Hamilton: An American Musical, or more commonly known as simply Hamilton, is a Broadway play, lyrics and music written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, a book written by the same man, Lin-Manuel also takes on the role of Alexander in the musical. Lin-Manuel was inspired by a 2004 biography of Alexander Hamilton by historian Ron Chernow. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay The 2-hour, 45-minute musical features upbeat singing, music, and rap to add some depth to this dark story. a good sense of optimism in most of the songs, however, there are a few songs that have a darker feeling, "Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story", "It's Quiet Uptown", "Satisfied" and " Wait For It.” " Are the most popular and darkest songs from the musical among the different dark songs. In total there are forty-six songs and as of July 5, 2016, the most popular song from the musical is "Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down).” The musical also features a cast of actors of color to play each of the Founding Fathers and various historical figures. The play debuted Off-Broadway at the Public Theater in February 2015. New York theater was founded as the Shakespeare Workshop in 1954 by Joseph Papp's debut to a sold-out audience, with the musical arriving on Broadway in August of the same year as its debut at the Richard. Rodgers Theatre, also located in New York, premiering on Broadway, Hamilton received excellent critical acclaim and an unexpected surge in box office sales in 2016. Hamilton set a record by receiving 16 Tony nominations, in 2016. winning 11, including Best Musical, and received the 2016 Grammy Awards for Musical Theatre. album and 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Prior to its debut, the musical won the 2015 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Musical and several other Drama Desk Awards out of a total of 14 nominated categories. Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a personalized paper now from our expert authors. Get a Custom Essay The play has two acts, recounting the life of Alexander Hamilton through the major events he lived through in American history. It explains Alexander's life from start to finish, as well as that of a number of other characters, such as Marquis De Lafayette, Aaron Burr, John Laurens, Hercules Mulligan, Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton, Angelica Schuyler, Peggy Schuyler, Phillip Hamilton and former presidents George Washington, James Madison and Thomas Jefferson. Works Cited Chernow, R. (2004). Alexander Hamilton. Penguin Books. Gioia, T. (2015). How Hamilton revolutionized the Broadway musical. The Daily Beast.Hamilton (Original Broadway Cast Recording) [Recorded by Various Artists]. (2015). Atlantic Records. Kaufman, S. (2015). Hamilton: How Lin-Manuel Miranda's hip-hop musical rewrote history. The Guardian. Kopan, T. (2016). “Hamilton” wins the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. CNN. Miranda, L.M. (2015). Hamilton: The Revolution. Grand Central Publishing. Miranda, L.M. and McCarter, J. (2016). Hamilton: The Revolution. Grand Central Publishing. Rothstein, M. (2015). Hamilton and hip-hop's case for progressive heroism. The Atlantic. Stern, R. (2015). Historical Inaccuracies in Hamilton: A Guest Essay by Michael Newton. The American Scholar. Weinert-Kendt, R. (2015). Hamilton at the Public: An ecstatic snapshot of American culture. The New York Times.