Hamilton: An American Musical, or more commonly known simply as Hamilton, is a Broadway play, lyrics, and music written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, a book written by the same man, Lin- Manuel also takes on the role of Alexander in the musical. Lin-Manuel was inspired by a 2004 biography of Alexander Hamilton written by historian Ron Chernow. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The musical, which lasts 2 hours and 45 minutes, consists of happy singing, music and rapping to give some of the dark story a nice upbeat feel to most of the songs, however, there are a few songs that have a darker feeling, "Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story", "It's Quiet Uptown", "Satisfied", and "Wait For It" are the musical's most popular and darkest themed songs among the various dark songs . Overall, there are forty-six songs, and as of July 5, 2016, the musical's most popular song is "Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down)". The musical also features a cast of actors of color playing each of the founding fathers and various historical figures. The show made its off-Broadway debut at the Public Theater in February 2015. The New York City theater was founded as the Shakespeare Workshop. in 1954 by Joseph Papp. The debut of the now famous musical was sold out, arriving on Broadway in August of the same year as its debut at the Richard Rodgers Theatre, also in New York. Premiering on Broadway, Hamilton received strong critical reception and unexpected box office sales growth in 2016. Hamilton set a record, receiving 16 Tony nominations, winning 11, including Best Musical, and received the 2016 Grammy Awards for the musical. album and the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Prior to its debut, the musical won the 2015 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Musical and numerous other Drama Desk Awards out of a total of 14 nominated categories. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a custom essay The play consists of two acts, which tell the life of Alexander Hamilton through the major events he went through in American history. It explains Alexander's life from beginning to end, along with numerous other characters, such as Marquis De Lafayette, Aaron Burr, John Laurens, Hercules Mulligan, Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton, Angelica Schuyler, Peggy Schuyler, Phillip Hamilton, and former presidents George Washington , James Madison and Thomas Jefferson. Works Cited Chernow, R. (2004). Alexander Hamilton. Penguin Books. Joy, T. (2015). How Hamilton is revolutionizing the Broadway musical. The Daily Beast.Hamilton (Original Broadway Cast Recording) [recorded by various artists]. (2015). Atlantic Records.Kaufman, S. (2015). Hamilton: How Lin-Manuel Miranda's hip-hop musical rewrote history. The Guardian.Kopan, T. (2016). "Hamilton" wins the Pulitzer Prize for drama. CNN.Miranda, L.M. (2015). Hamilton: The Revolution. Grand Central Publishing. Miranda, L.M., & McCarter, J. (2016). Hamilton: The Revolution. Grand Central Publishing.Rothstein, M. (2015). Hamilton and the Hip-Hop Case for Progressive Heroism. The Atlantic.Stern, R. (2015). The Historical Inaccuracies in Hamilton: A Guest Essay by Michael Newton. The American scholar.Weinert-Kendt, R. (2015). Hamilton at the Public: An Ecstatic Snapshot of American Culture. The New York Times.