Lin-Manuel Miranda, the writer and composer of the Broadway musical Hamilton, simultaneously retells history and makes it in his revolutionary show, which premiered in 2015.

 

Hamilton tickets are the most expensive and hardest to get on Broadway right now. Miranda, who also stars in the show as founding father Alexander Hamilton, revolutionized musical theater when he turned the story of Alexander Hamilton’s life (which he read in Pulitzer-Prize winner Ron Chernow’s biography) and a very young USA into a hip hop musical, describing it as a “story about America then, told by America now.”

 

Founding fathers and famous soldiers are played by people of all ethnicities. And, unlike orthodox histories, Miranda doesn’t neglect the role of women. The rap, hip hop, and R&B music is contemporary and charged with energy. The musical infuses the story of America’s beginnings with today’s demographics and musical culture. Miranda is a genius.

 

I realized this summer, when I got to travel to New York and see Broadway productions of two musicals, that there is a poignancy in music and singing that cannot be communicated through any other artform. Hamilton is a stunning embodiment of that.

 

I haven’t seen the musical. I’ve only listened to the soundtrack on Spotify (a lot), but even without experiencing the entire work I still feel the full force of power behind it. I’ve laughed and cried over Hamilton because it is simply one of the best stories to be told in recent years. And it’s not just about the things everyone knows: the Battle of Yorktown, the Constitution, the Great Compromise—it’s a story about Alexander Hamilton’s rise to success, how he fell in love with his wife Eliza, how his friend Aaron Burr became his enemy, how he was inspired by the people around him.

 

It deserves the attention it’s getting. Through music, these lifeless historic figures come to life, and I got to know them and fall in love with them as multifaceted, flawed beings, who had their hearts and their spirits broken. They founded the nation upon their dreams of a brighter world.

 

The first time I listened to the soundtrack of Hamilton, I was on an overnight flight trying to find a somewhat comfortable position to sleep in. I’d heard so much hype that I decided to listen to it at least once, since I had the time to spare. I didn’t know what I was getting into. But, dang, this musical.

 

It’s rare for me to love every single song on any album, but Hamilton is different. The music is tailored perfectly for every moment, electrified with the adrenaline of revolutionary battles, full of determination, ambition, love, pain, grief, and passion. It’s so easy to jam and rock out to the music, but some songs are tear-wrenching (seriously, they make Adele seem like NSYNC).

 

Each actor delivers an amazing performance that allows the audience to really know their character.

 

Miranda plays Hamilton perfectly: an orphan with monumental dreams who works hard for everything, but becomes distracted by the idea of his legacy and makes some fatal mistakes. Leslie Odom Jr., who plays Aaron Burr, portrays someone who is not truly the villain history makes him out to be, but a man full of ambition and patience who is simply poisoned by envy. (He also has the voice of an angel.)

 

Angelica and Eliza Schuyler, respectively played by Renée Elise Goldsberry and Phillipa Soo (who is a killer beat-boxer), both love Hamilton, and, because Eliza marries him, we never see Angelica’s heart mended by her inability to be with him. Eliza is a strong character who beautifully communicates her heartbreak when Alexander Hamilton cheats on her with Maria Reynolds (Jasmine Cephas Jones) and when she loses her son and husband, both in duels.

 

Daveed Diggs is hilarious and smooth as both Marquis de Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson. George Washington (Christopher Jackson) is eloquent and morally grounded. King George is played by Jonathan Groff, who you may know as the voice of Kristoff in Disney’s Frozen, and is possibly the most loveable antagonist ever.

 

So even if it’s nearly impossible to get a seat in Richard Rodgers Theatre and to see the original cast perform, the soundtrack is amazing in itself. Even if you aren’t a fan of musicals or of history, this album is worth listening to. Give it a shot.

 

And believe me, you can never fully appreciate cabinet meetings until you hear them as rap battles.