Summary

Chapter 11, Introduction: McCarter discusses how Miranda sampled included “shout outs” (94) to a range of artists, primarily those involved in rap but also those involved in music theatre. He then refers to how one of Miranda’s main sources of inspiration, in terms of both style and content, was rapper Notorious B.I.G., whose song “Ten Crack Commandments” was a key inspiration for the song, “Ten Duel Commandments.” Placing that shat song in the show’s first half, McCarter comments, left the way clear for the Act Two climax to focus on the relationships between the two characters who play out that climax, Burr and Hamilton.

Chapter 12, Introduction: McCarter describes how Miranda and his work on “Hamilton” came to the attention of Oskar Eustis, artistic director and dramaturg at The Public Theatre in New York, which had been the birthplace of another landmark American...