Lin-Manuel Miranda’s face is now so synonymous with Alexander Hamilton that you could put him on the ten dollar bill and no one would object. Where Miranda is the man who wrote the musical about Hamilton, Ron Chernow is the man who literally wrote the book on Alexander Hamilton. And by book we mean biography that the musical was based on. Now, Chernow is opening up about the hot new hip hop Broadway musical.
Recently, Ron Chernow opened up to Playbill about how Lin-Manuel Miranda adapted his work for the Broadway stage and how it lent itself to a hip hop musical:
“The book had been optioned for a movie in Hollywood three times and, as so often happens, disappeared into a black hole. Lin started by telling me that Hamilton's story was a classic hip-hop narrative. Needless to say, I had no idea what he was talking about. I know now. But I didn't know then. I'm a little more hip now than I was at that point. I think Hamilton worked for hip-hop because there was something so driven about him. He's constantly talking and writing and reading and doing things, and so the pulsating hip-hop music and lyrics really match the tempo of his life. And [Lin] asked me on the spot to be the historical advisor. He said, "I want the historians to take this seriously."
Chernow went on to discuss his role as advisor on the musical, adding:
“First order of business was simply my pointing out errors. As time went on, I commented about the portraits of the different characters, motivations, the dynamics of the different relationships, the dramatic arc.”
Hamilton is currently playing at the Richard Rodgers Theater located at 226 West 46th Street between Broadway and 8th.
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