Hamilton

1 HAMILTON VERSUS BURR

Ben Travis: The central dynamic of the show is introduced immediately — American Founding Father and statesman Alexander Hamilton (Lin-Manuel Miranda), the verbose livewire whose mind and mouth never stop, versus Aaron Burr (Leslie Odom Jr), his sympathetic, similarly ambitious, but overly cautious rival. The two are on a collision course from the off, and Miranda sums it up right from Act 1 banger My Shot — “If you stand for nothing, Burr, what’ll you fall for?”

In 2011, we [Kail and Miranda’s theatrical hip-hop troupe Freestyle Love Supreme] were doing a benefit at a smallto debut. That was the first time I was in the room when one of songs interacted with an audience. In that moment I knew there was a live version of the show. Whether it was called a ‘Mixtape’ or not, there were possibilities for this to exist as a piece of live theatre, whatever form that might take.