Hamilton: An American Musical is Lin-Manuel Miranda's sung-and-rapped-through biographical musical, based on Ron Chernow's 2004 biography of Alexander Hamilton, tracing the Founding Father's life from his arrival in New York through the Revolutionary War, his tenure as Treasury Secretary, and his fatal duel with Aaron Burr. It premiered off-Broadway at the Public Theater on February 17, 2015, directed by Thomas Kail with choreography by Andy Blankenbuehler, before transferring to Broadway's Richard Rodgers Theatre that August.
What it contains
- Contemporary Broadway · Whole production, all staged numbers, built around the turntable staging — Choreography conceived around two rotating concentric turntables running through the whole show, described as 'dynamic and fluid' and 'indispensable to the musical's storytelling'; the duels are staged as the choreography's set-piece highlights. Source: "the original Broadway show's choreography, which utilizes two concentric turntables on the stage"
What is danced
The article does not describe Blankenbuehler's vocabulary step by step, but it gives two firm technical facts worth recording for a performance catalogue. First, the staging is built around 'two concentric turntables on the stage,' and the production team required every touring mounting to be able to 'duplicate the original Broadway show's choreography' using this apparatus — meaning the movement is conceived in relation to a rotating floor, not just a fixed stage picture. Second, the show contains three staged duels ('Ten Duel Commandments,' the Philip Hamilton duel, and the climactic Hamilton–Burr duel), which one contemporary review singled out as 'superbly handled, the highlights of a riveting if at times overbusy staging.'
Blankenbuehler's choreography was itself given a Special Drama Desk Award, with the citation praising 'inspired and heart-stopping choreography ... indispensable to the musical's storytelling' and noting that 'his body of work is versatile, yet a dynamic and fluid style is consistently evident.' Beyond these citations, the article is a book-and-production history rather than a movement analysis, so specific step vocabulary, partnering work, or named ensemble numbers cannot be sourced from it here.
Context
Hamilton arrived from the same creative partnership — Miranda, director Thomas Kail, choreographer Andy Blankenbuehler, music director Alex Lacamoire — that had already reshaped Broadway's relationship to vernacular urban dance and music with In the Heights (Miranda's 2008 Broadway debut, also at the Richard Rodgers Theatre). The score itself 'draws heavily from hip hop, as well as R&B, pop, soul, and traditional-style show tunes,' and the casting of non-white actors as the Founding Fathers made the show's physical vocabulary a deliberate act of reclamation as much as a musical one, in Miranda's own words 'America then, as told by America now.'
Staging history
After its sold-out off-Broadway run, Hamilton moved to Broadway (opened August 6, 2015), winning a record 16 Tony nominations and 11 awards, and the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It opened in Chicago in 2016, on the West End in 2017, and was followed by three concurrent North American touring productions (the Angelica, Philip, and And Peggy tours) and a fourth (Eliza tour), each required to reproduce the original turntable-based choreography using purpose-built portable sets. Productions followed in Australia (2021), an arena-format international tour beginning in New Zealand (2023), the show's first non-English production in Hamburg (2022, closed 2023 after disappointing sales), and a UK and Ireland tour (2023–2025). A filmed version of the Broadway production streamed on Disney+ in 2020 and had a theatrical release in 2025; as of 2026 the article records that 'no amateur or professional licenses have been granted' for the show, meaning it remains available only through first-class professional mountings.
How to watch it
Watch how the two concentric turntables are used to carry ensemble movement and shift focus without cutting scenes — this is the structural device the choreography is built around, and it is why touring productions had to be engineered to match it. Pay particular attention to the three staged duels, which the original reviews flagged as the sharpest passages of physical storytelling in an otherwise dialogue-light, sung-through show.
On screen
- Hamilton (2020)