HAMILTON…The Gift That Keeps on Giving

When HAMILTON debuted on Broadway in 2015, theatregoers everywhere knew something extraordinary had arrived. Thousands of adults caught HAMILTON fever; teenagers soon followed and American Revolutionary War history became a major interest.
Now a partnership of HAMILTON, The Rockefeller Foundation, the NYC Department of Education and the Gilder Lehrman Institution of American History annually provides 20,000 NYC public school high school students with tickets to see this innovative musical at select Wednesday matinees as part of its on-going "HAMILTON Education Program".

Seeing the production is the grand finale of the program which provides an in-class curriculum designed around the musical. It features a study guide plus an online "HAMILTON" portal for students and teachers to help students develop and produce their own original performances of poetry, rap, songs, scenes, some of which are performed at the theatre in front of a full-house of 1300 students and teachers prior to the afternoon matinee. Students also have a Q&A session with cast members. In addition to NYC, Chicago has its own program, and another is planned for San Francisco after the show opens.

On a recent Wednesday morning in NYC, 20 students from 11 local schools performed original material. One young man performed a solo rap (a la "Alexander Hamilton") about Benjamin Franklin which brought cheers from the audience -- look for this young man to be in the professional cast in a few years. Two young women performed an insightful, rousing "imagined" conversation between Thomas Jefferson and Angelica Schuyler in Europe as they reacted to events in America. More cheers!

And of course, HAMILTON 2017, with its mostly new cast, still sparkles, excites, mesmerizes and entertains. Watching it with 1300 excited teenagers was such a thrill and you could feel the electricity in the air. "How lucky we are to be alive now in New York City".

- Faye Argentine -