Where do history nerds and musical theatre geeks collide?
Hamilton.
If you’ve been on Tumblr or Twitter in the last year, the chances are pretty high that you’ve at least come across a gif of the rap-infused and Founding Father-inspired musical brought into the world by Lin-Manuel Miranda in February 2015.
The musical has already broken across boundaries in about a thousand different ways. First, it’s a rap-based musical. “Musical” like started off-Broadway and five months later was on Broadway, “musical”. Secondly, it’s a period piece populated by a nearly all non-white cast. In fact, there was recently quite a media storm around a casting call asking for “non-white actors” only (which is nowhere near as *ahem* descriptive *ahem* as whitewashed audition callouts usually are).
And then Lin-Manuel Miranda got invited to the White House and rapped with POTUS Obama. And then the cast won the Grammy for Best Musical Theatre Album.
Now Hamilton has become the 9th musical ever to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
Lin-Manuel Miranda released this statement: “It is a tremendous honor to even be considered for this very prestigious award. Quiara [Alegria Hudes] and I were elated to have been recognized as finalists for In The Heights, so to win today for Hamilton is beyond my wildest dreams. This award is for everyone who has been a part of Hamilton’s six plus year journey. To be the ninth musical to ever win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in its 100 year history is truly humbling for all of us. For Hamilton to now be in the same company as Of Thee I Sing, South Pacific, Fiorello!, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, A Chorus Line, Sunday in the Park with George, Rent, and most recently Next to Normal is outside of our own comprehension. Look at where we are. Look at where we started.”
And this is how we feel about that:
CONGRATULATIONS, YA’LL!