After is live Grammy performance and later winning Best Musical Theater Album, Hamilton is without a doubt the hottest thing to ever hit Broadway. The hip-hop musical tells the relatively unknown story of our founding father, Alexander Hamilton, through smooth rhymes and rapid-fire raps.
A few raps may have been thrown into a Broadway show before, but nothing comes close to what creator and star Lin-Manuel Miranda has done with Hamilton. Rather than just being used as something fun and different, the powerfully poetic raps of Hamilton keep your head bobbing and your eyes mesmerized the whole show. Miranda has successfully redefined what an American musical can look and sound like.
References to some hip-hop legends can also be picked-up throughout the show. Some of its songs include lyrics from Mobb Deep’s “Shook Ones Part II”, LL Cool J’s “I Need Love”, and the famous line “If you don’t know, know you know” straight out of Biggie’s “Juicy”. There are also some comical references to hip-hop culture including a scene where a character “makes it rain” with leaflets.
Before Stephen Colbert introduced Hamilton’s opening number live on the Grammys, he remarked that tickets for the show are so tight that the soonest seat he could get online was for a Sunday Matinee in 2018. He wasn’t joking around. Hamilton is completely sold out on Broadway for the next two and a half years. Luckily for those in other parts of the country, a national tour was recently announced and will make its first stop in Chicago beginning fall 2016. It is then planned to make extended stops in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Expect more cities to be announced soon. Those wanting to catch Hamilton before 2018 can find resale tickets on Rukkus.
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