Hamilton: An American Growth Story

Hamilton: An American Growth Story

— Inspired by the first two verses of “Alexander Hamilton” Hamilton’s success and cultural impact are unprecedented for a Broadway musical. Lin-Manuel's inspiration to make it a hip-hop musical came from a poem that Hamilton had written espousing his ambition to make a better life for himself. And then once you start hearing about Hamilton’s life story, it sort of makes sense. This early audience started clamoring for the rest of the Hamilton Mixtape. This performance included four other people. The Original Broadway Cast Recording In September 2015, the Original Broadway Cast recording of the music was released. The book included the history of Alexander Hamilton and a behind-the-scenes look at the show, with annotated lyrics by Lin-Manuel. I want you to know everything about it.” [25] c. The Mixtape It was ironic how an idea that started out as a mixtape and evolved into a musical came full circle. This gave the musical’s fans another way to experience the show. It’s never too early to build and engage with a community around your product.

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How does a hip-hop musical about Hamilton
Become a hip, pop culture phenomenon,
A blockbuster that shows no signs of foldin’,
A door buster that’s never been as golden?

The son-of-an-immigrant creator, Lin-Manuel
Did it by following the startup manual
By validating the idea slowly
By listening to feedback closely
By building what people needed
The show’s success could not be impeded.

— Inspired by the first two verses of “Alexander Hamilton

Hamilton’s success and cultural impact are unprecedented for a Broadway musical. Yes, the uniqueness of its approach to a historical figure is a huge part of it. But none of that would matter without the hard work that went into building the audience for it. In fact, the idea for Hamilton was validated and iterated on no differently from how many startups have done it. This is that story.

The Idea

In 2008, Lin-Manuel Miranda bought a copy of Alexander Hamilton’s biography at an airport on his way to a vacation. Being a composer and performer, as he read the first few chapters, the seeds of Hamilton’s life as a musical were planted.

Lin-Manuel’s inspiration to make it a hip-hop musical came from a poem that Hamilton had written espousing his ambition to make a better life for himself. He connected the emotions of this poem to that of rappers he grew up listening to, all who used hip-hop as a way to write about their squalid circumstances and as a way out of them[1].

“I understand how ridiculous the elevator pitch for this show is,” Lin-Manuel told NPR’s Scott Simon. “It sounds improbable. And then once you start hearing about Hamilton’s life story, it sort of makes sense. The mode of storytelling makes sense to the subject.” [2]

While this characteristic of the musical is possibly its most unique, it stemmed from Lin-Manuel’s deep passion for hip-hop. It wasn’t a forced connection or a gimmick. Don’t underestimate the role of passion and being consumed by an idea when deciding to pursue it. In Lin-Manuel’s case, it took him 6 years to bring Hamilton to stage.

Research

Lin-Manuel dove into researching the idea of a Hamilton musical. His first question: Did one already exist?

To his surprise (because the idea seemed so obvious to him), none did. The closest thing he found was a play from the early 1900s [3]. To round out his understanding of Hamilton, he dove into biographies of major characters [1] that impacted his life as well. He also met with the author of the biography that inspired him, who was skeptical that his book could be turned into a musical — until he heard Lin-Manuel sing the opening song that summarized the entire book [4]. The first convert was born.

The MVP & Early Traction

Lin-Manuel first conceptualized this musical as a concept album called The Hamilton Mixtape. In May 2009 he had begun working on the first song. He received a call from the White House to take part in an Evening of Poetry, Music and the Spoken Word where he performed an early version of what would later become “Alexander Hamilton,” Hamilton’s opening number.

In a recent interview, he revealed that at the time he performed the song, it wasn’t even completely written. He joked was that if a political audience wouldn’t resonate with a song (even if it was hip-hop) about Hamilton then he was likely in trouble. They gave him a standing ovation.

The White House posted the performance on YouTube by and it went viral. Parody responses, video covers, college and high school performances, and other hip-hop songs about Hamilton surfaced. In fact, a common refrain Lin-Manuel heard was that history teachers had shared that video with their students. This early audience started clamoring for the rest of the Hamilton Mixtape.

In May 2009, Oskar Eustis, artistic director of the Public Theater saw Lin-Manuel’s performance at the White House and begged him to work on Hamilton at his theatre. Lin-Manuel turned him down insisting it wasn’t a show. Lin-Manuel kept Oskar updated on his progress, however, sending him songs as he wrote them. All this did was keep Oskar’s begging streak alive for 3 years, with Lin-Manuel turning him down every time [5].

The reason Lin-Manuel turned Oskar down was that he wanted to be open to inspiration. If he’d committed to Hamilton as a musical he’d have to worry about linking them all into a coherent story. As long as it was just a mixtape, they would just be a collection of songs [5].

Iterating On Version 1 (The Mixtape)

It had taken Lin-Manuel a year to write his first song. It took him another year to finish the second one [6]. Three and half years later, in January 2012, Lin-Manuel performed songs from the work-in progress-mixtape for the first time. This performance included four other people. It got rave reviews [7]further stoking demand for the complete mixtape.

A second set of performances with more songs emerged in July 2013. This time nine performers accompanied Lin-Manuel. The anticipation was so great that both shows were sold out. Even the waiting lists were full [8].

Building Version 2 (The Musical) In Public

In the spring of 2014, after a series of conversations with Oskar, Lin-Manuel agreed to develop and premiere Hamilton as a show — “building in public” as it were, coincidentally, at a theatre called The Public [5].

The existing buzz for the Mixtape was amplified with it becoming a show. The response to tickets going on sale for the premiere of “Hamilton” overwhelm Lin-Manuel.

The show went through various iterations, including one in which the show wasn’t completely sung and rapped from start to finish [9].

In one interview, Lin-Manuel said: “Let’s not let the outside world affect the decisions we make. That’s not to say we don’t let the audience affect us, because the audience is our last collaborator. But in terms of the outside world — ”you should move now” or “you should move later” or “you should cut 15 minutes” — that’s not interesting to us. What got us here was the conversations we all had. The outside world input is great and fine, and if it sticks in your stomach and you can’t stop thinking about it, maybe there’s something to it. [10]”

On January 20, 2015, Hamilton premiered at the Public Theatre to rave reviews [11]. In May, the show ended its sold-out 119 performance, off-Broadway run, attended by a swath of cultural and political celebrities [12].

Big Questions Before The Public Launch

In July 2015, the show moved to the Richard Rogers Theatre on Broadway for previews before its official premiere in August.

Despite its 15-week run at the Public Theatre, Hamilton hadn’t been seen by too many people— just over 34,000 seats were available during that time.

Even though early signs were positive, there was uncertainty around how it would be received by broader audiences over a longer period of time.

“The question we have to answer is: ‘Will the word of mouth be as good, or better, on Broadway? Will we measure up?’ ” said the show’s lead producer, Jeffrey Seller[12].

There was also cause for worry because another show a few years earlier featuring another historical American figure, Andrew Jackson hadn’t done well [13]. More recently a hip-hop show with songs by Tupac Shakur had flopped [14].

High Demand Inspires A Tradition That Goes Viral

These worries were quickly put to rest. Before the first Broadway preview, the show sold over 200,000 tickets ringing in one of the biggest pre-opening totals in history — $27.6 million!

The demand for tickets was so high that Lin-Manuel, inspired by a practice pioneered by “Rent”, instituted a $10 ticket, day-of lottery for front row seats (i.e., #Ham4Ham aka get to see Hamilton for only $10). Over 700 people showed up hoping to be among the lucky winners of the first Hamilton…

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