“I’m looking for a mind at work”

Two words: So. Good.

Listen friends, I am super late to the Hamilton party (well, by internet standards). I don’t live far from New York, one of my very close friends works in theatre whom I watch the Tonys with every year (eventually), but I don’t get to the theatre much.  I was aware of Miranda from In the Heights, before the storm that was Hamilton arrived in 2015, but because it’s still out of reach I hadn’t let myself even listen to the cast album.

And then my kryptonite arrived. An annotated (full) libretto with chapters chronicling the history of Alexander Hamilton and the creation of the play, plus insights about the actors – SOLD. And it didn’t hurt that a couple of fellow cannonballers sang the book’s praises.

The big boons of this book, to me, were the amazing photos of the production, the inclusion of personal correspondences of Miranda’s, and his annotations and personal recollections, and the general artistic design of the book. It is designed to look like one of the many pamphlets written by Hamilton over the course of his life. This history nerd freaked out.

The book tracks the development of Hamilton from concept album idea to fully fleshed out Broadway Musical. It has, for me, just the right amount of information to keep me feeling satisfied as well as still leaving room for more excitement.  I have heard tell of this book being difficult to come by, to which I can only hope that your library system is as wonderful as mine and manages to get this book into your hands.

And if you haven’t seen it (or just want to watch it again), carpool karaoke with James Corden, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Audra McDonald, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, and Jane Krakowski. I’m going to go back to listening to the cast album.