How Hamilton’s Opening Song Sets Up The Entire Musical
Hamilton's four-minute opening number, "Alexander Hamilton," is an introduction to the main character of the musical, but it also hints at every major event that happens in the show. As Aaron Burr (Leslie Odom Jr.) raps about Hamilton’s (Lin Manuel-Miranda) life, each other major character in the musical makes an appearance, interjecting with lyrics that describe their own relationships with Hamilton. The double meanings of some of these lyrics set up the story of Hamilton’s entire life.
Hamilton began as an off-Broadway musical in New York City, and after seeing major success in ticket sales, soon premiered on Broadway in the Richard Rodgers Theatre in 2015. The modern musical, which incorporates rap, hip-hop and soul music, swept the Tony Awards in 2016. Creator and star Lin Manuel-Miranda has described the show as a “story of America then told by America now,” highlighting Hamilton's multi-racial cast. The musical’s success spawned a live filming of the musical which aired on Disney + July 3.
Hamilton follows the life of founding father Alexander Hamilton from his arrival in New York in 1776 to his death in 1804 at the hands of Aaron Burr. The friendship and political rivalry between Hamilton and Burr is a focus of the show, along with Hamilton’s struggle to achieve political success and his relationships with his wife Eliza Schuyler (Phillipa Soo) and her sister Angelica (Renée Elise Goldsberry). Burr acts as the narrator of the show, singing about Hamilton’s life in the opening song and foreshadowing all the major events, with help from the rest of the cast.
Although Burr sings most of the opening song, sections of Hamilton’s backstory are revealed by other members of the cast — John Laurens (Anthony Ramos), Thomas Jefferson (Daveed Diggs), James Madison (Okieriete Onaodowan) and Eliza. Each character relates in some way to what they’re singing about. Laurens, for example, sings about Hamilton’s initial efforts to educate himself, his societal ambitions and his success at a trading charter. As one of Hamilton’s first allies in New York City and during the Revolutionary War, Laurens plays a role in events that mirror these. He encourages Hamilton’s early ambitions, self-education and drive to succeed in the war.
Likewise, Hamilton’s political enemy Jefferson sings about Hamilton’s conflicts and struggles in his early life, saying he was “ready to beg, steal, borrow or barter.” This last lyric could also apply to Hamilton’s political wheeling and dealing with Jefferson later in the show. Madison sings about the hurricane that devastated Hamilton’s home and how he used writing as a way to process the trauma. Madison later has a major role in driving Hamilton to write the Reynolds Pamphlet, revealing his affair with Maria Reynolds (Jasmine Cephas Jones), which wreaks havoc on his life in a similar way.
The final verses of “Alexander Hamilton” are where the events of the show are truly revealed, however. As each character repeats a refrain, they foretell later events. The lyric, “We fought with him” is sung by Diggs and Onaodowan, who play both Hamilton’s allies and his political enemies. As Mulligan and Madison, the lyric describes how the two fought at Hamilton’s side in the Revolutionary War. As Lafayette and Jefferson, the lyric describes how the two fought political battles with him in the second act. The lyric, “I died for him,” is sung by Ramos, who plays Laurens and Phillip Hamilton — both of whom die tragically later in the show.
Other lyrics in "Alexander Hamilton" are more direct. The lyric “I trusted him” is sung by Washington, and is the most straightforward. Hamilton was the general’s “right-hand man” during the war and as Treasury Secretary. The lyric “I loved him” is sung by Eliza, Angelica and Maria Reynolds, setting up his romantic relationship with each of them — his marriage to Eliza, his unspoken love with Angelica and his affair with Maria. Finally, Burr’s line “I’m the damn fool that shot him” in Hamilton reveals both the cause of Hamilton’s death and Burr’s regret over it, embodying their entire complex history in one sentence.