On October 21, the Hamilton documentary, Hamilton鈥檚 America, premiered on PBS as part of the network鈥檚 Great Performances series.
It might be the biggest debut since the opening night of its subject. The documentary is as much a retrospective of the original company of actors who created Hamilton鈥檚 characters as it is a deeper dive into Alexander Hamilton鈥檚 life鈥攗sing the actors鈥� historical discovery process as a device to teach America even more about the ten-dollar Founding Father.
For those who have yet to see the musical live and onstage, this documentary allows the most glimpses of the actual production to date, including snippets of the songs 鈥淎lexander Hamilton,鈥� 鈥淢y Shot,鈥� 鈥淵ou鈥檒l Be Back,鈥� 鈥淩ight Hand Man,鈥� 鈥淭he Schuyler Sisters,鈥� 鈥淵orktown,鈥� 鈥淲ait for It,鈥� 鈥淲hat鈥檇 I Miss,鈥� 鈥淐abinet Battle,鈥� 鈥淏urn,鈥� 鈥淓lection of 1800,鈥� 鈥淲ho Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story.鈥�
While Hamilton is being used as a teaching device and reawakening the United States to its own beginnings, here are 21 things Hamilton鈥檚 America taught us about Lin-Manuel Miranda鈥檚 creative process, the artists who made Hamilton and the man who inspired it all:
1. 鈥淚鈥檓 just playing my dad.鈥�
From the very start of the writing process, Miranda has felt that Alexander Hamilton is very much like his father, Luis. A man who left Puerto Rico for New York at age 18, Miranda draws on his father as inspiration when writing and portraying Hamilton. 鈥淚 knew that it would be fantastic. I didn't realize it would change his life,鈥�
2. Green is Hamilton鈥檚 color for a reason.
Tony Award-winning costume designer Paul Tazewell dressed Hamilton in green per Miranda鈥檚 request, as . Now, we might know why. That walls of Hamilton鈥檚 study at Hamilton Grange were green. It was 鈥渉is color.鈥�
3. Writing Hamilton started slowly. Very slowly.
Though it might seem Miranda writes non-stop, at a pace similar to Hamilton, he didn鈥檛 start out that way. In the first two years of working on what would become Hamilton, Miranda wrote two songs. That鈥檚 right鈥攐ne per year.
4. Comparing Miranda to Shakespeare might not be so ludicrous.
Oskar Eustis, the artistic director of New York鈥檚 Public Theater (the Off-Broadway birthplace of Hamilton), calls Miranda the Shakespeare of our time鈥攁nd not hyperbolically. 鈥淟in in Hamilton is doing what Shakespeare did with his history plays,鈥� he said. 鈥淗e is bringing out what is noble about the common tongue鈥�.鈥�
5. Miranda wrote pieces of Hamilton in Burr鈥檚 bedroom.
While Miranda visited Hamilton Grange and sat at Hamilton鈥檚 desk, he never wrote where Alexander did. However, he did write in Burr鈥檚 bedroom. One scene in the documentary shows Miranda writing 鈥淢y Shot鈥� in an armchair beside Burr鈥檚 four-poster bed. Oh, and the cover of his laptop is the image of a typewriter鈥攁lways a nod to history.
6. Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman gave Miranda advice on writing Hamilton.
One of the most exciting things to learn is that Miranda consulted with his idols鈥攎usical theatre greats, like Sondheim and Weidman, and rap titans, like Nas. Weidman, who wrote Assassins with Sondheim, gave Miranda invaluable advice. As Miranda was 鈥渄rowning鈥� in research and text writing his masterpiece, Weidman told him, 鈥渏ust write the parts you think are a musical,鈥� giving him permission for the artistic freedom he needed.
7. Cabinet meetings are Miranda鈥檚 favorite part of the process.
And not the battles you see onstage. Miranda calls his creative team his cabinet: director Thomas Kail, music director/orchestrator/conductor Alex Lacamoire and choreographer Andy Blankenbuehler. Fun fact: Kail was actually an American history major.
8. Hamilton鈥檚 desire to fight was very real.
Throughout the documentary, historians filled in more of the gaps about the first Secretary of Treasury鈥檚 life. Apparently, Hamilton had proved himself as a warrior, and so his frustration at being promoted to General Washington鈥檚 Chief of Staff, rather than to leading his own battalion, was a result of untapped skill鈥攏ot simply the result of being an antsy young man.
9. The cast visited multiple historic landmarks in their research.
Throughout the development of the musical, members of the company of Hamilton visited sites of significance. Anthony Ramos, Daveed Diggs, Christopher Jackson, and Okieriete Onaodowan visited Valley Forge, which gave Onaodowan a perspective of the scope of the battlefield he鈥檇 envision as they 鈥渁ttack, retreat, attack, retreat鈥� onstage at the Richard Rodgers each night.
Miranda and Tony winner Leslie Odom, Jr. (the original Aaron Burr), visited Maiden Lane鈥攁.k.a. 鈥渢he room where it happens.鈥�
Tony nominee Christopher Jackson (the original George Washington) visited Mount Vernon to gain perspective on his character. Miranda visited the Morris-Jumel Mansion, where the 鈥淐abinet Battle鈥� took place.
10. The company had one week to learn the full score.
This isn鈥檛 highly unusual, but seven months before opening night, Miranda is seen coming home from the first day of rehearsal to a two-week-old son, an apartment in need of unpacking, and a fridge stocked only with gin, tonic water, and ketchup. 鈥淵orktown,鈥� was the second song the company learned musically, and they had one week to learn all the songs in the show 鈥渋ncluding the ones that aren鈥檛 written yet,鈥� said Miranda.
11. Miranda rapped original verses on opening night.
It鈥檚 not an official occasion unless Miranda freestyles.
Six years of labor these are the fruits
I鈥檓 onstage with the mother-f***ing Roots
This is the afterparty
So we鈥檙e cracking...
This party鈥檚 gonna go until half past 7
I swear to God I died and went to Heaven
It鈥檚 The Roots
Photos from Opening Night of Hamilton:
12. Not all rap is created equal.
As Tony winner Daveed Diggs (the original Lafayette/Jefferson) explains, Miranda composed different styles within rap for each character. Washington sounded very metronomic, because his brain worked methodically. Lafayette starts out sounding like 鈥�80s rap and then turns to double and triple time as America鈥檚 favorite fighting Frenchman breaks the language barrier.
13. Miranda listened to two songs on loop while writing Hamilton.
As Miranda tells Nas, 鈥淚 listened to 鈥楾akeover鈥� [recorded by Jay-Z as a diss track to Nas] and 鈥楨ther鈥� [Nas鈥� response to 鈥楾akeover鈥橾 on loop.鈥� Miranda鈥檚 score isn鈥檛 just influenced by the Sondheims of the world, it also incorporates elements from Mobb Deep, Biggie, and Nas.
14. Miranda thinks of Thomas Jefferson as Bugs Bunny.
Washington鈥檚 cabinet consisted of four members: Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State; Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of Treasury; Henry Knox, Secretary of War; and Edmund Randolph, Attorney General. Miranda thought of Jefferson as the 鈥渋ndefatigable winner,鈥� much like the boastful Bugs Bunny.
15. Jefferson鈥檚 solo is jazzy for more than one reason.
Aside from wanting to show Jefferson鈥檚 swag in the jazzy Act II opener 鈥淲hat鈥檇 I Miss,鈥� Miranda also chose the musical genre to show how out of touch Jefferson had become while off in France.
16. Hamilton invented more than the Federal Bank.
Turns out, Hamilton created a lot of firsts: the first Coast Guard, the first customs service, tax systems, first monetary policy, first budget systems, and the first central bank.
17. The strength of Hamilton lies in the flaws of its characters.
Miranda and Hamilton director Thomas Kail echo each other when they discuss that their goal was to present whole people, flaws bared. The first flaw that came to cast member Jackson鈥檚 mind when visiting Washinton鈥檚 home, Mount Vernon, was the question of slavery. Washington owned slaves. Jackson admits, he will 鈥渘ever make peace with it.鈥� 鈥淣othing in my portrayal suggests we forgive any of that,鈥� he continued. Diggs argues that audiences shouldn鈥檛 separate the good from the bad. Jefferson can be brilliant, a man who wrote that all men are created equal, 鈥渁nd he sucks,鈥� laughed Diggs. 鈥淏oth are true.鈥�
18. Eliza Hamilton did burn much of her correspondence with her husband.
When Tony nominee Phillipa Soo sings 鈥淏urn,鈥� and lights her letter on fire, it鈥檚 not just a dramatic symbol. The spurned wife of Alexander Hamilton destroyed much of their correspondence after news of his affair broke.
19. Miranda can鈥檛 help but rap, even when reading Hamilton鈥檚 words.
During a visit to the Museum of American Finance, Miranda and Odom, Jr. read letters of correspondence between Hamilton and Burr鈥攖he letters that contributed to the duel that killed Hamilton. As Miranda reads Hamilton鈥檚 words in the film, he can鈥檛 help but slip into the rhythmic speech of his character.
20. Miranda is terrified of one thing.
At the end of the documentary, Miranda confessed that he ponders one question over and over: How much time do we get on this earth? He is terrified of this idea that tomorrow is not promised, but we make plans anyway. In fact, Miranda told us, Hamilton had a lunch planned the day of his duel with Burr.
21. Miranda truly never expected this.
While the Tony-winning creator says he expected Hamilton to change his life, he never expected the show to change the legacy of the lesser known Founding Father. Miranda keeps 鈥渨aiting for life to get back to normal.鈥� More likely, he should get used to this new normal鈥攐ne where his piano still needs tuning.
Watch the full documentary here:
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