affair with Maria Reynolds, whose husband then blackmails him. Hamilton finally gets his financial plan approved through a private meeting with Jefferson and James Madison in which he concedes the state capital to Virginia. Burr is jealous of Hamilton’s political power, so he switches political parties to beat Philip Schuyler in a race for his senate seat. Jefferson, Madison, and Burr start looking for information that will destroy Hamilton’s reputation. Washington decides to retire, and John Adams becomes the next president. Adams and Hamilton hate each other, so Adams fires him. Jefferson, Madison, and Burr approach Hamilton with what they believe is evidence of embezzlement, but Hamilton reveals that they’ve only found that he had an affair and is being blackmailed. Not trusting that they won’t go public, Hamilton publishes a pamphlet detailing the affair. Hurt and humiliated, Eliza burns Hamilton’s letters to her. Their son, now 19, gets angry when someone insults his father and is then killed in a duel. Heartbroken, Eliza and Hamilton reunite. Meanwhile, Hamilton is asked to settle a tie for the presidential race between Burr and Jefferson. Hamilton chooses Jefferson, which reignites his conflict with Burr. Burr challenges him to a duel, and Hamilton is killed. Eliza works to carry on his legacy.