Who The Hell Is ‘Hamilton’? The Story That Inspired The Groundbreaking Broadway Musical

It’s been five years since Hamilton first hit Broadway and became the cultural phenomenon it is today, but many Australians will see it for the first time this week.

The blockbuster musical production is streaming on Disney+ from July 3, and — so you don’t embarrass yourself too much with all the Hamilton diehards — we’ve made you a cheat sheet:

So, uh… what is a Hamilton?

Alexander Hamilton was a founding father. Alongside Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington and others, he played a pivotal role in winning America’s independence from Great Britain and establishing the terms of governance with the US Constitution. Hamilton is remembered best for the latter. He championed the ratification of the constitution in a series of essays, The Federalist Papers, which still serve as a point of reference today.

Hamilton was also known as an outsider, at least when compared to the other founding fathers (it was obviously not a diverse group). His heritage was French Huguenot and Scottish, but he was born in the Caribbean — on an island that had been colonised by the British. He was born out of wedlock and was orphaned at a young age. He came to the United States alone as a teenager, to pursue a prestigious education, before joining a militia to fight the British and eventually working his way up the ranks in the Revolutionary War and becoming the nation’s first treasury secretary.

The appeal of the underdog

Alexander Hamilton’s story gave rise to the idea of “the American dream”: that anyone can make it in the United States if they have enough talent and determination. Hamilton went from being a poor, orphaned immigrant to a founding father in The White House. He was instrumental in creating a national bank and currency and established many of the foundations of the US financial system.

Lin-Manuel Miranda has always described Hamilton as a “historical fiction”. So how did he turn this “young, scrappy and hungry” founding father into a modern Broadway phenomenon?

Bringing the story to life

Hamilton follows Alexander Hamilton from his arrival in New York to his eventual death (spoiler, I guess) in a duel with vice president Aaron Burr. This includes his military career under George Washington, his exploits in The White House, and his colourful personal life. Hamilton married wealthy New Yorker Eliza Schuyler, but had an affair with a married woman, Maria Reynolds, which later became public.

Also, importantly, nearly every historical character in the production is portrayed by an actor of colour. Miranda, who is of Puerto-Rican descent, plays the titular role, and other white (and slave-owning) founding fathers George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison are played respectively by Christopher Jackson, Daveed Diggs, and Okieriete Onaodowan — all of whom are Black.

These founding fathers’ doctrines are told through Miranda’s hip-hop and R&B compositions, and, with this, his interpretation of Hamilton’s story — “immigrants: we get the job done” — became a political statement.

As then US president Barack Obama said, “In this telling, rap is the language of revolution … we hear the debates that shaped our nation, and we hear the debates that are still shaping our nation.”

“With a cast as diverse as America itself … the show reminds us that this nation was built by more than just a few great men – and that it is an inheritance that belongs to all of us.”

This is also a cast with a hell of a lot of talent. Christopher Jackson has been on Broadway since the late-’90s, at one point starring as Simba in The Lion King. Before Hamilton, Daveed Diggs was mainly known for his experimental rap group Clipping; he’s now also all over film and TV (including episodes of Black-ish and The Get Down).

Phillipa Soo, who plays Hamilton’s wife, Eliza, is a Juilliard-trained actor and singer who has since played the lead role of Amelie on Broadway. Renée Elise Goldsberry, who plays Eliza’s sister Angelica, was a Broadway regular for years, starring in original productions of The Color Purple, The Lion King and Rent.

There’s a good reason this production won 11 Tony Awards, a Grammy, and a damn Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Australia, we’ve waited long enough.

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Start streaming Hamilton from July 3 on Disney+.