All About the Hamiltons
Rebecca Mead on “Hamilton,” a hip-hop, pop, and rap musical about the Founding Fathers, by Lin-Manuel Miranda, which premièred at the Public Theatre.
While bobbing in a Mexican pool, Miranda started reading Chernow's 800-page Hamilton biography and was seized by the story: "Born out of wedlock, raised in poverty in St. Croix, abandoned by his father, orphaned by his mother." It was, he thought, a hip-hop story, an immigrant's story.