Broadway's Hottest Show Becomes Classroom For 1,300 NYC Students

NEW YORK CITY, NY -- More than 1,300 students and teachers from 15 high schools across New York City spilled into the Richard Rodgers Theater on Wednesday to watch the award-winning musical "Hamilton" on Broadway.

The show was a well-deserved reward for the students, who've spent the last several weeks studying American history through the lens of Alexander Hamilton and the Founding Fathers as part of a specialized curriculum known as the Hamilton Education Program.

Hamilton follows the true story of America's Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, an immigrant who becomes the nation's first Treasury Secretary during the Revolutionary war. Using hip-hop, rap, jazz and pop songs, it tells of one of America's oldest historic events in a modern format

It's that modern twist and catchy tunes that made Susmiti Ghost, 16, and her peers at the Women's Academy of Excellence in the Bronx fall in love with the musical.

"It made it fun, because it was different," Ghost, a junior at the school, told Patch. "It made me want to learn about history."

Sitting next to her, 17-year-old Samantha Ansah, also a junior, said as soon as her history teacher at WAE played the Hamilton soundtrack, she was hooked.

"She's obsessed with it, so she had us listen to it and then we were obsessed with it," Ansah told Patch. "I went home and listened to it and was like, 'Wow this is so good, I want to see the musical,' and here we are."

It's a rare opportunity, considering tickets to the show start at no less than $500 and can easily reach into the thousands. For most of the students in the program, Hamilton is their first Broadway experience.

Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda and producer Jeffrey Seller came up with the program as a way to share the musical and its historic roots with students who couldn't otherwise afford it.

They made tickets to the show just $60 for students in the program, and The Rockefeller Foundation stepped in to cover most of the remaining tab, which means students pay just $10 for the hottest ticket on Broadway.

The Hamilton Education Program is one of several history education courses offered at the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, a Midtown-based nonprofit dedicated to K-12 U.S. history education.

"This show, Hamilton and the Mirandas are a miracle because they’re the greatest thing to happen to theater in 50 years but also in history education," Gilder Lehrman President James Basker told Patch.

The fun for the students started long before the curtains were set to open at 2 p.m. for the Hamilton matinee. They arrived early for a Q & A with some of the show's cast members and to watch some of their peers make their own mark on the famed Broadway stage.

As part of the HEP curriculum, students were required to get into groups and come up with an original work – such as a rap, poetry or monologue – based on their studies.

"This is theater, but we want the kids to use this theatre as the door to go and source material and to understand what it means to have a duel, what it means to be the first president of the nation, and to create a nation," said Luis Miranda, the father of the show's writer Lin-Manuel Miranda.

Nine of the winning groups got to perform their shows for their peers on the stage.

Among them was a trio of students from the Lower Manhattan Arts Academy, who were equal parts nerves and excitement as they waited to perform their hip-hop song about the Boston Tea Party.

"In the moment doing the project, we were like, 'Oh we’re not going to get anywhere,' so when we found out we won it was so exciting," said Jan Enriquez, 16, who performed the show with classmates Santana Rios, 17, and Lillian Benson, 16.

Next to them, Gustavo Guzman strummed his guitar while classmates Chavier Leon and Bryan Gaspar hummed along. The Bronx High School for Violin and Dance students were practicing their own act, a modern-day musical rendition of the Boston Massacre.

"I’m feeling a little bit nervous, but I feel like once I get up there I’m going to feel confident," Leon said. "I’m not even gonna lie, I feel famous right now."

(Lead photos by Danielle Woodward/Patch)