The real life of one of America's foremost founding fathers and first Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton. "Hamilton" is the story of America then, told by America now. Featuring a score that blends hip-hop, jazz, R&B, and show tunes, "Hamilton" has taken the story of American founding father Alexander Hamilton and created a revolutionary moment in theater--a musical that has had a profound impact on culture, politics, and education.
It is hard to overstate Hamilton's cultural impact. It set a Broadway box office record for the most money grossed in a single week in New York City in late November 2016, taking $3.3 million. To date, it has won 11 Tony Awards, a Grammy and the Pulitzer Prize for drama. The first New York Times review said “I am loath to tell people to mortgage their houses and lease their children to acquire tickets to a hit Broadway show. But...” According to Forbes, the show has earned more than $1 billion so far.
Lin-Manuel Miranda is a New Yorker of Puerto Rican descent who has won a Pulitzer Prize, three Tony Awards, three Grammys, two Oliviers and an Emmy. He was even nominated for an Oscar in 2016, for Best Original Song in Moana. Miranda created Hamilton after becoming enthralled with Ron Chernow’s biography of the Founding Father on holiday, and proceeded to write songs for an album called The Hamilton Mixtape. It’s a sign of his audacity that he performed the first of these early works at the White House in 2009, despite being invited to perform hits from his previous musical, In The Heights. But it paid off: the song paved the way for the musical's opener, Alexander Hamilton.Miranda also wrote the book of the musical and cast himself as the title character.
In the last few years, he has worked on the music for two Star Wars films and appeared in Mary Poppins Returns and the BBC's adaptation of His Dark Materials. A film adaptation of In The Heights, directed by Jon M. Chu, is in the pipeline for next summer. He's also working on a Disney animation set in Columbia.
