# Hamilton (musical)

Hamilton is a 2015 biographical musical about the life and death of Alexander Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda. It received an official recorded version on streaming service Disney+ in 2020.

## Aaron Burr

* How does a bastard, orphan, son of a whore and a Scotsman, dropped in the middle of a forgotten spot in the Caribbean, by providence, impoverished, in squalor, grow up to be a hero and a scholar?
** Alexander Hamilton
* Two Virginians and an immigrant walk into a room, diametric'ly opposed foes. They emerge with a compromise, having opened doors that were previously closed, bros. The immigrant emerges with unprecedented financial power, a system he can shape however he wants. The Virginians emerge with the nation's capital. And here's the pièce de résistance: No one else was in the room where it happened, the room where it happened, the room where it happened...
** The Room Where It Happens
* When Alexander aimed at the sky, he may have been the first one to die, but I'm the one who paid for it. I survived, but I paid for it. Now I'm the villain in your history. I was too young and blind to see... I should've known the world was wide enough for both Hamilton and me.
** The World Was Wide Enough

## Alexander Hamilton

* There's a million things I haven't done, but just you wait!
** Alexander Hamilton
* I’m just like my country, I’m young, scrappy, and hungry, and I am not throwing away my shot!
** My Shot
* If we assume the debts, the union gets new line of credit, a financial diuretic. How do you not get it? If we're aggressive and competitive the union gets a boost. You'd rather give it a sedative? A civics lesson from a slaver. Hey neighbor, your debts are paid 'cause you don't pay for labor.
** Cabinet Battle #1
* America, you great unfinished symphony, you sent for me. You let me make a difference. A place where even orphan immigrants can leave their fingerprints and rise up.
** The World Was Wide Enough

## Eliza Hamilton

* You told the whole world how you brought this girl into our bed. In clearing your name, you have ruined our lives... I'm burning the memories, burning the letters that might have redeemed you... You forfeit the place in our bed. You sleep in your office instead, with only the memories of when you were mine. I hope that you burn.
** Burn
* The Lord, in His kindness, He gives me what you always wanted. He gives me more time... I speak out against slavery. You could have done so much more if you only had time... I establish the first private orphanage in New York City... I help to raise hundreds of children... In their eyes I see you, Alexander. I see you every time.
** Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story

## George Washington

* We are outgunned, outmanned, outnumbered, outplanned. We gotta make an all out stand. Ayo, I'm gonna need a right-hand man! Check it, can I be real a second? For just a millisecond? Let down my guard and tell the people how I feel a second? Now I'm the model of a modern major general, the venerated Virginian veteran whose men are all lining up, to put me up on a pedestal. Writin' letters to relatives, embellishin' my elegance and eloquence. But the elephant is in the room. The truth is in ya face when ya hear the British cannons go boom!

## Angelica Schuyler

* I know my sister like I know my own mind, you will never find anyone as trusting or as kind. If I tell her that I love him she'd be silently resigned, he'd be mine. She would say "I'm fine." She'd be lying. But when I fantasize at night, it's Alexander's eyes, as I romanticize what might have been if I hadn't sized him up so quickly.
** Satisfied

## Marquis de Lafayette

* Oui, oui, mon ami! Je m'appelle Lafayette! The Lancelot of the Revolutionary Set! I came from afar just to say bonsoir to the King, casse toi. Who's the best? C'est moi!
** Aaron Burr, Sir

## King George III

* Oceans rise, empires fall, we have seen each other through it all. And when push comes to shove, I will send a fully armed battalion to remind you of my love!
** You'll Be Back
* Insane! You cheat with the French, now I'm fighting with France and with Spain!
** What Comes Next?

## James Madison

* He took our country from bankruptcy to prosperity. I hate to admit it, but he doesn't get enough credit for all the credit he gave us.
** Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story

## Songs

    THE SCHUYLER SISTERS
    Burr: Excuse me, miss, I know it's not funny, but your perfume smells like your daddy's got money. Why you slummin' in the city in your fancy heels? You searchin for an urchin who can give you ideals?
    Angelica: Burr, you disgust me.
    Burr: Ah, so you've discussed me. I'm a trust fund, baby, you can trust me!
    Angelica: I've been reading Common Sense by Thomas Paine, so men say that I'm intense or I'm insane. You want a revolution? I want a revelation, so listen to my declaration.
    Angelica, Eliza, and Peggy: “We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal”...
    Angelica: And when I meet Thomas Jefferson, I'm ‘a compel him to include women in the sequel!
    Women: Work!
    THE ROOM WHERE IT HAPPENS
    Company: The art of the compromise—
    Burr: Hold you nose and close your eyes.
    Company: We want our leaders to save the day—
    Burr: But we don't get a say in what they trade away.
    Company: We dream of a brand new start—
    Burr: But we dream in the dark for the most part!
    Burr and company: Dark as a tomb where it happens.
    Burr: I've got to be in the room!
    WASHINGTON ON YOUR SIDE
    Madison: So he’s doubled the size of the government. Wasn’t the trouble with much of our previous government size?
    Burr: Look in his eyes!
    Jefferson: See how he lies.
    Madison: Follow the scent of his enterprise.
    Jefferson: Centralizing national credit and making American credit competitive.
    Madison: If we don’t stop it we aid and abet it
    Jefferson: I have to resign.
    Madison: Somebody has to stand up for the South!
    Burr: Somebody has to stand up to his mouth!
    Jefferson: If there’s a fire you’re trying to douse.
    Madison and Jefferson: You can’t put it out from inside the house
    Jefferson: I’m in the cabinet. I am complicit in watching him grabbin’ at power and kiss it. If Washington isn’t gon’ listen to disciplined dissidents, this is the difference: this kid is out!

## Quotes about Hamilton

* This is a story about America then, told by America now.
** Lin-Manuel Miranda, as quoted in "How Lin-Manuel Miranda Shapes History: Works of art have long informed how people understand the past, and Hamilton is no exception." The Atlantic. September 29, 2015.
* (Tell us your favorite TV, film or theater adaptation of a book.) Far and away it has to be Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “Hamilton,” inspired by the Ron Chernow biography, by far. It’s not just an adaptation. It’s a transformation. One of the most impressive creative feats I’ve ever witnessed.
** Trevor Noah interview (2016)
* [I]n the Hamilton that Lin-Manuel and his incredible cast and crew bring to life . . . we recognize the improbable story of America, and the spirit that has sustained our nation for over 240 years. And in this telling, rap is the language of revolution. Hip-hop is the backbeat. In each brilliantly crafted song . . . we hear the debates that are still shaping our nation. . . . [W]ith a cast as diverse as America itself, including the outstandingly talented women, the show reminds us that this nation . . . is an inheritance that belongs to all of us.
** US President Barack Obama, "Remarks by the President at 'Hamilton at the White House'" March 14, 2016. (Press release, Office of the White House Press Secretary). Obama White House archives.
* [On May 12, 2009 Miranda performed Alexander Hamilton - now the first song in the Hamilton musical - at the White House.] That night, Lin reintroduced people to the poor kid from the Caribbean who made the country rich and strong, an immigrant who came here to build a life for himself and ended up helping to build the nation. He is the prototype for millions of men and women who followed him, and continue to arrive today.
** Jeremy McCarter, from page 15 of the augmented Hamilton libretto, Hamilton: The Revolution (2016), by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jeremy McCarter. Grand Central Publishing. ISBN 9781455539741.

## Original Broadway Cast

* Lin-Manuel Miranda - Alexander Hamilton
* Phillipa Soo - Eliza Hamilton
* Leslie Odom Jr. - Aaron Burr
* Renée Elise Goldsberry - Angelica Schuyler
* Daveed Diggs - Marquis de Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson
* Christopher Jackson - George Washington
* Okieriete Onaodowan - Hercules Mulligan and James Madison
* Jasmine Cephas Jones - Peggy Schuyler and Maria Reynolds
* Anthony Ramos - John Laurens and Philip Hamilton
* Jonathan Groff - King George III

## External links

* Encyclopedic article on Hamilton (musical) on Wikipedia
* Media related to Hamilton (musical) on Wikimedia Commons