Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
Hamilton was the show that revolutionized Broadway. It blended hip hop with history and made America believe in the power of the musical again. Now PBS‘s Great Performances is going behind the scenes of the smash hit with a new documentary about the show called Hamilton’s America. The film follows the show from its inception to the moment it became and overnight phenomenon. PBS hosted a screening event for the film last night at the United Palace Theater in Washington Heights. Decider was there — and, yes, so was Hamilton (and In The Heights) mastermind Lin-Manuel Miranda.
During the panel after the screening, Miranda praised the enthusiastic audience for being so on board with the film. “It’s both a time capsule and sort of a great exploration of Hamilton’s life. So it’s really fun for me to watch.”
Hamilton’s America was directed by Miranda’s college roommate and long-time friend Alex Horwitz. Because of this, we get an intimate behind-the-scenes look at Miranda throughout the writing process, going as far back as 2008. Horwitz was able to train Miranda from his apartment in Washington Heights to the original White House Performance to writing sessions in Aaron Burr’s bedroom…years before the show even went into production. Horwitz explained, “I knew that they would be able to get a good show together.”
“You did?” moderator Gayle King asked. “You knew he would do it?”
“Yeah! Because I know him!”
Miranda famously got the idea for the show when he picked up Ron Chernow’s massive biography on the founding father to read on vacation — a fact that the panel ribbed into him for. Miranda defended his love of reading biographies for fun and then added, “I was also watching the first season of Mad Men on that same vacation!”
“Mad Men: The Musical,” Horwitz quipped.
Miranda added, “Mad Men: The Musical — coming soon!” Don’t get your hopes up, though, he was clearly joking. So you’ll have to wait for someone else to give us a hip hop Peggy Olson.
If Horwitz was completely on board with the idea from day one, Chernow was far more skeptical. The historian recounted being invited to In The Heights for a meeting with Miranda. “Well, Lin asked me on the spot to be the historical advisor for the show which I thought was novel. It was a non-existent show!” Chernow joked. “So I said to Lin, ‘So you want me to tell you when things are wrong?’ And he said to me with great fervor, ‘Yes, I want historians to take it seriously.’ You know, and that was music to my ears because I realized there was going to be real integrity and real respect for history. Because frankly, usually when Hollywood or Broadway does American history, they couldn’t care less what actually happened!”
Chernow then recounted their first creative meeting. “He started snapping his fingers and this is what he said: ‘How does a bastard, orphan, son-of-a-whore and a Scotsman…” So, yes, Ron Chernow rapped the intro to Hamilton last night.
Hamilton’s America debuts on PBS this Friday, October 21 at 9PM and 10:30PM. You will be able to stream it on PBS the next day.
