Summary

“The Room Where It Happens” begins with a tense conversation between Burr and Hamilton about how a minor war martyr had a street named after him while they were still alive and doing greater work. Their (entirely rapped) conversation is interrupted by the arrival of Madison and Jefferson, who lead Hamilton into a conversation from which Burr is excluded. This leads Burr to sing / narrate about his desire to be involved “in the room where it happens” (Act 2, Scene 5). Narration is intercut with Madison, Jefferson and Hamilton engaging in an emotionally and politically intense argument about where the capital of the union is going to be. Rapped narration reveals that as a result of this meeting, Hamilton got the financial power he wanted, while Jefferson and Madison got permission to establish the nation’s capital in the South. Jefferson takes credit for arranging...