Writing the lengthy chapter titles in the table of contents It was complicated to put together, but part of the fun of it for me and Lin is that this was like a puzzle: How do you assemble the pieces of this book so that it’s telling a coherent story from page one to page 288, but also setting up the next song in the show, and how do the notes on that song explain that song but also continue the insight that Lin has been giving you in the songs that follow and precede.” “Lin wrote the show largely in sequence, so the text of the book is a series of chapters that describe another episode in its development, or share a profile of a person involved in the production, or something essayistic about what it means. So a lot of the book is based on things that I got to see firsthand that haven’t been reported elsewhere because nobody else was there.”īelow, McCarter talks about putting Hamilton: The Revolution together, the clever chapter titles found in the table of contents - premiering exclusively on Vulture - and the stories behind some of the book’s standout chapters. “One of the fortunate, unexpected things about this book is that I’ve been around the show since before it was a show, and I didn’t have a thought in my head about writing a book about it with its author until he proposed it very late in the process. Miranda wrote most of the songs from Hamilton in sequence, so the book follows its creation and its plot in chronological order, beginning in the White House, where the world got its first look at the opening number, “Alexander Hamilton,” and ending on Broadway opening night with “Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story.” “When Lin told me that there was going to be a book about the show and proposed that he and I do it together, I wasn’t sure what the book could be until I thought about the fact that Hamilton tells the story of a revolution, but it is itself a revolution, and the book could be a way for readers to watch those two revolutions happen in tandem.” It includes profiles of all 11 principals, as well as over 40 different interviews, including several with Hamilton biographer Ron Chernow. Come April, there will also be a book, Hamilton: The Revolution, co-authored by McCarter, who wrote the chapters, and Miranda, who provides detailed annotation to his libretto. Hamilton is now one of the most sought-after tickets in town, and next up, the show is preparing to go national. McCarter introduced Lin to the Public in the summer of 2011, and, well, you know the rest. ( Disclosure: I worked with McCarter at the Public.) It was there that the Public’s artistic director, Oskar Eustis, asked him to recommend artists for potential projects, and the first person he could think of was Miranda. McCarter later left the magazine business to run Public Forum, a performance and conversation series at the Public Theater centered on politics, media, and the arts. But Miranda also had an idea: “He mentioned to me in our very first conversation that he was interested in doing something about Alexander Hamilton, which at first I thought was a really funny joke,” says McCarter. In 2007, Jeremy McCarter, at the time a theater critic for New York, wrote a glowing review of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Off Broadway production In the Heights, praising it as “a musical that owes more to Big Pun than to Bernstein.” The following year, having moved on to Broadway, the show was nominated for 13 Tony awards, winning four, including Best Musical.ĭespite that dizzying success, Miranda remembered McCarter’s early review, and the two eventually met to talk about their shared interest in theater and hip-hop. In lieu of a 261-candled cake, we’re celebrating with a weeklong series that explores the production and significance of the Founding Father’s eponymous Broadway musical. January 11 is Alexander Hamilton’s birthday.
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