‘Hamilton’ creator Lin-Manuel Miranda wins a Pulitzer Prize for Drama!

“Who lives, who dies, who tells your story?” A question posed in the musical Hamilton, the story of the man on the ten dollar bill.

“‘Hamilton’ consistently finds muted, blurring shades – of feeling, of morality, of character – within its incident and fact packed story without ever sacrificing narrative clarity” says the New York Times. Adapted from the book penned by Ron Chenow’s autobiography on Alexander Hamilton, the first five minutes of the musical covers the first hundred pages. In it’s fast, hip-hop style, the title song Alexander Hamilton settles you into the world of the man himself. 

Taking Hamilton out of the Carribean, where the man was born, and bringing him to America, Lin Manuel shows how an immigrant strives on the shores of America. Specifically New York. Even more so, ‘the greatest city in the world’ Manhattan. It was in Manhattan that he met the Schulyer Sisters, who are played by Renee Elise Goldsberry, Phillipa Soo, and Jasmine Cephas in the show. It was in Manhattan that he met Elizabeth Schuyler (Soo) the woman who became his wife, the woman who was taken out of the narrative and put herself back into it in order to tell her husband’s story.

Hamilton grows up to be an American War Hero,  George Washington’s right hand, and joined the ranks of Thomas Jefferson (Daveed Diggs)  and James Madison (Okieriete Onaodowan) in the founding of America. As an author of the U.S. Constitution, the document that states ‘We the People, Hamilton strived to establish justice among the people, insuring calmness among his friends and calmness when in time of war, and attempted to promote happiness. In the end, against all odds, Hamilton meets his fate at the hand of Aaron Burr (Leslie Odom Jr.) who did not waste his shot.

Playing to sold out crowds night after night and will continue to do so every night for at least the next nine months, Hamilton has been collecting accolades one after another. No stranger to awards, Lin-Manuel won 4 Tonys and a Grammy for his show ‘In The Heights’. In addition to those awards, Miranda was named a ‘Genius’ receiving a grant by the MacArthur Foundation, a Grammy for Hamilton, and now a Pulitzer Prize.

Miranda joins the ranks of George and Ira Gershwin, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Bock and Harnick, Frank Loesser, Marvin Hamlisch, Stephen Sondheim , Jonathan Larson, and Brian Yorkey and the other partners these men collaborated with. Seeing as Miranda was the composer, lyricist and book writer, he was the sole winner of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Take a look below at the cast’s opening night perspective. You can get tickets for Hamilton when it comes to LA through the Pantages and try your hand at the Hamilton lottery in New York.