A couple of years ago, I taught a Masterclass to my high school students in the Music in Our Homeschool Plus membership called: How and Why Hamilton the Musical Became a Sensation. As we're nearing the 10-year anniversary of Hamilton winning 11 Tony awards, I decided to share with everyone today why Hamilton the Musical is so powerful! Enjoy! (I'd like to give credit to all who did research on this topic before me; there is an extensive list of works cited at the end of this post.)
When I First Learned About Hamilton
The year was 2016. Our oldest son came to us with a proposal. Would we take him to New York City to see Les Misérables on Broadway, since it was in its final months of being there? Ben had been involved in musical theater for many years at this point, including playing a student in Les Mis in a community theater in our area.
So we decided to take him. As I was planning the itinerary, I told him we could see a second show as well and gave him the list of musicals playing that June weekend in 2016. He chose Jersey Boys. We stayed in a hotel in Times Square, and every time we walked out the front door to head to eat, sightsee, shop, or see a show, I noticed that people were lined up against the building next door.
They had their sleeping bags, pillows, laptops, and snacks, and were just sitting there in line at an unmarked door. After seeing this for a couple of days, we walked around the building and figured out what they were doing. That was the backstage door for Hamilton. They were sitting there, waiting for the actors to show up every evening for the performance, maybe to get their autographs or a photo, or just to see them walk in.
So I asked Michael and Ben, “Do you want to see Hamilton?” We had some free time, so I hopped online to see if any tickets were available. There were some for sale, but they cost $2,000 each. Uh, no, we weren't going to do that. But that was the first time I realized that the show Hamilton was something special.
What I Thought When I Saw Hamilton Myself
There was something innovative and fresh about it that hadn't been seen before. Later that year in the fall of 2016, a different cast production of Hamilton opened up in Chicago near where I live. Over the past three and a half years, we kept hearing it was about to close, but it would be extended again.
Finally, in January 2020, it was definitely closing its run in Chicago, so I decided to go see it on my birthday, a couple of days before it closed. It was one of the most powerful, moving experiences I've ever had, and since then, I've been trying to figure out what made Hamilton so powerful and moving. And, I have since seen it 3 more times live on stage.
What was it That Made Hamilton So Moving?
I have performed in, seen, and directed many musicals in my lifetime. I've memorized, analyzed, and dug deep into many of them, but Hamilton was different. What was it?
Hamilton was written by Lin-Manuel Miranda and became an instant hit in 2015 at the Off-Broadway theater The Public. Then it moved to Broadway later in 2015 and ran until it was suspended due to COVID-19 in March of 2020.
Hamilton would go on to win 11 Tony Awards, a Grammy Award, and a Pulitzer Prize in 2016. Why? So today, I'll attempt to explain it. I know I'll fall short. After I'm done, I want to hear from you. Do you see something that I missed? Here are nine things I believe help explain how and why Hamilton became a sensation.
1. The Biography of Alexander Hamilton
First, it tells the story of Alexander Hamilton's life. After seeing the musical live in January 2020, I began listening to Ron Chernow's 700-page biography of Alexander Hamilton. That's 35 hours' worth. I'm not finished with it yet, but even more than is described in the musical, the full life story of Alexander Hamilton is fascinating.
You can't help but be inspired by this boy who grew up in such horrible circumstances, surrounded by immorality, even of his parents and other relatives, sickness, poverty, slavery, brutality, suicide, and death. I had no idea a founder of this great nation had such a rough start in life. If anyone could say he was a victim of his circumstances and there was nothing he could do to rise above it, it was Alexander Hamilton, but he didn't fall into despair.
Instead, he worked hard to study on his own with whatever books he could find to expand his mind and his writing, and it was actually his writing that led him to leave his birthplace in the West Indies and head to the great opportunities of America to further his studies. When a hurricane struck his island when he was 17, he wrote a letter describing the experience.
It was the poignancy of that letter that led it to be published in the newspaper, and then for a collection to be raised to send Hamilton to New York to go to school. It's almost amazing that he was barely 17 or 18 and practically unschooled when he wrote this. Here are some excerpts from that letter.
The Letter That Got Hamilton to America
“Honored sir, I take up my pen just to give you an imperfect account of one of the most dreadful hurricanes that memory or any records whatever can trace, which happened here on the 31st ultimo at night. It began about dusk at north and raged very violently till 10:00 o'clock. Then ensued a sudden and unexpected interval which lasted about an hour.
Meanwhile, the wind was shifting round to the southwest point, from whence it returned with redoubled fury, and continued so till near 3:00 o'clock in the morning. Good God, what horror and destruction. It's impossible for me to describe or you to form any idea of it. It seemed as if a total dissolution of nature was taking place.
The roaring of the sea and wind, fiery meteors flying about in the air, the prodigious glare of almost perpetual lightning, the crash of the falling houses, and the ear-piercing shrieks of the distressed were sufficient to strike astonishment into angels. A great part of the buildings throughout the island are leveled to the ground, almost all the rest very much shattered.
Several persons killed and numbers utterly ruined. Whole families running about the streets, unknowing where to find a place of shelter. The sick exposed to the keenness of water and air without a bed to lie upon or a dry covering to their bodies, and our harbors entirely bare. In a word, misery in all its hideous shapes spread over the whole face of the country.
A strong smell of gunpowder added somewhat to the terrors of the night, and it was observed that the rain was surprisingly salt. Indeed, the water is so brackish and full of sulfur that there is hardly any drinking it. My reflections and feelings on this frightful and melancholy occasion are set forth in the following self-discourse: “Where now, O vile worm, is thy boasted fortitude and resolution?
What is become of thine arrogance and self-sufficiency? Why dost thou tremble and stand aghast? How humble, how helpless, how contemptible you now appear. And for why? The jarring of elements, the discord of clouds? O impotent, presumptuous fool, how durst thou offend that Omnipotence, whose nod alone were sufficient to quell the destruction that hovers over thee, or crush thee into atoms?
See thy wretched, helpless state and learn to know thyself. Learn to know thy best support, despise thyself and adore thy God. How sweet, how unutterably sweet were now the voice of an approving conscience. Then couldst thou say, ‘Hence, ye idle alarms.' Why do I shrink? What have I to fear? A pleasing, calm suspense, a short repose from calamity to end in eternal bliss.
Let heaven, let earth rend. Let the planets forsake their course. Let the sun be extinguished and the heavens burst asunder. Yet what have I to dread? My staff can never be broken. In Omnipotence I trusted. He who gave the winds to blow and the lightnings to rage, even Him have I always loved and served.
His precepts have I observed, His commandments have I obeyed, and His perfections have I adored. He will snatch me from ruin. He will exalt me to the fellowship of angels and seraphs and to the fullness of never-ending joys.”
Hamilton's Incredible Background
As a poor immigrant in America without family connections or money, and starting his college studies relatively late compared to the other Founding Fathers, Hamilton already faced barriers, but he overcame them through perseverance and hard work.
Lin-Manuel Miranda read Chernow's book while on vacation in 2008, and he had the genius idea to turn this story into a musical. He said he was actually surprised that no one had ever done it before. Not only that, but Miranda found a way to tell Hamilton's life in a fresh, meaningful, inspirational, and exciting way.
The opening song provides the background of Alexander's childhood in the West Indies and sets us up to see how he would invent himself as an American and, at the same time, help invent America itself.
2. The Use of Hip-Hop and Rap in the Musical
So the second way Hamilton, the musical, is powerful is that Miranda chose to use hip-hop and rap as one of its main musical genres.
It had rarely been done before, and with little success when it had been. So why did Miranda decide to use hip hop and rap as one of the main musical genres of Hamilton? Well, there are three reasons, I think. One, we know that Alexander Hamilton wrote so much during his lifetime. Why do you write like you're running out of time?
We have a plethora of Hamilton's writings that have survived to this day. Essays, such as the 51 essays he wrote for The Federalist Papers, poems, letters, and speeches. In Hamilton, you have up to 10 times more words than in most traditional musicals. Miranda said that Alexander Hamilton left behind more words in his writing than any other founding father, so you need hip-hop and rap, because that style has more words per measure than any other genre of music.
Rap allowed us to hear more of Hamilton's words because Miranda could fit more of them into a shorter timeframe with that style. He said it actually took him a whole year to write the song “My Shot,” because every syllable is filled. The rhyming is intricate and strung together like a thick rope that became Hamilton's voice.
Hip hop and rap are musical genres of high intensity and excitement. It permeates and gives incredible energy to the musical and to the audience watching it. And yet, Miranda knew he needed to balance that style with other fun styles, such as jazz, pop, R&B, and the beautiful standard musical-theater lyrical songs he also included in Hamilton.
Miranda wrote hip-hop and rap into the musical because he wrote Hamilton for himself to star in. He is of Puerto Rican descent and said there weren't enough roles for him to play in on Broadway, especially since he isn't really a dancer, and that would be needed for West Side Story. So first, he wrote In the Heights, and then Hamilton, where the lead sings and raps as he does.
3. The Use of Non-White Actors to Play White Historical Figures
The third powerful element was the use of non-white actors to play white historical figures in Hamilton. The fact that Miranda gave non-white actors the opportunity to play white historical figures is, again, because he himself didn't have many opportunities to play roles in Broadway musicals. If you've seen the show, you know that it doesn't take you very long to be able to get into the fictional dream of the story, and it never bothers you at all that the actors playing these famous figures, such as George Washington, don't look like them, or that the sisters aren't even the same ethnicities as each other.
I think this concept is much more commonly used in community and school theater programs because we typically have a smaller pool of actors to choose from. For example, I've been involved with many shows where certain white characters, such as Fantine from Les Misérables or Mrs. Hannigan from Annie, were played by excellent black actresses. So it's wonderful that Broadway will now be thinking this way as well.
I do want to mention that I hope the industry is careful not to swing the pendulum too far and say that we can have non-white actors play white parts, but will not allow white actors to play non-white parts. I've already seen some theater groups say that they will be doing this, and it saddens me deeply. All people should have the opportunity to play a part in a show without their skin color being the reason why they don't get a part.
4. Realizing That Early American History is Actually Fascinating
Fourth, the history embedded in the musical Hamilton is another element that has contributed to its power and its status as a sensation.
I know that the reason many people have found Hamilton so powerful is this history. My eighth- grade history teacher was named Mr. Hamilton, and he taught us American history. Mr. Hamilton loved Alexander Hamilton and talked about him all the time. I'm not sure if he was actually related to him, but he respected him in a way most people never did, simply because they didn't know much about him.
“Every other Founding Father's story gets told. Every other Founding Father gets to grow old.”
Now, after listening to the soundtrack and/or seeing the performance, students and adults around the world are studying more about the founding of our nation, the Revolutionary War, the writing of the U.S. Constitution, and the early presidential struggles.
This show has helped young people better understand the early history of America. We also see in the story of Hamilton, even in King George's songs, that there was no guarantee that the United States would make it. It has encouraged further study, such as reading Hamilton's writings or his biography. I know this would make Eliza happy.
Mr. Hamilton probably didn't get to because he would've been in his 80s, but I sure hope that inspirational history teacher of mine got to go see Hamilton on Broadway before he died.
5. Miranda's Clever Musical and Compositional Techniques
Fifth, I am absolutely convinced that another thing that makes Hamilton powerful is the clever musical techniques that Miranda employed when writing it.
We've already mentioned that Miranda made Alexander Hamilton's voice full of rap because Hamilton was such a prodigious writer. Well, Miranda said that he gave Thomas Jefferson the style of jazz for his voice because Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson was a pre-running Founding Father to Alexander Hamilton, just like jazz came before hip hop and rap and influenced it.
George Washington, likewise, has a musical quality to his voice that sounds more like the regimented military leader he was.
Hamilton's Motifs
Miranda, just like Richard Wagner in his operas and John Williams in his film music, like Star Wars, used musical themes and motifs to represent different characters. These include chord progressions, you can see the videos that I will post below this that explain more about that, as well as melodic themes for the characters.
Alexander Hamilton, and Angelica, and Eliza. There are some other musical themes and motifs that permeate the musical. The fanfare that precedes Burr, bum ba da da dum dum da, whenever he's going to do some narrating. The sad Eliza theme on the piano. You hear this when she asks Alexander to join her at the lake house, but he stays back and has an affair instead, and when she mourns Philip's death, [00:18:00] and the night before her husband dies when she asks him to come back to bed, but he stays up to write more instead.
The line, “Why do you write like you're running out of time?” is said in many of the songs. The words relating to throwing away my shot are used in various ways to display both ambition and more literally of choosing not to shoot to kill an opponent in a duel. The musical theme of, “Look around, look around, how lucky we are to be alive right now” traces through the arc of Alexander's and Eliza's relationship and is used in many of the songs that they sing to each other. Helpless is another theme that comes back in various times during the show, not only by Eliza, but also by Alexander and Maria.
Where the Motifs Stop
One fascinating aspect is that the lyrical, melodic, and verbal themes and motifs go throughout the entire musical, except for King George's three songs. They are completely isolated and have no themes or motifs from anything else we hear in the show. His music does reference the music of The Beatles and other bands from the British Invasion, though. And you'll notice that his songs use only end rhymes, not the internal rhymes we find in other hip-hop and rap songs.
The Descending Bass Chord Progression to Make Us Cry
Miranda purposely reintroduced themes to make the story more meaningful or deep, or, to put it another way, to make us cry. He studied Les Misérables to learn techniques for the reintroduction of themes. Furthermore, Les Misérables used something called a descending bass chord progression in its heart-wrenching songs “Who Am I,” “I Dreamed a Dream,” “One Day More,” and “Come to Me,” the song that Fantine sings as she, and later as Valjean, is dying.
A descending bass line progression is used throughout the musical Hamilton as well, because it has actually been identified as the saddest chord progression ever. The descending bass line has been used in sad songs throughout music history, such as Monteverdi's Lamenta d'Arianna way back in the Renaissance time, Ray Charles' “Hit the Road Jack,” Bach's Mass in B Minor piece ” Crucifixus” for Jesus's death, Chopin's Prelude in E Minor, which was played at his funeral, the sad theme from the movie Up, and Adele's song “Someone Like You.”
References to Other Songs, Musicals, and Operas in Hamilton
Let me mention two more things that make Hamilton interesting in regard to its musical genius.
There are numerous references to other songs, musicals, and even operas. In my research, people have found references to the song “Sit Down, John,” in the musical 1776, the song “Nobody Needs to Know” from the musical The Last Five Years, the song “I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do,” I Do from the musical Mamma Mia!, the Major General's Song from the operetta The Pirates of Penzance, the song “You've Got to Be Carefully Taught” from the musical South Pacific.
When Burr sings, “I look back on where I've failed,” it's the same melody as “I'm reaching, but I fall” from Les Misérables, and “The Story of Tonight” is also reminiscent of “Drink With Me” from Les Misérables.
There are also some classical musical references, such as the use of a harpsichord in “You'll Be Back,” an instrument of the Baroque and Classical eras, during which these characters lived. Also, you hear the melody from Wagner's opera Lohengrin for Alexander and Eliza's wedding. That's the music that we often call “Here Comes the Bride.”
Hamilton is a Sung-Through Musical
One more interesting thing, Hamilton is what's known as a sung-through musical. It doesn't break up into acting scenes and then back into a song-and-dance like many traditional musicals do. The entire show is sung or rapped, similar to how opera uses recitative to keep the storyline moving.
The only scene with spoken dialogue that isn't chanted or rhymed is the song about John Laurens' death, and even that one is spoken by Eliza and Alexander at the same time that Laurens is on the other side of the stage singing a solo. Some other sung-through musicals include Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Les Misérables, Miss Saigon, Cats, and Evita.
7. Miranda's Genius with the Libretto
Now, let's look at another genius of Lin-Manuel Miranda, and that is his libretto, or the words of the story.
I already mentioned that Miranda was influenced by a 700-page biography of Hamilton. He took that and turned those words into a musical. There is an overwhelming amount of information that you're given in a two-and-a-half-hour period. Miranda really knows how to write. There is never a dull moment in this show.
He found a way to pack in so much story, so much history, and so many words that it's almost overwhelming. It doesn't let up once it starts, and it keeps you thinking about it for days. You can listen to it or watch it over and over, catching something new every single time. The more I study the words of this musical, the more it reminds me of the genius of Shakespeare, who also had an amazing ability with the English language, with poetry, and with rhyming. Alexander Hamilton even refers to Shakespeare's play Macbeth in the show.
I love the way the puns, which obviously relate to dueling, “throwing away my shot,” and satisfaction, are woven throughout the show with different meanings. And Miranda employs many different literary and artistic techniques, such as foreshadowing, repetition, and patterns, including the three duels and the three times King George sings.
8. Bringing Formerly 2-Dimensional Historical Characters to Life and Feeling for Them
Another powerful aspect of the show is that it allows us now to see the historical figures of Alexander Hamilton, Eliza Hamilton, George Washington, and Aaron Burr as three-dimensional characters, as flesh and blood. And not as the two-dimensional character portraits that we see in books or on our money, or even on Mount Rushmore.
The humanity of these people reaches our souls. We feel for them. We cry for them. We see their flaws and how they were able to make something great in spite of it all.
Mount Rushmore National Monument, South Dakota.
9. The Christian Themes in Hamilton the Musical
The next element is the more I studied Hamilton, the more Christianity I discovered in it. Many of these scripture references were written about in the Christianity Today article, ” Here's Every Biblical Reference in Hamilton,” by Alyssa Wilkinson.
The song Alexander Hamilton says, “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 believed that Providence, which is another name for God, preordained his life, where he would be born, how he would grow up, but that God wouldn't leave him there and would provide an opportunity for Alexander to leave and make his mark in America.
The song “My Shot” says, “Foes oppose us, we take an honest stand. We [00:26:00] roll like Moses claimin' our promised land.” The promised land of Moses was Israel when he freed his people from slavery in Egypt. Here, the promised land is America, and all who were fighting for freedom were acting as Moses.
In the song “A Winter's Ball,” we hear, “Watch this obnoxious, arrogant, loudmouthed bother be seated at the right hand of the father.”This is a comparison to Jesus, who sits at the right hand of His Father, God, comparing Hamilton to sitting at the right hand of the father of our country, George Washington.
In the song “Wait For It,” Burr sings, “My grandfather was a fire and brimstone preacher, but there are things that the homilies and hymns won't teach ya. Love doesn't discriminate between the sinners and the saints. It takes and it takes and it takes. Death doesn't discriminate [00:27:00] between the sinners and the saints. It takes and it takes and it takes. Life doesn't discriminate between the sinners and the saints. It takes and it takes and it takes. Hamilton doesn't hesitate. He exhibits no restraint. He takes and he takes and he takes.”
Aaron Burr was actually the grandson of the Great Awakening fire and brimstone preacher, Jonathan Edwards, who is most famous for his sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.”
Next, obviously the “10 Duel Commandments is a reference to the Ten Commandments of the Bible, specifically the Christian elements it refers to are number six, “Pray that heaven or hell let you in,” and number seven, “Confess your sins.”
The song “Say No to This” has Hamilton singing, “Lord, show me how to say no to this. I don't know how to say no to this.” It's a prayer asking God to deliver him from temptation.
In the song “Schuyler Defeated,” Burr sings, “Your pride will be the death of us all. Beware, it goeth before a fall.” Proverbs 16:18 says, “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.”
In the song “One Last Time,” George Washington sings words from Micah 4:2-5, “Everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid. They'll be safe in the nation we've made. I want to sit under my own vine and fig tree, a moment alone in the shade, at home in this nation we've made, one last time.”
In the song “The World Was Wide Enough,” Alexander sings about going to heaven with the words, “I catch a glimpse of the other side. Laurens leads a soldiers' chorus on the other side. My son is on the other side. He's with my mother on the other side. Washington is watching from the other side. Eliza, my love, take your [00:29:00] time. I'll see you on the other side.”
And finally, in the song “Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story,” Eliza said, “The Lord in his kindness, he gives me what you always wanted. He gives me more time.”
Alexander Hamilton's Christian Beliefs
Sarah Arthur wrote an article for Christianity Today in which she interviewed the author of God and Hamilton: Spiritual Themes from the Life of Alexander Hamilton and the Broadway Musical He Inspired.
The author, Kevin Cloud, said, “When Hamilton arrived in New York City in his later teen years, he studied at King's College and participated in the school's rhythms of religious devotion. He attended daily morning chapel, evening prayers, and church services twice on Sunday. His roommate once journaled about the fervency of Hamilton's prayers, and yet we know that Hamilton also experienced seasons where he drifted from his religious devotion.
His wife, Eliza, was probably more devoted, while Hamilton seemed to have experienced alternating seasons of authentic faith and genuine doubt. We see this struggle in the powerful song It's Quiet Uptown, which shows Eliza and Alexander struggling through the death of their oldest son, Philip, who was shot and killed in a duel that Philip initiated to defend his father's honor.
Alexander sings, ‘I take the children to church on Sunday, a sign of the cross at the door, and I pray. That never used to happen before.' “The struggle between faith and doubt can encourage us as we wrestle through those alternating seasons in our own lives.” End quote from Kevin Cloud.
Poem “The Soul Ascending into Bliss” by Alexander Hamilton
This brings us to the question of whether Alexander Hamilton was a true believer, or not. He wrote a poem as a teen before leaving the West Indies that Eliza treasured and held as proof of her husband's salvation. Here is that poem, The Soul Ascending into Bliss, An Humble Imitation of Pope's Dying Christian to His Soul. Written in Saint Croix, October 17th, 1772.
Ah! whither, whither am I flown?
A wandering guest in worlds unknown.
What is it that I see and hear?
What heavenly music fills mine ear?
Ethereal glories shine around,
More than Arabia's sweets abound.
Hark! hark! a voice from yonder sky,
Methinks I hear my Savior cry,
“Come, gentle spirit, come away!
Come to thy Lord without delay;
For thee the gates of bliss unbarred,
Thy constant virtue to reward.”
I come, O Lord! I mount, I fly,
On rapid wings I cleave the sky.
Stretch out Thy arm and aid my flight,
For, oh! I long to gain that height,
Where all celestial beings sing
Eternal praises to their King.
O Lamb of God, thrice gracious Lord,
Now, now I feel how true Thy Word.
Translated to this happy place,
This blessed vision of Thy face,
My soul shall all Thy steps attend,
And songs of triumph without end.
10. Hamilton's Themes of Teaching Us How to Live
And that brings us to the final reason I believe Hamilton is so powerful, and that is the themes that teach us how to live and how not to live.
I teach high school literature, and last week we explored why we study literature. One reason is that we can learn from the examples of those we read about. This is certainly the case in Hamilton, and in fact, I think it might be one of the most important reasons that the show has become so popular.
How should we live, how should we not live, are what we see in every scene throughout the entire musical. It starts with Hamilton deciding that he's not throwing away his shot, and you see how far he goes with his determination, hard work, and perseverance. It's the American dream. And even as an immigrant who grew up in poverty, he did it, and made his mark on history and on our country.
But Alexander Hamilton's character also shows us how pride and infidelity leave a stain on his reputation that will never go away. We learn that we should “say no to this” in areas where he didn't.
Miranda calls these scenes moments of action, and they are one of his favorite aspects of live theater. There are times during the show that confront us and demand a response, whether we want them to or not. George Washington sings, “Dying is easy, young man. Living is harder.”
The Themes of Forgiveness and Redemption
And that brings us to the theme of redemption. Eliza demonstrates to us that forgiveness is a powerful action that not only makes a difference in the immediate moment but also has lasting consequences.
Would we even know about her husband? Would we even know about her if she hadn't forgiven him and chosen to write his story?
Who Will Write Your Story and What Will They Say?
Who writes your story? Eliza Hamilton, Ron Chernow, and Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote Alexander's.
Whose story will you write, and who will write yours? How will you live differently because of what someone will write about you someday?
Because it's quite possible that “history has its eyes on you.”
Warning about Hamilton the Musical
Warning: If you are new to Hamilton, be aware that there is profanity in the stage musical,in the soundtrack (but you can search out “clean” versions on YouTube), and in the Disney+ movie version (although in the Disney+ version, the F-words were removed).
Assignment Ideas:
Below, I give you lots of ideas for furthering your educational study with your students.
Printable Pack: Composer Study of Lin-Manuel Miranda
Vocal tutorials for the trio “Schuyler Sisters” (Get two friends and each of you learn a different part!):
Learn about “How Hamilton Works”
Themes and motifs:
Music theory in Hamilton the musical
The Aaron Burr chord progression:
The “My Shot” Chord Progression:
Choreography of Hamilton:
Bibliography and Works Cited:
Research and analysis for this episode drew from Ron Chernow’s Alexander Hamilton, Christianity Today articles on faith themes in Hamilton, motif analyses from Genius and Novice Cinephile, Library of Congress materials, and other sources listed below.
