Hamilton's America

---

-Next on "Great Performances,"

how did a musical

based on the life

of an overlooked founding father

become the hottest ticket

in town?

The ship

is in the harbor now

See if you can spot him

-Find out as composer

Lin-Manuel Miranda

takes us on his personal journey

from original inspiration

to Broadway sensation.

-I grabbed a biography off

the shelf of Alexander Hamilton,

and I found it deeply moving

and deeply personal

when I read it.

- I'm the damn fool

that shot him

-Something that really

sort of spoke to me

when I was, you know,

reading this story

and beginning

to research and write it

is that moment

when you trade away capital

in exchange for the debt plan.

We call it "The Room

Where It Happens."

- I've got to be

- The room where it happens

- I've got to be

- The room where it happens

- Oh, I've got to be in

- The room where it happens

I got to be, I got to be

-Be in the room

where it happens

when history steps off the page

and onto the stage

in "Hamilton's America,"

next.

[ Indistinct conversations ]

[ Orchestra tuning ]

[ Up-tempo music plays ]

-We're on Broadway.

We're at the

Richard Rodgers Theatre.

But at the same time,

it feels exactly the same

as when I was

in "Pirates of Penzance"

in ninth grade.

It's such a kick

to get to play dress-up

and sing songs for an audience.

I know there are certain actors

who are like,

"Once I get the wig,

once I get the shoes,

I know who the character is."

I don't know that I'm like that.

I do know

that my posture

certainly changes

when I'm in the clothes,

but it really

doesn't start for me

until I see everybody else

in their costume.

And you get that

moment of community

where we're all agreeing

to just create this world

for people.

There's the part of my brain

that works really hard

on making "Hamilton"

historically accurate

and exciting and high-stakes.

And then there's the charge

and the adrenaline

that comes

from performing something

and hearing a response.

-Places, please.

All cast to places.

-Uh. Oops.

I'm still married.

Thank you.

-Mr. President.

-Oh, hey, man.

- In New York,

you can be a new man

- Just you wait

- In New York,

you can be a new man

- Just you wait

- In New York,

you can be a new man

- In New York

- New York

- Just you wait

- Alexander Hamilton

- Alexander Hamilton

- We are waiting

in the wings for you

- Waiting in the wings

for you

- You could never back down

- You never learned

to take your time

Oh, Alexander Hamilton

- Alexander Hamilton

- When America sings for you

- Will they know

what you overcame?

Will they know

you rewrote the game?

The world will

never be the same

- Oh-oh oh

- The ship

is in the harbor now

See if you can spot him

- Just you wait

- Another immigrant

coming up from the bottom

- Just you wait

- His enemies

destroyed his rep

America forgot him

- We fought with him

- Me? I died for him

- Me? I trusted him

- Me? I loved him

- And me?

I'm the damn fool

that shot him

-[ Echoing ] Shot him

- There's a million things

I haven't done

But just you wait

- What's your name, man?

- Alexander Hamilton

[ Final chord plays ]

[ Door unlocking ]

-Ta-da! [ Laughs ]

Everything in my life

is under construction.

My wife, Vanessa, and I

bought this place last year.

We've been working on it

almost a year.

There's a piano under here,

believe it or not.

[ Piano plays off-key ]

I'm in this crazy

holding pattern right now.

I'm just waiting for the next

chapter of my life to start.

There's a kid

coming in November.

Two weeks after the kid is born,

we start rehearsals

for "Hamilton."

And then that becomes

whatever it becomes.

And, um

-- And I'm just sort of --

This is like the --

This is the part

of the roller coaster

where we're just going up.

[ Piano plays off-key ]

That's one note I'm playing,

and it's a full chord.

[ Piano plays off-key ]

So there will be some tuning.

[ Piano plays off-key ]

We're in the heart

of Washington Heights.

It literally looks like

the set of "In the Heights"

when you look out the window.

I can't get away from my shows.

[ Orchestra plays

up-tempo Latin music ]

My first Broadway

show was "In the Heights."

It's about three days

in the life of a block

in Washington Heights, New York,

where I grew up.

Won some awards,

and it was pretty much

a dream come true.

[ Music ends ]

[ Cheers and applause ]

The idea for "Hamilton"

came to me totally by surprise

while I was on vacation

at "In the Heights."

-I grabbed a biography

off the shelf

of Alexander Hamilton

'cause I wanted a big,

fat book to read on vacation,

and I found it deeply moving

and deeply personal

when I read it.

It was just such

a compelling ride.

-Lin invited me to

"In the Heights."

And I went backstage,

and he said,

"Ron, I was reading the book,

and hip-hop songs

started rising off the page."

And I said to him, "Really?"

-I said, "This is Tupac.

This is Biggie.

This is a hip-hop story.

This is my next show."

So, who was Alexander Hamilton,

besides being the dude

on the $10,

the best-looking

founding father?

He was George Washington's

chief of staff

during the Revolutionary War,

and he was our first

treasury secretary.

But before that,

he was an immigrant.

He was born in the Caribbean.

But he came to our country

and, by sheer force

of will and intellect,

changed our country forever.

-I don't even really know

if I knew

who Alexander Hamilton was.

I knew was on a --

he was on our currency.

-Alexander Hamilton is one

of the unsung heroes

of our country.

-Yeah, well, that's

the way history works.

Sometimes it takes a while

for people to give you credit.

-Hamilton saw

the opportunity

when an -- an immigrant

could come to this country,

get a little education,

have some great ideas,

work hard, and build something.

Pretty amazing guy.

-Hamilton was born

on the island of Nevis.

Nevis is a very beautiful

and colorful volcanic island

in the Caribbean.

But the day-to-day reality

was very brutal and violent,

like most of the Caribbean

islands at that time.

It was dominated by

sugar and cotton plantations.

-Most people in America

think of the slave trade

as Africa to North America,

but most of them

went to the Caribbean.

And so Hamilton was

right in the middle

of this huge, huge market.

Even people who were not

terribly well-to-do

could have one or two

slaves in Nevis.

And his family did.

-Hamilton's mother, Rachel,

had just fled

an unhappy marriage

when she met his father,

James Hamilton.

But under the terms

of her divorce,

she wasn't able to remarry,

which meant that Hamilton

and his brother had to grow up

with the stigma of illegitimacy,

which was very real

in those days.

And so Hamilton goes

through some really rough...

between birth and getting

out of the island.

-When Hamilton was 11,

James Hamilton abandoned Rachel

and the two sons

on the island of Saint Croix.

Rate this script:4.6 / 5 votes