“Why do you write like you’re running out of time?”

My title is a quote from my favorite musical on Earth: Hamilton. Hamilton: an American Musical is based off of the life of a very historical American, Alexander Hamilton. He seems to be the founding father whose story never gets told. His story is very interesting, and it only becomes more impressive due to the amazing playwright by Lin-Manuel Miranda.

This particular musical is unique in many ways. It features it’s own playwright and creator Lin-Manuel Miranda as the protagonist Alexander Hamilton. The music is mainly rap and hip-hop which is much different from others musicals, and makes it more modern and accessible to people who aren’t so involved in theatre. My favorite bit of  uniqueness in this fantastic show is the fact that besides the exception of the character King George III, every person casted in the show is in a minority group. All are non white. I think the fact that most all of our “American Heroes” are white, is one of the things that adds to the racism currently still alive today. This musical helps to show that it wouldn’t even make a difference if George Washington was black, or Alexander Hamilton was Puerto Rican. Your skin color doesn’t define you. YOU define you. I love that Hamilton shows that.

Hamilton has been an extremely successful show. It has been breaking records, and creating controversy. Due to the shows success, Hamilton tickets are very hard and expensive to get your hands on. I was one of the lucky few who snatched up a ticket. On December 28, 2016, I took a train up to Chicago with my acting friends, and watched the show. Let’s just say it was the best day of my life. Getting to see the songs that I had been religiously listening to for the past almost year performed right in front of me, was magical. It was the best three hours of my life.

After the show was over, I left the theatre with a smile on my face and tears in my eyes because it was over. My friends and I pushed our way through a large crowd that had collected. We had high hopes that we might be able to find a cast member and get a picture with them. What happened next blew my mind away. Out of the crowd the man who had played two of my favorite characters in the show, emerged. He had played Thomas Jefferson, and Lafayette. I ran up to him said hi, and I told him that he did amazing. We took a picture together, and it was amazing.

Hamilton is a perfect example of how impactful music can be. It can tell stories. It makes people feel every emotion possible. I’m so thankful for all that I’ve learned from Hamilton. Music is powerful.