About five years ago, someone would have looked at a ten dollar bill and wondered "who's this again?" He's not one our presidents, what did he do that earned him a spot on the ten dollar bill? There was even talk of changing the person on the ten dollar bill.

That was until a certain man named Lin-Manuel Miranda came along and read a biography on Alexander Hamilton and decided it would be a good idea to write a musical that featured our founding fathers rapping and singing hip hop onstage. Yeah, on the surface that sounds a bit strange. But "Hamilton" is truly one of the best musicals currently running on Broadway (and probably will keep running until the sun burns out).

In case you've been living under a rock, "Hamilton" is the Broadway musical that chronicles the life of founding father Alexander Hamilton from when he was nineteen and became George Washington's right hand man during the American Revolution, all the way up to his death during his fateful duel with Aaron Burr.

The show made its first debut back in 2015 and quickly became a sensation, and it soon became hard and expensive to get tickets. One girl I went to high school with payed $600 for one seat at the very back of the theater. I was a bit late to the game, I finally caved and listened to the soundtrack about April 2016 and had it on repeat for probably a month straight. I'm not someone who will typically listen to rap, and I loved the music in this show.

I hesitated to call "Hamilton" a favorite show because I had only listened to the soundtrack and had yet to see the show live. Then, for my birthday, my parents surprised me with tickets to see the show in Boston. Last Tuesday, as soon as I was done with class for the day, my mom and I drove up to Boston, grabbed dinner at a restaurant and saw the show.

I'm really happy to say that the live show for "Hamilton" is even better than listening to the soundtrack. I was extremely lucky and had a seat in the front row, I was completely absorbed in the action onstage.

The actors all captured their characters so well. The actor who normally plays Hamilton wasn't there that night, so one of his understudies, Edred Utomi, went on, and he was amazing. I even got a picture with him after the show. I also really loved seeing some of my favorite songs such as "Burn," "Wait for it" and "Satisfied" performed live. But something I didn't expect to love so much was the ensemble. Their dancing was so graceful, sharp and stunning. They were on the stage as much as the lead actors were, half the time I found myself watching what they were rather than focusing on what the lead actors were saying (or rapping). Everyone in the show felt just as important as the next person and the whole show felt alive.

Some of the stand out performances among the lead cast for me were George Washington played by Paul Oakley Stovall, who was basically a dad trying to control his rowdy children during the cabinet battles. Aaron Burr, who served as a narrator telling the story. Nicholas Christopher truly made Burr a captivating character and also had a few surprisingly humorous moments I didn't get from the soundtrack. I also really loved Isa Briones who played Peggy Schuyler/Maria Reynolds, whenever she was onstage, even just standing in the background, I couldn't stop watching her. Which is strange because my favorite character has always been Eliza (played by Hannah Cruz, also an amazing performance). Also, quick honorable mention to Peter Matthew Smith who played King George, he was a complete scene stealer.

There are so many things I could say about this show, but I don't have time to write a million more words. Just know that it's one of the best shows I've ever experienced and it's officially up there as an all time favorite musical with "Wicked" and "Phantom of the Opera." My mom, who's not a theater person, loved the show. The last time I went home I caught her listening to the soundtrack while cleaning the house.