Stage Sounds: Hamilton

I'd been hearing for months how fantastic the music from Hamilton was before I borrowed my grandmother's copy of the soundtrack to listen to. By the time I got to The Schuyler Sisters, I was hooked and knew I needed to see this show on a stage some time in my life. I got that opportunity in early 2019 when the National Tour came to town, and it was absolutely everything I dreamed it would be. Then, the show took it one step further and was released as a "film" on Disney+ with the perfect original cast and it was like seeing it for the first time all over again. Hamilton did what all truly iconic musicals do and took the Broadway world by storm by turning it upside down.

Hamilton: An American Musical is the brain child of Lin-Manuel Miranda, who wrote the book, music, and lyrics after reading Ron Chernow's biography Alexander Hamilton. The show premiered Off-Broadway in 2015 at the Public Theatre on Lafayette Street before being moved to The Richard Rodgers Theatre on Broadway proper (though it's technically on W 46th Street), and its remains in residence there to this day. The original run was nominated for sixteen Tony Awards in 2016 (a record a that time) and won ten of them: Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical, Best Original Score, Best Actor in a Musical (Leslie Odom, Jr.), Best Actress in a Musical (Phillipa Soo), Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Daveed Diggs), Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Renée Elise Goldsberry), Best Costume Design of a Musical, Best Lighting Design of a Musical, Best Direction of a Musical, Best Choreography, and Best Orchestrations. That same year, the original cast took home the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theatre Album. Apart from Broadway, the show has so far seen productions in the UK, Germany, and Australia. While no movie has been made yet (Miranda hasn't written off the possibility for some time in the future), Disney+ did release a full length filmed version of the original cast's stage production in 2020, with many of the cast being nominated for Golden Globe, Primetime Emmy, and Screenactor's Guild Awards for their performances.

As before, I will focus on one song for each main cast member. In the case of this particular show, there is really only one readily available recording from the original Broadway cast, so there won't be a whole lot of comparing and contrasting today. There will be honorable mentions again because it was so difficult to pick just one song per character, and if I talked about every song I wanted to I'd be writing for a week straight. Therefore, here we go! Warning: possible spoilers ahead.

Alexander Hamilton (Tenor-Baritone)

Spotlight Song: Farmer Refuted

Honorable Mentions: Alexander Hamilton; Aaron Burr, Sir; The Story Of Tonight; A Winter's Ball; Helpless; Satisfied; Stay Alive; Ten Duel Commandments; Meet Me Inside; That Would Be Enough; Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down); Dear Theodosia; Non-Stop; Cabinet Battle #1; Take a Break; Say No to This; The Room Where It Happens; Schuyler Defeated; Cabinet Battle #2; One Last Time; We Know; Hurricane; Blow Us All Away; It's Quiet Uptown; The Election of 1800; Your Obedient Servant; Best of Wives and Best of Women; The World Was Wide Enough

Original Broadway Cast (2015): Lin-Manuel Miranda

Both of Miranda's Broadway hits (Hamilton and In the Heights) featured him as the main character in the original Broadway run. No, Miranda doesn't necessarily have the ideal singing voice for a Broadway star, but the man CAN rap and the songs where he has to sing more than rap are written in a way that he'd make sure he was comfortable. Overall, it's very difficult to imagine anyone else in the role of Alexander, but all of the gentlemen who have followed him since he left the show in 2016 have done a fantastic job. All of Hamilton's songs are incredibly wordy and require a huge amount of preparation and skill to be able to perform correctly. I'll go ahead and admit I really do not like Hamilton's signature song My Shot (you'll see if you check my honorable mentions that I left it out on purpose), and honestly one of my favorite A. Ham moments in the show is when he argues with Samuel Seabury (played in the original cast by Thayne Jasperson) during Act 1's Farmer Refuted. It's funny, it reminds me of the crazy overlapping songs that occur in Les Mis and Phantom, and it's a great early look at Hamilton's character to see what kind of a person he is.

Yo, he’d have you unravel at the sound of screams but the revolution is coming/The have-nots are gonna win this, it’s hard to listen to you with a straight face/Chaos and bloodshed already haunt us, honestly, you shouldn’t even talk/And what about Boston, look at the cost and all that we’ve lost and you talk about Congress/My dog speaks more eloquently than thee/But strangely, your mange is the same/Is he in Jersey/For the revolution/For the revolution

Aaron Burr (Tenor-Baritone)

Spotlight Song: The Room Where It Happens

Honorable Mentions: Alexander Hamilton; Aaron Burr, Sir; The Schuyler Sisters; Right Hand Man; A Winter's Ball; The Story of Tonight (Reprise); Wait For It; Ten Duel Commandments; Dear Theodosia; Non-Stop; Schuyler Defeated; Washington on Your Side; The Adams Administration; We Know; The Election of 1800; Your Obedient Servant; The World Was Wide Enough

Original Broadway Cast (2015): Leslie Odom, Jr.

Odom, Jr. has such an incredible voice I could literally listen to it all day. As the "official" narrator of the show, we get to see and hear from him quite a bit and it's interesting and tragic to watch this guy fall apart at the seams a little at a time as the story progresses. Burr has some really amazing songs throughout the whole show and I did have a little trouble choosing between a few, but in the end I felt the clear winner was Act 2's The Room Where It Happens. It's a huge turning point for Burr in the show, the whole song is incredibly both musically and visually (the choreography is excellent), and it's one of my favorites to listen to on the soundtrack.

Two Virginians and an immigrant walk into a room, diametrically opposed, foes/They emerge with a compromise having opened doors that there previously closed, bros/The immigrant emerges with unprecedented financial power, a system he can shape however he wants/The Virginians emerge with the nation’s capital, and here’s the pièce de résistance/No one else was in the room where it happened, the room where it happened, the room where it happened/No one else was in the room where it happened, the room where it happened, the room where it happened/No one really knows how the game is played, the art of the trade, how the sausage gets made/We just assume that it happens, but no one else was in the room where it happens

Eliza Hamilton (Soprano)

Spotlight Song: Burn

Honorable Mentions: Alexander Hamilton; The Schuyler Sisters; Helpless; That Would Be Enough; Non-Stop; Take a Break; Schuyler Defeated; Stay Alive (Reprise); Best of Wives and Best of Women; Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story

Original Broadway Cast (2015): Phillipa Soo

Finding out that Soo was only like a year older than me had me questioning what I was doing with my life for a while because her voice is so insanely good. She portrays Eliza so perfectly and acts like these songs are no big deal to sing at all, and then when you try to go sing them yourself you realize how much work it takes to actually pull them off. Eliza is the one of two characters in the show who never raps, but every single song she has is emotional and memorable. I could say that I was torn between songs like I was with Aaron Burr but that would be a straight up lie: it will ALWAYS be Act 2's Burn for Eliza. Packing that much pain, sadness, anger, and betrayal into barely three minutes is no small feat, and anyone who gets the privilege to play Eliza on stage will know that.

I saved every letter you wrote me, from the moment I read them I knew you were mine/You said you were mine, I thought you were mine/Do you know what Angelica said when we saw your first letter arrive/She said, "Be careful with that one love, he will do what it takes to survive"/You and your words flooded my senses, your sentences left me defenseless/You built me palaces out of paragraphs, you built cathedrals/I’m rereading the letters you wrote me, I’m searching and scanning for answers in every line/For some kind of sign of when you were mine/And the world seemed to burn/Burn

Angelica Schuyler (Mezzo-Soprano)

Spotlight Song: Satisfied

Honorable Mentions: The Schuyler Sisters; The Schuyler Sisters; Non-Stop; Take a Break; The Reynolds Pamphlet; It's Quiet Uptown; Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story

Original Broadway Cast (2015): Renée Elise Goldsberry

I've made peace with knowing that Angelica is a part I likely won't ever get to play, but that definitely doesn't stop me from singing her songs louder than any of the others because she's my absolute favorite. Goldsberry is an actual powerhouse who deserves all the awards and all the praise all the time because she is INCREDIBLE. Like with Eliza, there's only one clear choice when it comes to Angelica's song, and that is without a doubt always going to be Act 1's Satisfied. Her vocals go through so much throughout that song and she acts the absolute crap out of it as well through all the singing and rapping.

I remember that night, I just might regret that night for the rest of my days/I remember those soldier boys tripping over themselves to win our praise/I remember that dreamlike candlelight, like a dream that you can’t quite place/But Alexander, I’ll never forget the first time I saw your face/I have never been the same/Intelligent eyes in a hunger-pang frame/And when you said hi, I forgot my dang name/Set my heart aflame, every part aflame, this is not a game

Marquis de Lafayette (Tenor-Baritone)

Spotlight Song: Guns and Ships

Honorable Mentions: Aaron Burr, Sir; My Shot; The Story of Tonight; The Story of Tonight (Reprise); Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down)

Original Broadway Cast (2015): Daveed Diggs

Diggs, who has become one of my favorite famous people over the last few years, is one of four double-cast actors in the show, playing one part in Act 1 and a completely different part in Act 2. Diggs spends Act 1 of the show as America's Favorite Fighting Frenchman Lafayette, blowing the audience away with incredible rapping skills and choreography all done with a French accent. Both parts are played with a healthy amount of comedy as well, and he's so enjoyable to watch on stage that you really don't want him to have to go away. Act 1's Guns and Ships was an obvious choice for Lafayette because it's so impressive: 233 words are rapped in a 43 second span, which Diggs believes to be "medium fast."

I’m taking this horse by the reins/Making redcoats redder with bloodstains/And I’m never gonna stop until I make ‘em drop/And burn ‘em up and scatter the remains, I’m/Watch me engaging ‘em/Escaping ‘em, enraging ‘em, I’m/I go to France for more funds/I come back with more guns

Thomas Jefferson (Tenor-Baritone)

Spotlight Song: The Election of 1800

Honorable Mentions: What'd I Miss?; Cabinet Battle #1; The Room Where It Happens; Cabinet Battle #2; Washington on Your Side; The Adams Administration; We Know; The Reynolds Pamphlet; Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story

Original Broadway Cast (2015): Daveed Diggs

Diggs returns as the purple-coated Thomas Jefferson for Act 2 with a different kind of comedy: instead of being the brave, close friend and fellow soldier of Hamilton he becomes his petty, scheming political rival and it's honestly just as enjoyable to watch. His energy throughout the show is unmatched, and I love that he gets to sing more in Act 2 even though Diggs has stated multiple times he'd prefer not to have sung at all because it made him so nervous. I didn't make the "obvious" choice of What'd I Miss with Jefferson but instead went with one of my Top 3 numbers in the show: Act 2's The Election of 1800. It's funny, it's intense, and it sets the end of the show in motion perfectly.

The election of 1800/Can we get back to politics, please, yo/Every action has its equal opposite reaction/John Adams shat the bed, I love the guy, but he’s in traction/Poor Alexander Hamilton, he is missing in action/So now I’m facing Aaron Burr with his own faction/He’s very attractive in the North, New Yorkers like his chances/He’s not very forthcoming on any political stances/Ask him a question, it glances off, he obfuscates, he dances/And they say I’m a Francophile, at least they know I know where France is

George Washington (Tenor-Baritone)

Spotlight Song: Right Hand Man

Honorable Mentions: Alexander Hamilton; Meet Me Inside; Guns and Ships; History Has Its Eyes On You; Non-Stop; One Last Time; Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story

Original Broadway Cast (2015): Christopher Jackson

Before I even knew who Lin-Manuel Miranda & Co. were, I actually got to see Christopher Jackson on Broadway in In the Heights in 2010. I wish I remembered more about that performance now that I appreciate Jackson's vocals in the way that he deserves. He plays an excellent George Washington, always having command (lol) of the stage when he's on it and radiating the appropriate amount of power for one of the most important figures of American history. I honestly did struggle here between two songs that I love for him, but in the end I went with Act 1's Right Hand Man. I listen to this song if I need to get pumped up about something and it works 100% of the time.

Check it, can I be real a second for just a millisecond/Let down my guard and tell the people how I feel a second/Now I’m the model of a modern major general/The venerated Virginian veteran whose men are all/Lining up to put me on a pedestals, writing letters to relatives/Embellishing my elegance and eloquence/But the elephant is in the room/The truth is in your face when you hear the British cannons go boom/Any hope of success is fleeting/How can I keep leading when the people I’m leading keep retreating/We put a stop to the bleeding as the British take Brooklyn/Knight takes rook, but look/We are outgunned, outmanned/Outnumbered, outplanned/We gotta make an all-out stand/Hey yo, I’m gonna need a right hand man

John Laurens (Tenor)

Spotlight Song: The Story of Tonight (Reprise)

Honorable Mentions: Aaron Burr, Sir; Stay Alive; Ten Duel Commandments; Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down); Tomorrow There'll Be More of Us

Original Broadway Cast (2015): Anthony Ramos

The youngest member of the original principal cast (he was 23 when the original production premiered in New York), Ramos is our second double-cast performer, playing Hamilton's best friend John Laurens throughout Act 1. Ramos is another one with incredible energy on the stage, and played the patriot with appropriate enthusiasm. For Laurens, I've chosen Act 1's Story of Tonight (Reprise) because I love seeing the four BFFs (Hamilton, Laurens, Lafayette, and Mulligan) being goofy and enjoying each other's presence while celebrating Alexander's wedding to Eliza.

I may not live to see our glory/But I’ve seen wonders great and small/‘Cause if the Tomcat can get married/There’s hope for our ass after all/Raise a glass to freedom, something you will never see again/No matter what she tells you, let’s have another round tonight/Raise a glass to the four of us, to the newly not poor of us/We’ll tell the story of tonight, let’s have another round

Phillip Hamilton (Tenor)

Spotlight Song: Take a Break

Honorable Mentions: Schuyler Defeated; Blow Us All Away; Stay Alive (Reprise)

Original Broadway Cast (2015): Anthony Ramos

Act 2 sees Ramos turn around and play Alexander and Eliza's oldest son, Phillip. He's a part of probably the most heart wrenching scene of the entire show and does a phenomenal job breaking everyone in the audience's heart. For Phillip, I chose Act 2's Take a Break, where Ramos gets the joy of pretending to be a nine-year-old boy showing off his first rap for his father on his birthday.

Daddy, Daddy, look/My name is Phillip, I am a poet/I wrote this poem just to show it/And I just turned nine/You can write rhymes but you can’t write mine/I practice French and play piano with my mother/I have a sister, but I want a little brother/My daddy’s trying to start America’s bank/Un, deus, troit, quatre, cinq

Hercules Mulligan (Tenor-Baritone)

Spotlight Song: Aaron Burr, Sir

Honorable Mentions: The Story of Tonight; Farmer Refuted; The Story of Tonight (Reprise); Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down)

Original Broadway Cast (2015): Okieriete Onaodowan

Of the four double cast roles in Hamilton, I think Onaodowan's performance impresses me the most because of how much he changes his voice between acts. Act 1 sees him as Hamilton's friend and fellow soldier Hercules Mulligan, the tailor's apprentice turned spy for the Revolution. The low, gravelly sound he layers on to his voice, the borderline manic energy, and the fact that he was Alexander and Eliza's flower girl all add to him being a delight to watch on stage. For Mulligan, I chose Act 1's Aaron Burr, Sir. A classic from the show, it's Mulligan's introduction to the audience and is one of his funnier verses he gets to perform.

Brrah, brrah, I am Hercules Mulligan/Up in it, loving it, I heard your mother said, "Come again"/Lock up your daughters and horses/It’s hard to have intercourse over four sets of corsets/No more sex, pour me another brew, son/Let’s raise a couple more to the revolution/Well, if it ain’t the prodigy of Princeton College/Aaron Burr, give us a verse, drop some knowledge

James Madison (Tenor-Baritone)

Spotlight Song: Washington on Your Side

Honorable Mentions: What'd I Miss?; Cabinet Battle #1; The Room Where It Happens; Cabinet Battle #2; We Know; The Reynolds Pamphlet; The Election of 1800; Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story

Original Broadway Cast (2015): Okieriete Onaodowan

Onaodowan comes back (in my opinion) almost unrecognizable in Act 2 as future president and Thomas Jefferson's BFF James Madison. A significantly smoother and more melodic vocal style coupled with a less manic but more nervous/anxious energy create a completely different persona, and I really think he mastered the switch. For Madison, I've chosen Act 2's Washington on Your Side - I love the harmonies between Burr, Jefferson, and Madison and it shows the beginning of Hamilton having to deal with the consequences of his breakneck speed climb to the top of his career.

It must be nice, it must be nice/To have Washington on your side/It must be nice, it must be nice/To have Washington on your side/Look back at the Bill of Rights, which I wrote/The ink hasn’t dried/It must be nice, it must be nice/To have Washington on your side

King George III (Tenor)

Spotlight Song: What Comes Next?

Honorable Mentions: You'll Be Back; I Know Him

Original Broadway Cast (2015): Jonathan Groff

Everything I have seen Jonathan Groff in, I have absolutely adored him. He has really incredible control over his voice and can make himself sound almost however he wants, whether it's as the arrogant Jesse St. James in Glee, the delightfully awkward Kristoff in Frozen, or the absolutely ridiculous but still everyone's favorite character King George III in Hamilton. King George's song was the most difficult choice for me because I love all 3 of his songs so much, but in the end I went with Act 1's What Comes Next. His stage presence is next level hilarious, and he manages to illicit so much laughter from the audience by literally just standing still and making crazy eyes while he sings.

They say the price of my war’s not a price that they’re willing to pay/Insane, you cheat with the French, now I’m fighting with France and with Spain/I’m so blue, I thought that we’d made an arrangement when you went away/You were mine to subdue, well, even despite our estrangement, I’ve got a small query for you/What comes next, you’ve been freed, do you know how hard it is to lead/You’re on your own, awesome, wow, do you have a clue what happens now/Oceans rise, empires fall, it’s much harder when it’s all your call/All alone across the sea, when your people say they hate you, don’t come crawling back to me

Peggy Schuyler (Mezzo-Soprano)

Spotlight Song: The Schuyler Sisters

Honorable Mentions: Helpless; Satisfied

Original Broadway Cast (2015): Jasmine Cephas-Jones

Our final (and only female) double casting for Hamilton is the beautiful and talented Jasmine Cephas-Jones, seen in Act 1 as the youngest Schuyler Sister, Peggy. Like Onaodowan, Cephas-Jones does a great job changing up her vocal style between acts, staying in a higher, more innocent and younger sounding tone for Act 1 and switching to a lower, deeper, more mature sound for Act 2. The clear (and sadly only) choice for Peggy is one of my Top 3 songs in the whole show and the song that got me fully invested in the first place, Act 1's The Schuyler Sisters. Peggy is the quintessential annoying, worry-wart baby sister here, but where would the show be without one of its most iconic lines: "AND PEGGY."

Daddy said to be home by sundown/Daddy doesn’t need to know/Daddy said not to go downtown/Like I said, you’re free to go/But look around, look around, the revolution’s happening in New York/Angelica, work/It’s bad enough Daddy wants to go to war/People shouting in the square/It’s bad enough there’ll be violence on our shore/New ideas in the air, look around, look around/Angelica, remind me what we’re looking for/She’s looking for me/Eliza, I’m looking for a mind at work, I’m looking for a mind at work, I’m looking for a mind at work/Whoa, whoa, work

Maria Reynolds (Mezzo-Soprano)

Spotlight Song: Say No to This

Honorable Mentions: The Reynolds Pamphlet (she doesn't sing in it, but her stage presence helps add to the energy)

Original Broadway Cast (2015): Jasmine Cephas-Jones

Act 2 sees Cephas-Jones come in as half of America's first public sex scandal, Alexander's mistress Maria Reynolds. Cephas-Jones leans into her more jazzy sound in her voice for this character and it's SO good. Maria's only song in the show is Act 2's Say No to This, and thank goodness this song is in the show because this is the actress's chance to shine (and shine bright Cephas-Jones did). The staging of this song is also pretty incredible, making surfer you know exactly what's going on without getting into the graphic details and causing just the right amount of anxiety as you watch Alexander start to ruin his life.

I know you are a man of honor/I’m so sorry to bother you at home/But I don’t know where to go/And I came here all alone/She said, "My husband’s doing me wrong/Beating me, cheating me, mistreating me/Suddenly, he’s up and gone/I don’t have the means to go on"/So I offered her a loan, I offered to walk her home, she said/"You’re too kind, sir"/I gave her thirty bucks that I had socked away, she lived a block away, she said/"This one’s mine, sir"/Then I said, "Well, I should head back home," she turned red, she led me to her bed, let her legs spread and said/"Stay"/Hey/Hey/That’s when I began to pray/Lord, show me how to say no to this, I don’t know how to say no to this/But my God, she looks so helpless, and her body’s saying, "Hell yes"/No, show me how to say no to this, I don’t know how to say no to this/In my mind, I’m trying to go/Then her mouth is on mine and I don’t say no

If you've somehow never listened to the Hamilton soundtrack or had the chance to watch the filmed version on Disney+, I highly encourage you to do so because it really is an incredible piece of theatre. Happy listening, and see ya'll next week!