'Hamilton' cast to sing for lucky students at White House
Tickets to the Broadway super-hit, Hamilton, are sold out until practically next year, but some lucky students will get to see bits of the history-making show-about-American-history in person at the White House on Monday.
Members of the cast, including creator, writer and star Lin-Manuel Miranda, are using their day off to pop down to Washington for one of first lady Michelle Obama's student workshops, to answer questions, talk about careers in theater, and to perform a selection of songs from the much-praised show about one of America's founding fathers, Alexander Hamilton.
The first lady, who has made arts-and-music workshops for schoolchildren one of her regular first-lady projects, announced the invitation Wednesday.
Manuel talked about it during his weekly video series, and posted on YouTube.
"Hello hello hello! Wherein I offer a brief history of The White House with our first three presidents and drop the news--Hamilton's GOING TO THE WHITE HOUSE IN LESS THAN A WEEK! We'll be testing a pilot version of our educational program and doing a concert of Hamiltunes for the kids and the First Family. See you soon! Good luck with the lotto!"
All of the Obamas are huge fans of the show: President Obama took daughters Sasha and Malia to see it last year after the first lady saw it last spring.
They are not alone: The clamor for tickets to Hamilton has been tremendous; special performances by the cast, as at the Grammy Awards last month, only ratchet up the demand. In December, Twitter announced there have been more than 1 million tweets about the show.
Last month, Columbia University announced the show won The Edward M. Kennedy Prize for Drama Inspired by American History, which honors a new play or musical that explores America's past.
The 'Hamilton' Grammy performance won over a new set of fans
Hamilton blends hip-hop, jazz, blues, rap, R&B and Broadway razzmatazz to tell story of the immigrant from the West Indies who was one of the most successful immigrants in early American history. Born illegitimate and later orphaned, Hamilton became George Washington's right-hand man during the Revolutionary War, and then the new nation’s first secretary of the treasury (one reason why he's on the $10 bill).
And what a story: An author of the Federalist Papers and a champion of the U.S. Constitution. Founder of the first national bank and the U.S. Mint. A protagonist in America's first publicized political sex-scandal. And a death by duel at the hands of the vice president.
The Obamas can say they were there at the beginning. In May 2009, the first couple hosted an event at the White House celebrating poetry, music and the spoken word. Miranda was there and performed The Hamilton Mixtape, which was later renamed Alexander Hamilton and became the opening song of the show.