“And sometimes, a couple of days, I’ve written in Aaron Burr's bedroom. It’s pretty amazing to be in the space where he was in the later of his life. Talk about artist in residence-literally.”
“This is one of those nights where you feel the earth shake a little bit, you feel the world start to change. This is opening night of Hamilton.”
“I have never in my life witnessed a musical that has penetrated the American culture faster than Hamilton.”
“After the first two songs, I looked at my wife, and we were like, ‘This might be the greatest thing, like, we’ve ever seen ever.’ And you kind of look around at the other people sitting there, like, ‘Are we right?’ Like, ‘This is the best thing that’s...right?’ We’re all on the same...but you can’t say that cause people are casting and performing, but you’re almost in tears.”
“What Lin was able to do is create different styles for each character. So, George Washington raps in this very sort of metronomic way because that is similar to how he thinks. It’s all right on beat. You know, Lafayette has to figure it out. Lafayette is rapping in a real, like, simple, sort of like early-‘80s rap cadence at first and then, by the end, is doing these crazy double- and triple- time things.”
“I’ve read ‘The Federalist papers’ many times over. As an elected official, as a person who takes office, by swearing oath to the Constitution, I pretty much want to know what that means, right? And so it’s important not only to understand what the Constitution is, but to understand what the principles are behind it. And that’s why you look at Hamilton. That’s why you look at ‘The Federalist Papers’. That is the cornerstone of this beautiful idea we call the American experiment.”
“I’m not a really bright student in the history department. I’ve learned so much from this musical that I wouldn’t have normally learned in a history class. And for you guys to convey history in the manner that you did - was that your initial goal, to inspire kids like me?”
“You might find a world there to unlock. And after the performance, I think all of us understand not only how much potential it had, but what it did was capture the fact that, you know, the founding fathers were, to some degree, flying by the seats of their pants and making it up as they went along. And the fact that the experiment worked was a testimony to their genius. And you can draw a direct connection between what the founders were doing and what we do today.”
“Hamilton has to create much of the federal government from scratch - first budget systems, first tax systems, first customs service, first Coast Guard, first monetary policy, first central bank, which was the direct forerunner of the Federal Reserve.”
“These are not perfect people. These are deeply flawed people. But they make contributions.”
“These were real people who lived and died. I think one of the things we really tried to do with the show is show them all as flawed. There’s no saints in this show, not a one.”
“I think that our show is doing a really good job of reminding us that all of us are more than one thing.”
“How much time do we get on this Earth? We don’t know. They don’t tell us at the outset how much time we get. It’s something I’ve been sort of grappling with and terrified with. I think we all grapple with it, with the paradox of knowing tomorrow’s not promised, but making plans anyway.”
“Hamilton is one of the more uniquely American founders because this man came from nothing and rose to the highest levels of serving this country. He proved, the condition of your birth should not determine the outcome of your life.”
“It wasn’t easy to get to where we are today. But it was dictated by and led by a vision. We’re a blessed nation to have had our founders - such remarkable men.”
“I think when faced with the incredible three lifetimes Hamilton lived while he was on this Earth, it forces you to reckon with, ‘Well, what am I doing with my life?’ That’s the thing you’re always up against when you’re writing something that’s big.”
“I knew that Hamilton was gonna change my life. But I didn’t anticipate how much we’d help Hamilton’s legacy in turn. Not just Hamilton but also Eliza, for whom Hamilton’s legacy was so important.”
“I feel like Hamilton chose me. He reached out of the Chernow book and grabbed me and wouldn’t let me go until I told his story. You can’t manufacture another Hamilton. Hamilton is singular, the man and the creation of the show. I feel like my responsibility is just to sort of keep my eyes open and live it as slowly as possible, because I am aware musical theater does not get off the arts page often. And here we are.”
I can’t wait to see you again.
It’s only a matter of time.
Who lives, who dies, who tells your story?
My world turned upside down.
