119: Why Hamilton the Musical Became a Sensation (and What Homeschoolers Can Learn From It)

Have you ever wondered why Hamilton: An American Musical became such a cultural phenomenon—and why people who never cared much about history or musicals suddenly became obsessed with it?

In today’s episode of the Music in Our Homeschool podcast, we’re exploring How and Why Hamilton the Musical Became a Sensation. Beyond catchy songs and sold-out Broadway performances, Hamilton changed the way audiences think about history, storytelling, musical theater, and even music education.

We’ll discuss the fascinating life of Alexander Hamilton and how his difficult childhood, determination, and legacy inspired composer and playwright Lin-Manuel Miranda to create one of the most influential musicals of our time. We’ll also explore the musical techniques used throughout Hamilton, including motifs, recurring themes, rap, hip-hop influences, references to classical music, and connections to other famous musicals.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why Hamilton resonated so deeply with audiences
• How rap and hip-hop transformed storytelling on Broadway
• The historical background behind the musical
• Musical concepts homeschoolers can notice while listening
• Hidden references to other musicals, opera, and classical music
• Christian and biblical themes woven throughout the show
• Life lessons related to perseverance, forgiveness, ambition, and redemption

Whether you’re a homeschool parent looking for engaging music appreciation ideas, teaching American history, studying musical theater, or simply curious about why Hamilton became a worldwide sensation, this episode offers meaningful connections between history, literature, music theory, and faith.

Music appreciation becomes much richer when students discover how music connects to storytelling, historical events, and big ideas.

Find links to all resources mentioned in this episode here: https://musicinourhomeschool.com/why-is-hamilton-the-musical-so-powerful/

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Transcript

Masterclass How and Why Hamilton the Musical Became a Sensation by Gena Mayo

[00:00:00] Hi, Harmony Heroes. This is Gena Mayo, and today we're going to be doing something different. I want to share a presentation that I did a couple of years ago called How and Why Hamilton the Musical Became Such a Sensation. I think you'll really enjoy today's episode, and I would love to hear what you think when it's done. So please send me a message, an email, or contact me through my website, MusicinOurHomeschool.com, and let me know what you think. Let's get started.

 I'm Gena Mayo, and today we're exploring Hamilton the musical, how and why it became a sensation. The year was 2016. Our oldest son came to us with a proposal. Would we take him to New York City to see Les Misérables on Broadway, since it was in its final months of being there? Ben had always been involved in musical theater for many years already at this point, including having played a [00:01:00] student in Les Mis in a community theater in our area.

So we decided to take him. As I was planning the itinerary, I told him that we could see a second show as well, and I gave him the list of musicals that were playing that June weekend in 2016. He chose Jersey Boys. We stayed in a hotel in Times Square, and every time we walked out the front door to head to eat, sightsee, shop, or see a show, I noticed that people were lined up against the building next door.

They had their sleeping bags, pillows, laptops, and snacks, and were just sitting there in line at an unmarked door. After seeing this for a couple of days, we walked around the building and figured out what they were doing. That was the backstage door for Hamilton. They were sitting there waiting for the actors to show up every evening for the performance, maybe to get their autograph or a photo, or maybe just to see them walk in.[00:02:00] 

So I asked Michael and Ben, "Do you want to see Hamilton?" We had some free time, so I hopped online to see if any tickets were available. There were some for sale, but they cost $2,000 each. Uh, no, we weren't going to do that. But that was the first time I started to realize that the show Hamilton was something special.

There was something innovative and fresh about it that hadn't been seen before. Later that year in the fall of 2016, a different cast production of Hamilton opened up in Chicago near where I live. Throughout the past three and a half years, we kept hearing that it was about to close, but then it would be extended again.

Finally, in January of this year, it was for sure closing its run in Chicago, so I decided to go see it for my birthday a couple of days before it closed (in January 2020). It was one of the most powerful, moving experiences I've ever had, and since that time, I've been trying to [00:03:00] figure out what it was that made Hamilton so powerful and moving.

I have performed in, seen, and directed many musicals in my lifetime. I've memorized and analyzed and dug deep into many of them, but Hamilton was different. What was it?

Hamilton was written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, and it became an instant hit in 2015 in the off-Broadway theater called The Public. Then it moved to Broadway later in 2015 and ran until being suspended by COVID-19 in March of 2020.

Hamilton would go on to win 11 Tony Awards, a Grammy Award, and a Pulitzer Prize in 2016. Why? So today, I'll attempt to explain it. I know I'll fall short. After I'm done, I want to hear from you. Do you see something that I missed? Here are nine things I believe help explain how and why Hamilton [00:04:00] became a sensation.

First, it tells the story of Alexander Hamilton's life. After seeing the musical live in January 2020, I began listening to Ron Chernow's 700-page biography of Alexander Hamilton. That's 35 hours' worth. I'm not finished with it yet, but even more than is described in the musical, the full life story of Alexander Hamilton is fascinating.

You can't help but be inspired by this boy who grew up in such horrible circumstances, surrounded by immorality, even of his parents and other relatives, sickness, poverty, slavery, brutality, suicide, and death. I had no idea a founder of this great nation had such a rough start in life. If anyone could say he was a victim of his circumstances and there was nothing he could do to rise above it, it was Alexander Hamilton, but he didn't fall into despair.[00:05:00] 

Instead, he worked hard to study on his own with whatever books he could find to grow his mind and his writing ability, and it was actually his writing that led him to leave his birthplace in the West Indies and head to the great opportunities of America to further his studies. When a hurricane struck his island when he was 17, he wrote a letter describing the experience.

It was the poignancy of that letter that led it to be published in the newspaper, and then for a collection to be raised to send Hamilton to New York to go to school. It's almost amazing that he was barely 17 or 18 and practically unschooled when he wrote this. Here are some excerpts from that letter.

"Honored sir, I take up my pen just to give you an imperfect account of one of the most dreadful hurricanes that memory or any records whatever can trace, which [00:06:00] happened here on the 31st ultimo at night. It began about dusk at north and raged very violently till 10:00 o'clock. Then ensued a sudden and unexpected interval which lasted about an hour.

Meanwhile, the wind was shifting round to the southwest point, from whence it returned with redoubled fury, and continued so till near 3:00 o'clock in the morning. Good God, what horror and destruction. It's impossible for me to describe or you to form any idea of it. It seemed as if a total dissolution of nature was taking place.

The roaring of the sea and wind, fiery meteors flying about in the air, the prodigious glare of almost perpetual lightning, the crash of the falling houses, and the ear-piercing shrieks of the distressed were sufficient to strike astonishment into angels. A great part of the buildings throughout the island are leveled to the ground, almost all the [00:07:00] rest very much shattered.

Several persons killed and numbers utterly ruined. Whole families running about the streets, unknowing where to find a place of shelter. The sick exposed to the keenness of water and air without a bed to lie upon or a dry covering to their bodies, and our harbors entirely bare. In a word, misery in all its hideous shapes spread over the whole face of the country.

A strong smell of gunpowder added somewhat to the terrors of the night, and it was observed that the rain was surprisingly salt. Indeed, the water is so brackish and full of sulfur that there is hardly any drinking it. My reflections and feelings on this frightful and melancholy occasion are set forth in the following self-discourse: "Where now, O vile worm, is thy boasted fortitude and resolution?

What is become of thine arrogance and self-sufficiency? Why dost thou tremble and [00:08:00] stand aghast? How humble, how helpless, how contemptible you now appear. And for why? The jarring of elements, the discord of clouds? O impotent, presumptuous fool, how durst thou offend that Omnipotence, whose nod alone were sufficient to quell the destruction that hovers over thee, or crush thee into atoms?

See thy wretched, helpless state and learn to know thyself. Learn to know thy best support, despise thyself and adore thy God. How sweet, how unutterably sweet were now the voice of an approving conscience. Then couldst thou say, 'Hence, ye idle alarms.' Why do I shrink? What have I to fear? A pleasing, calm suspense, a short repose from calamity to end in eternal bliss.

Let heaven, let earth rend. Let the planets forsake their course. Let the sun be extinguished and the heavens burst asunder. [00:09:00] Yet what have I to dread? My staff can never be broken. In Omnipotence I trusted. He who gave the winds to blow and the lightnings to rage, even Him have I always loved and served.

His precepts have I observed, His commandments have I obeyed, and His perfections have I adored. He will snatch me from ruin. He will exalt me to the fellowship of angels and seraphs and to the fullness of never-ending joys."

As a poor immigrant in America without family connections or money, and getting started in his college studies relatively late to the other Founding Fathers, Hamilton already had barriers set in place, but he knocked them all down by his perseverance and hard work.

Lin-Manuel Miranda read Chernow's book while on vacation in 2008, and he had the genius idea to turn this story into a musical. He said he was actually [00:10:00] surprised that no one had ever done it before. Not only that, but Miranda found a way to tell Hamilton's life in a fresh, meaningful, inspirational, and exciting way.

The opening song gives the background of Alexander's childhood in the West Indies and sets us up to see how he would invent himself as an American, and at the same time, help invent America itself.

So the second way that Hamilton, the musical, is powerful is that Miranda decided to use hip hop and rap as one of the main musical genres.

It had rarely been done before, and without much success when it had. So why did Miranda decide to use hip hop and rap as one of the main musical genres of Hamilton? Well, there are three reasons, I think. One, we know that Alexander Hamilton wrote so much during his lifetime. Why do you write like you're running out of time?

We [00:11:00] have a plethora of Hamilton's writings that have survived to this day. Essays, such as the 51 essays he wrote for The Federalist Papers, poems, letters, and speeches. In Hamilton, you have up to 10 times more words than in most traditional musicals. Miranda said that Alexander Hamilton left behind more words in his writing than any other founding father, so you need hip hop and rap because that style has more words per measure than any other genre of music.

Rap provided the ability to give us more of Hamilton's words because Miranda could put more words into a shorter timeframe with that style. He said it actually took him a whole year to write the song "My Shot," because every syllable is filled. The rhyming is intricate and strung together like a thick rope that became Hamilton's voice.

Hip hop and rap is a [00:12:00] musical genre of high intensity and excitement. It permeates and gives incredible energy to the musical and to the audience watching it. And yet, Miranda knew that he needed to balance that style with other fun styles such as jazz, pop, R&B, and the beautiful standard musical theater lyrical songs that he also included in Hamilton.

Miranda wrote hip hop and rap into the musical because he wrote Hamilton for himself to star in. He is of Puerto Rican descent and said there weren't enough roles for him to play in on Broadway, especially since he isn't really a dancer, and that would be needed for West Side Story. So first, he wrote In the Heights, and then Hamilton, where the lead sings and raps like he does. 

The third powerful element was the use of non-white actors to play white historical [00:13:00] figures in Hamilton. The fact that Miranda gave the opportunity for non-white actors to play white historical figures is, again, because he himself didn't have many opportunities to play roles in Broadway musicals. If you've seen the show, you know that it doesn't take you very long to be able to get into the fictional dream of the story, and it never bothers you at all that the actors playing these famous figures, such as George Washington, don't look like them, or that the sisters aren't even the same ethnicities as each other.

I think this is a concept that has been much more commonly utilized in community and school theater programs, because we typically have a smaller pool of actors to choose from. For example, I've been in a part of many shows where certain white characters, such as Fantine from Les Misérables, or Mrs. Hannigan from Annie, were played by excellent black actresses. So it's wonderful that Broadway will now [00:14:00] be thinking this way as well. 

I do want to mention that I hope the industry is careful not to swing the pendulum too far and say that we can have non-white actors play white parts, but will not allow white actors to play non-white parts. I've already seen some theater groups say that they will be doing this, and it saddens me deeply. All people should have the opportunity to play a part in a show without their skin color being the reason why they don't get a part. 

Fourth, the history embedded in the musical Hamilton is another element that has led to its power and its becoming a sensation.

I know that the reason many people have found Hamilton to be so powerful for them is this history. My eighth- grade history teacher was named Mr. Hamilton, and he taught us American history. Mr. Hamilton loved Alexander Hamilton and [00:15:00] talked about him all the time. I'm not sure if he was actually related to him or not, but he respected him in a way that most people never did because they simply didn't know much about him.

"Every other Founding Father's story gets told. Every other Founding Father gets to grow old." 

Now, after listening to the soundtrack and/or seeing the performance, students and adults around the world are studying more about the founding of our nation, the Revolutionary War, the writing of the U.S. Constitution, and the early presidential struggles.

This show has helped young people understand the early history of America better. We also see in the story of Hamilton, even in King George's songs, that there was no guarantee that the United States would make it. It has encouraged further study, such as reading Hamilton's writings or his biography. I know this would make [00:16:00] Eliza happy.

Mr. Hamilton probably didn't get to because he would've been in his 80s, but I sure hope that inspirational history teacher of mine got to go see Hamilton on Broadway before he died. 

Fifth, I am absolutely convinced that another thing that makes Hamilton powerful are the clever musical techniques that Miranda employed when writing it.

We've already mentioned that Miranda made the voice of Alexander Hamilton full of rap because Hamilton was such a prodigious writer. Well, Miranda said that he gave Thomas Jefferson the style of jazz for his voice because Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson was a pre-running Founding Father to Alexander Hamilton, just like jazz came before hip hop and rap and influenced it.

George Washington, likewise, has a musical style for his voice that sounds more like the regimented military leader [00:17:00] that he was. Miranda, just like Richard Wagner in his operas and John Williams in his film music, like Star Wars, used musical themes and motifs to represent different characters. These include chord progressions, you can see the videos that I will post below this that explain more about that, as well as melodic themes for the characters.

Alexander Hamilton, and Angelica, and Eliza. There are some other musical themes and motifs that permeate the musical. The fanfare that precedes Burr, bum ba da da dum dum da, whenever he's going to do some narrating. The sad Eliza theme on the piano. You hear this when she asks Alexander to join her at the lake house, but he stays back and has an affair instead, and when she mourns Philip's death, [00:18:00] and the night before her husband dies when she asks him to come back to bed, but he stays up to write more instead.

The line, "Why do you write like you're running out of time?" is said in many of the songs. The words relating to throwing away my shot are used in various ways to display both ambition and more literally of choosing not to shoot to kill an opponent in a duel. The musical theme of, "Look around, look around, how lucky we are to be alive right now" traces through the arc of Alexander's and Eliza's relationship and is used in many of the songs that they sing to each other. Helpless is another theme that comes back in various times during the show, not only by Eliza, but also by Alexander and Maria. 

One fascinating aspect is that the lyrical, melodic, and verbal themes and motifs go throughout the entire musical, [00:19:00] except for King George's three songs. They are completely isolated and have no themes or motifs from anything else we hear in the show. His music does have references to the music of The Beatles and other bands from the British Invasion, though. And you'll notice that his songs just have end rhymes, not the internal rhymes that we find in the other hip-hop and rap songs. 

Miranda purposely reintroduced themes to make the story more meaningful or deep, or, to put it another way, to make us cry. He studied Les Misérables to learn techniques for the reintroduction of themes. Furthermore, Les Misérables used something called a descending bass chord progression in its heart-wrenching songs "Who Am I," "I Dreamed a Dream," "One Day More," and "Come to Me," the song that Fantine sings as she, and later as Valjean, is dying.[00:20:00] 

A descending bass line progression is used throughout the musical Hamilton as well, because it has actually been identified as the saddest chord progression ever. The descending bass line has been used in sad songs throughout music history, such as Monteverdi's Lamenta d'Arianna way back in the Renaissance time, Ray Charles' "Hit the Road Jack," Bach's Mass in B Minor piece " Crucifixus" for Jesus's death, Chopin's Prelude in E Minor, which was played at his funeral, the sad theme from the movie Up, and Adele's song "Someone Like You." 

Let me mention two more things that make Hamilton interesting in regard to its musical genius.

There are a number of references to other songs, musicals, and even operas. In my research, people have found references to the song [00:21:00] "Sit Down, John," in the musical 1776, the song "Nobody Needs to Know" from the musical The Last Five Years, the song "I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do," I Do from the musical Mamma Mia!, the Major General's Song from the operetta The Pirates of Penzance, the song "You've Got to Be Carefully Taught" from the musical South Pacific.

When Burr sings, "I look back on where I've failed," it's the same melody as "I'm reaching, but I fall" from Les Miserables, and "The Story of Tonight" is also reminiscent of "Drink With Me" from Les Miserables.

There are also some classical musical references, such as using a harpsichord in "You'll Be Back," which was an instrument of the Baroque and Classical eras of music during which these characters lived. Also, you hear the melody from Wagner's opera Lohengrin for Alexander and Eliza's wedding. That's the music that we often call "Here Comes the Bride."

One more [00:22:00] interesting thing, Hamilton is what's known as a sung-through musical. It doesn't break up into acting scenes and then back into a song and dance like many traditional musicals do. The entire show is sung through or rapped through, similar to what opera does with recitative.

The only scene with spoken dialogue that isn't chanted or rhymed is the song about John Laurens' death, and even that one is spoken by Eliza and Alexander at the same time that Laurens is on the other side of the stage singing a solo. Some other sung-through musicals include Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Les Miserables, Miss Saigon, Cats, and Evita. 

Now, let's look at another genius of Lin-Manuel Miranda, and that is his libretto or the words of the story.

I already [00:23:00] mentioned that Miranda was influenced by a 700-page biography of Hamilton. He took that and turned those words into a musical. There is an overwhelming amount of information that you're given in a two-and-a-half-hour period. Miranda really knows how to write. There is never a dull moment in this show.

He found a way to pack in so much story and so much history and so many words that it's almost overwhelming. It doesn't let up once it starts, and it causes you to think about it for days. You can listen to it or watch it over and over and catch something new every single time. The more I study the words of this musical, the more it reminds me of the genius of Shakespeare, who also had an amazing ability with the English language, with poetry, and with rhyming. Alexander Hamilton even refers to Shakespeare's play Macbeth in the show. 

I love the way the [00:24:00] puns, which obviously relate to dueling, throwing away my shot, and satisfaction, are woven through with different meanings throughout the show. And Miranda employs so many different artistic literary techniques such as foreshadowing, repetition, and patterns, such as the three duels and the three times that King George sings.

Another powerful aspect of the show is that it allows us now to see the historical figures of Alexander Hamilton, Eliza Hamilton, George Washington, and Aaron Burr as three-dimensional characters, as flesh and blood. And not as the two-dimensional characters portraits that we see in books or on our money, or even on Mount Rushmore.

The humanity of these people reaches our souls. We feel for them. We cry for them. We see their flaws and how they were able to make something great [00:25:00] in spite of it all. 

The next element is the more I studied Hamilton, the more Christianity I discovered in it. Many of these scripture references were written about in the Christianity Today article, " Here's Every Biblical Reference in Hamilton," by Alyssa Wilkinson.

The song Alexander Hamilton says, "Dropped in the middle of a forgotten spot in the Caribbean by Providence, impoverished in squalor, grow up to be a hero and a scholar." Alexander believed that Providence, which is another name for God, preordained his life, where he would be born, how he would grow up, but that God wouldn't leave him there and would provide an opportunity for Alexander to leave and make his mark in America.

The song "My Shot" says, "Foes oppose us, we take an honest stand. We [00:26:00] roll like Moses claimin' our promised land." The promised land of Moses was Israel when he freed his people from slavery in Egypt. Here, the promised land is America, and all who were fighting for freedom were acting as Moses. 

In the song "A Winter's Ball," we hear, "Watch this obnoxious, arrogant, loudmouthed bother be seated at the right hand of the father."This is a comparison to Jesus, who sits at the right hand of His Father, God, comparing Hamilton to sitting at the right hand of the father of our country, George Washington. 

In the song "Wait For It," Burr sings, "My grandfather was a fire and brimstone preacher, but there are things that the homilies and hymns won't teach ya. Love doesn't discriminate between the sinners and the saints. It takes and it takes and it takes. Death doesn't discriminate [00:27:00] between the sinners and the saints. It takes and it takes and it takes. Life doesn't discriminate between the sinners and the saints. It takes and it takes and it takes. Hamilton doesn't hesitate. He exhibits no restraint. He takes and he takes and he takes." 

Aaron Burr was actually the grandson of the Great Awakening fire and brimstone preacher, Jonathan Edwards, who is most famous for his sermon, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." 

Next, obviously the "10 Duel Commandments is a reference to the Ten Commandments of the Bible, specifically the Christian elements it refers to are number six, "Pray that heaven or hell let you in," and number seven, "Confess your sins."

The song "Say No to This" has Hamilton singing, "Lord, show me how to say no to this. I don't know how to say no to this." It's a prayer asking God to deliver him from temptation. 

In [00:28:00] the song "Schuyler Defeated," Burr sings, "Your pride will be the death of us all. Beware, it goeth before a fall." Proverbs 16:18 says, "Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall."

In the song "One Last Time," George Washington sings words from Micah 4:2-5, "Everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid. They'll be safe in the nation we've made. I want to sit under my own vine and fig tree, a moment alone in the shade, at home in this nation we've made, one last time."

In the song "The World Was Wide Enough," Alexander sings about going to heaven with the words, "I catch a glimpse of the other side. Laurens leads a soldiers' chorus on the other side. My son is on the other side. He's with my mother on the other side. Washington is watching from the other side. Eliza, my love, take your [00:29:00] time. I'll see you on the other side." 

And finally, in the song "Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story," Eliza said, "The Lord in his kindness, he gives me what you always wanted. He gives me more time." 

Sarah Arthur wrote an article for Christianity Today where she interviewed the author of the book God and Hamilton: Spiritual Themes from the Life of Alexander Hamilton and the Broadway Musical He Inspired. The author, Kevin Cloud, said, "When Hamilton arrived in New York City in his later teen years, he studied at King's College and participated in the school's rhythms of religious devotion. He attended daily morning chapel, evening prayers, and church services twice on Sunday. His roommate once journaled about the fervency of Hamilton's prayers, and yet we know that Hamilton also experienced seasons where he drifted from his religious devotion.

His wife, [00:30:00] Eliza, was probably more devoted, while Hamilton seemed to have experienced alternating seasons of authentic faith and genuine doubt. We see this struggle in the powerful song It's Quiet Uptown, which shows Eliza and Alexander struggling through the death of their oldest son, Philip, who was shot and killed in a duel that Philip initiated to defend his father's honor.

Alexander sings, 'I take the children to church on Sunday, a sign of the cross at the door, and I pray. That never used to happen before.' "The struggle between faith and doubt can encourage us as we wrestle through those alternating seasons in our own lives." End quote from Kevin Cloud. 

This brings us to the question of whether Alexander Hamilton was a true believer or not. He wrote a poem as a teen before leaving the West Indies that Eliza treasured and held as proof of her husband's salvation. Here [00:31:00] is that poem, The Soul Ascending into Bliss, An Humble Imitation of Pope's Dying Christian to His Soul. Written in Saint Croix, October 17th, 1772. 

Ah! whither, whither am I flown?

A wandering guest in worlds unknown. 

What is it that I see and hear? 

What heavenly music fills mine ear? 

Ethereal glories shine around, 

More than Arabia's sweets abound. 

Hark! hark! a voice from yonder sky, 

Methinks I hear my Savior cry, 

"Come, gentle spirit, come away! 

Come to thy Lord without delay; 

For thee the gates of bliss unbarred, 

Thy constant virtue to reward."

I come, O Lord! I mount, I fly, 

On rapid wings I cleave the sky. 

Stretch out Thy arm and aid my flight, 

For, oh! I long to gain that height, 

Where all celestial beings sing 

Eternal [00:32:00] praises to their King. 

O Lamb of God, thrice gracious Lord, 

Now, now I feel how true Thy Word. 

Translated to this happy place, 

This blessed vision of Thy face, 

My soul shall all Thy steps attend, 

And songs of triumph without end. 

And that brings us to the final reason I believe Hamilton is so powerful, and that is the themes to teach us how to live and how not to live.

I teach high school literature, and last week we were exploring the idea of why do we study literature? One reason is that we can learn from the examples of those we read about. This is certainly the case in Hamilton, and in fact, I think it might be one of the most important reasons that the show has become so popular.

How should we live, how should we not live, are what we see in every scene throughout the entire musical. It starts with [00:33:00] Hamilton deciding that he's not throwing away his shot, and you see how far he goes with his determination, hard work, and perseverance. It's the American dream. And even as an immigrant who grew up in poverty, he did it, and made his mark on history and on our country.

But the person of Alexander Hamilton also shows us how pride and infidelity lead to a stain on his character that won't ever leave. We learn that we should "say no to this" in areas where he didn't. 

Miranda calls these scenes moments of action, and they are one of his favorite aspects of live theater. They are times during the show that confront us and demand a response, whether we want them to or not. George Washington sings, "Dying is easy, young man. Living is harder." 

And that brings us to the theme of redemption. Eliza demonstrates to us that forgiveness is a powerful [00:34:00] action that not only makes a difference in the immediate moment, but has lasting consequences.

Would we even know about her husband? Would we even know about her, if she hadn't forgiven him and chosen to write his story? Who writes your story? Eliza Hamilton, Ron Chernow, and Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote Alexander's. 

Whose story will you write, and who will write yours? How will you live differently because of what someone will write about you someday? Because it's quite possible that "history has its eyes on you." 

Well, that's it for today, my Harmony Heroes. If you're interested in anything related to today's episode, please head over to the accompanying blog post. You'll find the link in the show notes or description, and please leave a review. Send me a message and let me know what you thought of today's episode, and I will see you [00:35:00] next week on the Music in Our Homeschool podcast.

Find links to all resources mentioned in this episode here: https://musicinourhomeschool.com/why-is-hamilton-the-musical-so-powerful/