Chances are if you have been invested social media, or even watched the news in the past few months you’ve heard people mention "Hamilton: An American Musical". Lin-Manuel Miranda is a veteran in writing groundbreaking musicals from his 1999 hit "In the Heights," so it’s no surprise Hamilton has received endless amounts of praise and publicity since it first debuted off-Broadway at the Public Theatre. However, "Hamilton" is not just a Broadway play meant for sheer enjoyment and entertainment. It could be argued that Miranda has written one of the most important musicals of the 21^st century.

Starting with the obvious, Miranda has taken the story of one of the least-known founding fathers and re-written it in a way that can attract the interest of most Americans. After reading "Alexander Hamilton" by Ron Chernow, Miranda was inspired by Hamilton’s climb to the top. True to most immigrants in America, Hamilton was inspired to achieve the American dream. Miranda realized how important it was to tell Hamilton’s story, because of the hardships he faced. Miranda introduces some of these hardships in the opening song, which he performed at the White House in 2008. Throughout the rest of the musical, Miranda highlights Hamilton’s achievements and feats that aren’t exactly common knowledge to the average American. For instance, one song is about the affair he had with his neighbor, which also happened to be the first political sex scandal in America. But Hamilton did so much more to help establish our country, like establishing our first national banks, or helping us gain notoriety in the eyes of well-established countries. Miranda has exposed the nation to the story of our nation’s start and one of our too often forgotten founding fathers in a way no one else could have ever imagined.

As someone who is much too well versed in Broadway trivia, I think it’s fair to say Miranda has broken a glass ceiling stylistically speaking, in the Broadway world. When one thinks Broadway, they might think of the classic belting or operatic styles of typical Broadway shows. "Hamilton" is told through a variety of musical styles, namely rap, hip-hop, and pop. Each character sings songs in a style that fits them best (i.e. King George III’s songs have a British pop-flair to them). That being said, a majority of the show’s songs are raps. Even the Cabinet meetings are re-told as Cabinet rap battles. The unorthodox styles don’t begin and end with the music, but the dancing is also not classic jazz or Fosse styles that most theatregoers are used to. Almost every song contains hip-hop style dancing; “The Battle of Yorktown” is an entirely choreographed song reenactment of the actual battle. Miranda making the decision to tell Alexander Hamilton’s story in this way has given him the opportunity to appeal to a wider audience.

The most important thing Miranda has done with "Hamilton" is his choice to tell the story of “America then by America now”. People of minority races play all of the main and supporting roles in the show. In the current world of Hollywood, it’s refreshing to see such a diverse cast on Broadway, especially compared to the whitewashed mainstream entertainment industry. It’s important to see these characters in this way because the messages our founding fathers had in 1776 speak to "all" Americans now. Miranda, who is Latino, plays the lead role of Alexander Hamilton. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Aaron Burr and James Madison are all played by African-American actors. Eliza Schyuler (later Hamilton) is played by an Asian-American actress, and her sisters Angelica and Peggy are both played by African-American actresses. It was important to represent the characters in this way to remind people that American history is not just about the white men that created our nation, and to also remind people of the huge role immigrants play in our society. Retelling this important story of our nation’s past in this kind of way also helps appeal to a larger audience, but also encourages the viewers to see the story told in a fresh new way that is still relevant to them.

At this point in "Hamilton’s" run, it’s safe to say that the musical has swept the nation by storm. Tickets are still being sold out months in advance, the online lottery crashed its first day because of the impressive amount of entries, and a national tour has already been announced, and all of these accomplishments have happened before the show has even been on Broadway for a year. Miranda has raised awareness of the life of one our most important founding fathers, while also raising awareness of other important matters our nation still faces. I believe that in 10, 20, or 30 years from now, people will be confirming that "Hamilton " was absolutely one of the most important musicals written in the 21

^st century. Just as Hamilton was, "Hamilton: An American Musical" is revolutionary.