History Theatre / Hamilton

** Despite not actually appearing in the musical, UsefulNotes/JohnAdams is mocked whenever whenever he is mentioned. Alexander Hamilton says that he "doesn't have a real job" as vice-president, Thomas Jefferson says that he and his administration as president is "in traction", and King George eagerly anticipates the American public eating him alive for being so much smaller as a political figure than George Washingon. The rap that Miranda wrote for Hamilton taking down [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDjvRGjIICQ Adams]], which was cut for time, is available on Website/YouTube.

** George Eacker is a rude, condescending jackass who slanders Hamilton after the release of the Reynolds Pamphlet, leading to a conflict with Hamilton's son Philip. When their dispute ecalates into a duel, [[spoiler:Eacker cheats and fires at the count of seven instead of waiting for the count to be finished, shooting Philip in the back and killing him]].

** "My Shot" combines this with IWantSong for Hamilton and his friends, because they use it to introduce themselvs and what they want at the same time.

* SmallNameBigEgo: Jefferson would like everyone to know it's all about him, even when it comes down to comprimising his goals for realpolitik. The nicest thing he says in the aftermath of Hamilton's death is that his financial system was genius... and Jefferson smugly states he tried to remove it anyway.

* AstonishinglyAppropriateInterruption: In the following line, the word subject to CurseCutShort is a swear word that, when used as a verb, can be slang for "having sex with":
-->'''James Reynolds' letter to Hamilton:''' See, that was my wife you decided to- ''FUUU-''

** From "The Adams Administration": "Sit down, John, you fat motherf-- [[SoundEffectBleep bleep]]!"[[note]]Behind the bleep, Miranda is saying "you fat mother''fuckstick''"[[/note]]
** In "Say No To This", an F-bomb in Reynolds' [[spoiler: blackmail]] letter is cut off by Hamilton's groan of horror and Reynolds' own cheerful "uh-oh!" (however, in the workshop recording, it's an uninterrupted [[PrecisionFStrike "FUCK!"]] on Ham's part, cementing the double meaning even more. When Burr reads the same letter in "We Know", the curse is cut off in both versions by Jefferson's combination FlatWhat[=/=]BigWhat.
** In the recording released on Disney+ and on the clean version of the cast album, all the F-bombs are censored out.

-->'''Hamilton''': I've always considered you a friend.
-->'''Burr''': I don't see why that has to end.
-->'''Hamilton''': You changed parties to run against my father-in-law!

** [[spoiler: During Philip's duel:]] "''[[IronicEcho One two three four]]'' ''[[spoiler:five six seven-"]]'' [[spoiler: BOOM!]]
** Burr provides a line in "The World Was Wide Enough" which shifts the audience's perspective on his duel with Hamilton: [[spoiler: This man will not make an orphan of my daughter.]]

** When Angelica returns during “The Reynolds Pamphlet” Alexander assumes she has come to help and support him. To which she bluntly responds [[spoiler: “I’m not here for you” and proceeds to chew him out.]]

** After Hamilton candidly admits his infidelity in the Reynolds Pamphlet, he knows his political career will never recover; Angelica's arrival in New York seems like an opportunity for some sympathy. But Angelica delivers a stinging rebuke instead--she's not there to soothe Alex, she's there to comfort her devastated younger sister, whom Hamilton has just publicly humiliated.

'''God I hope you're satisfied'''
** Eliza herself has a whole song, "Burn", where she calls Hamilton out (albeit in absence) for not only humiliating her but straight up breaking her heart; she burns their correspondence, including the letters he wrote when courting her, and declares "You forfeit all rights to my heart/You forfeit the place in our bed/You'll sleep in your office instead," effectively ending their relationship and cutting him out of her life.

** In "Aaron Burr, Sir", Hamilton asks, "If you stand for nothing, Burr, what'll you fall for?". It takes Burr half the play to find what he wants: he wants to be in the room where it happens.

* ArcWords: ''Many.'' Parts "Non-Stop" and most of Hamilton's part of "The World Was Wide Enough" are composed entirely of the many ArcWords clashing.

** "He/I will never be satisfied," for obsession of any kind. "Satisfied" and satisfaction in general are recurrent -- duels are resolved when one party is satisfied, etc., but the word is used to refer first to Alexander and Angelica's shared restlessness. Later, Angelica sings "God, I hope you're satisfied!" to call him out on publishing the Reynolds Pamphlet.

** "The world will never be the same" and "Look around at how lucky we are to be alive right now" for the excitement of the revolution.
** "Wait for It" and "The Room Where It Happens" referring to Burr's ambitions.

** "Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story", repeated throughout the show, is the central theme of the play.

** In "Aaron Burr, Sir", Hamilton asks "if you stand for nothing, Burr, what will you fall for?". It takes Burr half the play to find what he wants: he wants to be in [[TitleDrop the room where it happens]].
** To Hamilton, in "Non-Stop", Burr asks "How do you write like you're running out of time? ''Are'' you running out of time?"

* ForeignCussWord: In "Aaron Burr, Sir," Lafayette's section has him say "Tell the King 'Casse toi!'" "Casse toi" is roughly equivalent to "fuck off." "Casse toi" also addresses the king as a peer, not as an authority figure.

** "Eliiiiiiiza..."

* RunningGag: The many rhymes used alongside the phrase, "Burr, sir."

-->'''Narrator''': ''And me, I'm the damn fool who shot him.''[[note]]Aaron Burr, who will fatally duel Hamilton and live to regret it.[[/note]]

* TheReveal: "Alexander Hamilton" is introduced by a man asking how a "bastard orphan, son of a whore and a Scotsman" can grow up and become a national hero, followed by the same man narrating Hamilton's early life with help from the rest of the cast. After Hamilton has introduced himself to the audience, the cast reveal their relationships with him. Last of all, the narrator reveals his identity as well as Hamilton's future in one single line:
--> '''Narrator:''' And me? ''I'm the damn fool that '''shot him!''' ''

* BlackVikings: Interestingly, the play makes no effort at all to match the ethnicity of its actors and actresses to those of the historical figures they play, to the point that in the televised version, a trio of three ''sisters'' have [[AmbiguouslyBrown at minimum]] two ethnicities between them.

*** Angelica, Eliza, and Peggy were not Philip and Catherine Schuylers' only children, just the three oldest. There were actually 15 kids in total, though seven died in infancy. The three surviving sons would have been children in the beginning of the play, and the youngest daughter would still have been an infant. Lin-Manuel Miranda had forgotten about the brothers' existence when he wrote Angelica's line "My father has no sons," but even after he realized his mistake, he kept it to enforce the theme of Angelica being the dutiful eldest daughter.

*** In real life, it was future president James Monroe who led the investigation into the Reynolds affair against Hamilton, with Jefferson working on the matter behind the scenes. However, Monroe doesn't fit into the rest of the narrative, so the already-established James Madison joins Jefferson and Burr instead. As a side effect of this, the musical also skips over the almost-duel that occurred between Monroe and Hamilton - a duel that was only prevented due to the intervention of, of all people, [[{{Irony}} Aaron Burr]].

** Washington's first verse in "Right Hand Man" uses alliteration as part of a shoutout to ''Theatre/ThePiratesOfPenzance''.

%%** Aaron Burr exchanges love letters with Theodosia while she’s still Theodosia Bartow Prevost; married to a British officer and not him.%% This trope isn't just "love letters exist"; it's the letters later being use as evidence

---> '''Hamilton:''' I imagine death so much it feels more like a memory. When's it going to get me? In my sleep? Seven feet ahead of me?
** A more minor example, but 9. It's Philip's age in "Take a Break," the number he and Eliza count to in French, and the number counted to before ten in any on-screen dueling.

** "Look around, look around, at how lucky we are to be alive right now" is repeated several times. At first, the first part of it is sung by Angelica, talking about how revolution is happening and they're lucky to be in New York to see it happen. Later it is sung by Eliza, regarding how they are at war and she and Hamilton are lucky to not be dead, and later it is sung by Hamilton, echoing the first meaning about how lucky they(he) are(is) to be involved in the birth of a new nation, and then it crops back up again in ''It's Quiet Uptown'' when Hamilton and Eliza are reconciling.
** "Helpless," Eliza's adoration for Hamilton, but it later means her helplessness to keep her with him, Maria's helplessness against her husband, and Alexander's own helplessness to stop his affair.

** "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9..." References to dueling...[[{{Foreshadowing}} and to Hamilton's son]].
** "History has its eyes on you," references to the prospect of a legacy.

*** "the room where it happen(ed)" is also used to refer to the scene of Hamilton's infidelity.
** "Wait" in general is used repeatedly. Hamilton's "just you wait" mantra contrasting with Burr's "wait for it." [[spoiler:And at the end when they switch philosophies for the duel it ends tragically. Burr's final "WAIT" comes too late.]]
** "Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story," repeated throughout the show, is the central theme of the play.

* ArtisticLicenseLaw: As mentioned on [[http://genius.com/Lin-manuel-miranda-non-stop-lyrics Genius]], both Hamilton and Burr do this in "Non-Stop:"

-->"Like the scripture says 'Everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree and no one shall make them afraid.'"

--> '''James Reynolds' letter to Hamilton''': See, that was my wife you decided to- ''FUUU-''

--> Sitting there useless as two shits\\

* AttackAttackRetreatRetreat: Played with (and also PlayedForLaughs) with the Battle of Monmouth. Washington keeps saying "attack!", while [[DirtyCoward Charles Lee]] keeps saying "retreat!". [[HilarityEnsues This disorganized retreat and lack of order is what causes the Battle of Monmouth to be such a shit-show.]]

* AluminumChristmasTrees: Viewers might be forgiven for assuming that the joking between Elizabeth and Angelica about old-timey {{polyamory}} was entirely invented for the show. Not quite. In a letter to Eliza, she [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angelica_Schuyler_Church#Correspondence_and_personal_life apparently wrote]], "If you were as generous as the old Romans, you would lend [Alexander] to me for a little while."
** Related to this character running gag, in "Take a Break", Angelica over-analyses the grammar of Hamilton's letter and wonders whether his misplaced comma in the phrase "My dearest, Angelica" hints at feelings of romantic affection. This didn't ''exactly'' happen in real life; however, the reverse actually did, in which Hamilton joked that a misplaced comma in a letter by Angelica hinted that ''she'' was attracted to ''him''.

The musical follows the life of UsefulNotes/AlexanderHamilton, the United States' first Secretary of the Treasury. Beginning with his arrival in the United States (after writing his way out of his miserable, impoverished situation in the Caribbean), it tracks his rise to power through UsefulNotes/TheAmericanRevolution and early days of UsefulNotes/AntebellumAmerica, and his [[ForegoneConclusion inevitable fall]].

Inspired by the play, a variety of pop, hip-hop and R&B artists collaborated with Lin-Manuel Miranda to create ''Music/TheHamiltonMixtape'', which was released December 2, 2016, and contains demos, remixes, and covers from ''Hamilton'''s soundtrack. One year later, Miranda announced ''Music/TheHamildrops,'' a monthly release of Hamilton-related content; the first such "drop" was released December 15, 2017.

* NamesTheSame: By virtue of this being Colonial America, many characters share names.
** Hamilton's father in law, brother in law, oldest son, youngest son, and at least one of his nephews by marriage[[note]]Angelica's oldest child[[/note]] were all named Philip. Justified, since three out of five were named for Philip Schuyler, and Philip Hamilton the Second was named for Philip Hamilton the First.
** James Madison and James Reynolds.

** In the second cabinet battle, Jefferson argues that America needs to send troops and fight on behalf of the French revolutionaries and ends up disgusted when Hamilton argues that they should stay neutral despite how much help Lafayette gave them. Ironically, while Jefferson used his personal power to aid Lafayette and the revolutionaries as much as he could, the idea that America itself should stay neutral in the French Revolution was one of the few things the two men ever agreed on in their entire lives, albeit they went about it differently[[note]]Hamilton wanted Washington to declare neutrality, but Jefferson argued that the President, having the power to declare war, didn't have the power to "declare peace"; essentially, he wanted to stay neutral without outright staying it[[/note]].

*** In the deleted Cabinet Battle #3 (from the mix-tape), Madison is the one that stops the debate about slavery simply by quoting the Constitution's clause stating that it was already set for 1808, and that they won't debate it any more[[note]]On a historical note, who succeeded Jefferson as president? None other than James Madison himself[[/note]].

* SmugSnake: Jefferson oh so much, especially in "The Reynolds Pamphlet" and after becoming president.

* ShoutOut: To [[http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2015/09/24/hamilton_s_hip_hop_references_all_the_rap_and_r_b_allusions_in_lin_manuel.html?wpsrc=sh_all_dt_tw_top many hip-hop songs]], as well as to ''Theatre/TheLastFiveYears'', ''Theatre/ThePiratesOfPenzance'', ''Theatre/SouthPacific'', and, naturally, Theatre/SeventeenSeventySix. As well as [[Theatre/{{Macbeth}} a Scottish tragedy]] that Hamilton would [[TheScottishTrope rather not name.]] The show also includes numerous shout-outs to ''Series/TheWestWing'', including Lin-Manuel Miranda tending to put on his coat Martin Sheen style while performing as Hamilton. See [[ShoutOut/{{Hamilton}} the shout-out page]] for more details.

* SmallNameBigEgo: Jefferson would like everyone to know it's all about him, even when it comes down to comprimising his goals for realpolitik. The nicest thing he says in the aftermath of Hamilton's death is that his financial system was genius... and Jefferson tried to remove it, anyway.

* BigBadSlippage: Burr doesn't start off the musical as bad, or even much antagonistic towards Alexander, with their relationship being VitriolicBestBuds at worst. Yes, they butt heads often but they remain amicable. It isn't until "The Election of 1800" where Hamilton endorses Jefferson over Burr that the latter completes his transformation into the main antagonist.

* BlackVikings: Interestingly, the play makes no effort at all to match the ethnicity of it's actors and actresses to those of the historical figures they play, to the point that in the televised version, a trio of three ''sisters'' have [[AmbiguouslyBrown at minimum]] two ethnicities between them.

%%* SirSwearsALot: Act One has Hercules Mulligan; Act Two has Philip.

** Hercules Mulligan ''was'' a spy, but so was his slave Cato, who was AdaptedOut of the musical since it would be awkward to have John Laurens sing about abolition when one of his drinking buddies happens to own a slave. Also ironic is that the spy who was actually responsible for giving Washington the information necessary to win at Yorktown and thus end the war was not Mulligan but another slave named James Armistead. Doubly ironic is that Armistead later added "Lafayette" to his name because of the Frenchman's tireless efforts to secure his freedom after the war, while in the play Lafayette's abolitionism remains implied at best.

** And in both songs, Hamilton's first words to Washington are almost exactly the same: In "Right Hand Man", he says, "Your Excellency, you wanted to see me?" and in "One Last Time", it's "Mr. President, you asked to see me?"

* AwesomeMcCoolname: ''Hercules Mulligan''.

** The real King George III was considered to be a fairly benevolent monarch for his time, and most of the repressive policies blamed on him were the doing of George's ministers and Parliament; in the play, however, he's a CardCarryingVillain tyrant. Given his LargeHam tendencies, this was likely done for RuleOfFunny.

* ArsonMurderAndAdmiration: In "The Room Where It Happens," Aaron Burr despite himself is impressed at the gambit that Alexander Hamilton implemented to get his votes. Hamilton asked to meet Jefferson and Madison for dinner, and offered for them to decide where the state capital and the national banks would be located. Jefferson and Madison realized that the location of the capital wouldn't matter. Burr's horrified that Alexander sold the state capital in exchange for that, but points out that while it was an uncool move, Alexander ended up getting more out of the deal. 

A defining aspect of the musical is that this is all told through a blend of hip-hop, R&B, pop, and contemporary show tunes, which, like those of [[Theatre/InTheHeights Miranda's previous Broadway excursion]], will be [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic hard-pressed to leave your head]]. From the musical's origins in the late 2000s, Miranda pitched Hamilton as "someone [that] embodies hip-hop", stating that his story of rising from squalor through his writing is not dissimilar to the classic RagsToRiches tale integral to the genre.

* TheThemeParkVersion: ''Hamilton'' has been criticized in more than a few quarters for trafficking in [[https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2003/09/founders-chic/302773/ Founders' Chic]]"; merely repackaging familiar stereotypes about the founders (UsefulNotes/GeorgeWashington the HumbleHero[[note]]He was considerably ambitious personally and well aware of how famous he was but it was mainly decorum at the time that compelled him to put on a humble personality and airs of non-partisanship when he was in fact a major wheeler-dealer property owner[[/note]], UsefulNotes/ThomasJefferson the Hypocrite[[note]]Which is accurate but it's an accusation that few held against him at the time, and one which many others of his era were equally guilty of[[/note]], Aaron Burr, an usurping and ambitious man without loyalty[[note]]A portrayal that owes itself to slander printed against Burr by Hamilton and Jefferson, eliminating the fact that he played a key role in abolishing slavery in New York State, was the most pro-women's rights among the founders and founded a bank to help the immigrant and new settler cheap loans to get a start[[/note]]) that was criticized by historians [[https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/03/30/liberals-love-alexander-hamilton-but-aaron-burr-was-a-real-progressive-hero/ Nancy Isenberg]], [[https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/11/theater/hamilton-and-history-are-they-in-sync.html Sean Willentz]] among others. Most notably, the show cultivates sympathy for its protagonist, UsefulNotes/AlexanderHamilton, [[http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2016/04/a_hamilton_critic_on_why_the_musical_isn_t_so_revolutionary.html by arguing that he was an abolitionist based on highly selective interpretation of loose facts]], and prominently ignoring parts of history that belie that claim.
-->'''[[http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2016/04/a_hamilton_critic_on_why_the_musical_isn_t_so_revolutionary.html Lyra Monteiro]]:''' This is a way that writers of [[HollywoodHistory popular history]] (and some academic historians) represent the founders as [[CoolPeopleRebelAgainstAuthority relatable, cool guys]]. Founders Chic tends to really downplay the involvement of the Founding Fathers in slavery, and this play does that 100 percent. ... So the 12th line of the play where it’s mentioned, “he struggled and kept his guard up” is the line right after talking about slaves being slaughtered and carted away. But we have [[RiddleForTheAges no idea what Alexander Hamilton’s attitude]] toward slavery was when he was a boy growing up in the Caribbean. He worked on a slave ship. I mean, chances are probably pretty high that he was in favor of it; that was his livelihood. So few white people were opposed to slavery, especially white people in the Caribbean. It’s kind of bonkers to suggest that he was somehow suffering and feeling like slavery was an injustice at that time.