How One Meta Easter Egg in Hamilton Demonstrates Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Writing Genius
Once you read this, you will never see the show the same way again
I have a small confession. Hamilton was written for me.
Don’t get me wrong. I have not yet met Lin-Manuel Miranda. But, his masterpiece Hamilton ticks off so many of my idiosyncratic nerd boxes that he must have somehow been inside my head when he wrote it.
I grew up with a mother obsessed with Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals. She would watch the movie versions of shows like The King and I and Oklahoma all day long for weeks at a time. I grew up knowing all the songs and words to The Sound of Music. Because of my mom, a love of Broadway musicals was imprinted on my soul.
I was also an intense U.S. history and political science geek. I asked for a copy of The Federalist Papers for Christmas when I was fourteen. (I received a copy and proceeded to annotate it in my spare time.) My hardback copy of Ron Chernow’s biography of Alexander Hamilton that I bought and read the week it came out in 2004 is still on my bookcase. I read the book Miranda’s show Hamilton is adapted from before Miranda read it.
In high school, I discovered a love for Shakespeare and acting. I was Tybalt in my high school…
