Hamilton's America Page #5

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what Shakespeare did

in his history plays.

He's taking the voice

of the common people,

elevating it to poetry --

in Shakespeare's case,

iambic pentameter,

in Lin's case, rap, rhyme,

hip-hop, R&B --

and by elevating it to poetry,

ennobling the people themselves.

He is bringing out what is noble

about the common tongue.

And that is something

that nobody has done

as effectively as Lin

since Shakespeare.

Yeah, I said it.

- ...handle

our financial situation

Are we a nation of states?

What's the state

of our nation?

I'm past patiently waitin'

I'm passionately smashin'

every expectation

Every action's

an act of creation

I'm laughin' in the face

of casualties and sorrow

For the first time,

I'm thinkin' past tomorrow

And I am not

throwin' away my shot

I am not throwin' away

my shot

Hey, yo, I'm just like...

I write everywhere.

I write on trains.

I write --

I write wherever I can.

And sometimes, a couple of days,

I've written

in Aaron Burr's bedroom.

It's pretty amazing

to be in the space

where he was

in the later part of his life.

Talk about artist

in residence -- literally.

This is my "Hamilton"

writing desk.

I sit here.

I sit on the floor.

I don't sit

on the Colonial furniture.

You keep shootin' off

at the mouth

[ Chuckles ]

There's a song in the show

called "My Shot,"

and it's Hamilton's big

sort of "I want" song.

It's the second song

in the show.

We see him make

his group of friends --

the Marquis de Lafayette,

John Laurens,

Hercules Mulligan,

and Aaron Burr,

who is a colleague and a friend.

And I'm sort of putting him

into the song --

'cause these are guys

who are oil and water,

but they come up together.

They're

revolutionaries together.

They're soldiers together.

They're lawyers together.

They're elected officials

together.

And at some point,

one shoots the other.

-Yeah, I-I come out in the first

three minutes of the show,

and I say, "I'm the damn fool

that shot him."

And so what that tells me

as an actor is that,

that is not a secret

that we're keeping.

That's not a piece of the puzzle

that we are hiding

behind our back.

So, then what

it's about is about --

it's about the fracture.

It's about watching

where exactly the moment is

that it all changes.

-Whereas Alexander Hamilton

was an illegitimate

orphan kid from the Caribbean

who was born into shame

and misery,

Aaron Burr was really born

into American aristocracy.

It looks like he's going to

have this very luxurious life.

By the time Aaron Burr

is 2 years old,

his mother's died,

his father's died.

He's farmed out to relatives

who bring him up.

He then goes

to Princeton college,

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