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Personal Narrative: The Musical Hamilton

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The musical Hamilton took the world by storm when it was performed in 2015 on stage at the Richard Rogers theater in New York City. I had heard about it many times from my friends and I had been to many musicals, but I didn’t really have enough interest to check it out. All that changed when I saw Lin-Manuel Miranda and the entire broadway cast perform at the 2015 Grammy awards in March. After seeing the highly engaging and energetic cast singing and dancing about one of the lesser known founding fathers I thought, “Hey! This looks cool.” Now eight months later I have memorized every song and line of the entire musical. One of the many amazing things about Hamilton is that it’s all about a man who literally started from the bottom and fought his way to the top. …show more content…

When I was initially getting into Hamilton, I was also taking AP United States History and the historical context of the play assisted me in remembering key events in the revolutionary period. I had fun studying for the AP test alongside my friends as we sang along to Hamilton during our study sessions. My only wish was that there more musicals about important figures in U.S. history that could help us with the 500 years worth of history we were reviewing. Whenever I listen to Hamilton I feel like I’m in my element doing two things that I love, singing, and learning about history. What strikes me the most about Hamilton and the cultural phenomenon it has created is the fact that if you set your mind to it, anything is possible. I think about how Miranda read a book about a man whose only historical significance was being the first Secretary of Treasury, and eight years later, there is a record smashing hit that now hold the record for most awarded play, just because of an

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