Summary

“Alexander Hamilton”: Narrator Aaron Burr leads other characters (including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison) in a narration of the early part of Hamilton’s life – specifically, the many difficulties he overcame in childhood, his determination to create a new life for himself in America, and his doing so by writing an essay that inspired his community to put together a fund to get him to New York. At one point, the Chorus repeats the refrain “In New York you can be a new man,” (Act 1, Scene 1) referring to him as “another immigrant comin’ up from the bottom” (Act 1, Scene 1). The Chorus comments on how impatient and determined Hamilton was, with Hamilton announcing his name determinedly and Burr commenting on how he was the “damn fool that shot him” (Act 1, Scene 1). The music for “Alexander Hamilton” begins with a basic, relatively slow...