July 22, 2015
Most people probably wouldn't associate American founding father Alexander Hamilton with hip-hop, but actor and composer Lin Manuel-Miranda, whose prior hit 'In the Heights' won three Tony's and a Grammy Award, decided it was a perfect match for his inventive retelling of the American dignitary's historic life.
The bio-musical officially opens on Broadway August 6 at the Richard Rodgers Theater, and according to Billboard, The Roots' Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson and Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter have signed on to executive produce the Original Broadway Cast Recording, due out this fall on Atlantic Records.
“Ten minutes into Hamilton...I was just so stunned. It was such a sucker punch,” says Thompson. Hamilton “can be your introduction to hip-hop -- on Broadway. And it’s a valid one. It’s a credible one.”
Miranda's fascination with Hamilton is explored in depth by The New Yorker in a piece that considers in part the history of U.S. immigrants embracing their challenges as motivation to become some of the nation's greatest leaders.
Miranda, who ultimately chose to star as Hamilton, says he has an equal affinity for Aaron Burr, Hamilton's nemesis and eventual killer in a duel in 1804. Come to think of it, Hamilton's life isn't so crazy as a hip-hop musical.
