History is Happening…In Poughkeepsie?
The story of Hamilton in the 845
Tonight, PBS will air the much-anticipated documentary “Hamilton’s America,” as part of their Great Performances series. The documentary follows actor and composer Lin-Manuel Miranda as he develops the now smash-hit musical about founding father Alexander Hamilton. New York City serves as a central theme in Hamilton — providing the backdrop for a revolution.
However, there is another city 85 miles north of NYC that played an integral role in both Hamilton’s life and the telling of his story over two centuries later. That city is Poughkeepsie, NY.
In the summer of 1788, Hamilton attended the New York Ratifying Convention in Poughkeepsie at the Dutchess County Courthouse. There, he attempted to help convince the other delegates to vote in favor of the new U.S. Constitution. That spring, he had written 51 out of the 85 essays that composed the Federalist Papers. These essays supported the Constitution, and urged others to adopt the same position.
All of this comes to life in the final song of the musical’s first act, entitled “Non-Stop”. His efforts were not in vain, and New York ratified the Constitution on July 26 of that year — the eighth state to do so.
Hamilton also frequented other parts of Dutchess County. While serving in the Revolutionary War, he was stationed in Newburgh and often visited George Washington’s headquarters in New Windsor.
But Poughkeepsie is the center of this story, and Poughkeepsie is where we return to, 225 years following the convention. Before Hamilton was selling out the Richard Rodgers Theater on Broadway, it started as a musical workshop at a much smaller venue — Powerhouse Theater at Vassar College. This was where Miranda and the rest of the cast first performed Act 1 in its entirety. This is not to say of course, that it was the same Act 1 that audiences saw when it opened on Broadway. Songs were cut, scenes were altered, and some of the cast changed. However, Poughkeepsie was still where an idea became a stage production.
The Poughkeepsie Journal described the Powerhouse Theater as, “serving as something of an incubator…[It] annually attracts some of the biggest names from Broadway, television and film.”
Hamilton, which celebrated its 500th Broadway performance on October 14th, has become a national and indeed worldwide sensation. On October 19th the show opened in Chicago, and it will debut in London in late 2017. The cast album is number twelve on the iTunes charts, over a year after its release. Miranda is now a household name, as well as a Pulitzer Prize winner.
History tends to come full circle, and this was certainly the case for Miranda and his historical muse. While everyone wants a piece of Hamilton, Poughkeepsie will always have a connection to the “10-dollar founding father,” and the one who told his story.
Hamilton’s America airs on PBS on October 21 at 9 p.m.
