Wow.

Oh, thank you for making me feel welcome with the music of my people.

Oh, absolutely.

They make everybody feel welcome.

It's just like I'm in Washington Heights.

Thank you.

You're most welcome.

Me theater es tu theater.

That's the extent of my Spanish. I'm all done. Exactly.

It's really exciting to have you on.

"Hamilton"-- And listen, this is no surprise to you--

completely blew me away.

Thank you very much.

Has anybody-- Have you guys-- Have any of you seen it?

Thank you. Thanks guys.

It's hard to get tickets.

You might be a good guy to ask.

Could you get 400 tickets to "Hamilton"?

Look under your chairs!

If I had that Oprah power, I would do it.

You grew up as, like, a theater kid.

You loved musicals growing up, right? - Yes, yes.

What was, 'cause--

For me, I went and saw it, and I went--

I didn't really know what to expect.

I heard good things.

And, my first reaction was just like, oh, this is very interesting.

It's very different.

I wonder how long they can sustain this.

And then you go, oh, this is actually quiet magnificent.

And then two hours later, I'm going, "Why am I crying over Alexander Hamilton?"

Is that a common reaction?

It is a common reaction.

I think of people think it's gonna be sort of very clever,

and they're gonna be lots of knowing winks,

And then, but, Alexander Hamilton had this really full and tragic American life.

Here in New York.

Here in New York City.

And he's kind of the New York founding father.

How do you feel now that Hamilton's gonna come off the 10 dollar bill?

I don't think he is.

Really? - Yeah, I just don't--

The plan was to take him off, like, by 2017.

Do you think you single-handedly kept him on the bill?

No, I don't think I have.

I think you have. - No.

Honest to god, because you know, up until your musical,

who talked about Alexander Hamilton?

People thought he was a president,

but he was never a president.

No, he was just a guy on the 10--

But, you know, people have always underestimated Alexander Hamilton.

So I think, I picture the ghost of Hamilton being like,

"I'm not coming off that money.

I have more things to say." - He kind of inveneted the money.

He made our money. - He created our financial system.

I mean, like, one guy created our financial system.

It's not just learning about Hamilton,

but you're seeing, like, New York has this amazing colonial history. - Yeah.

You don't think of that we're living in a colonial town right now.

'Cause I grew up in Charleston, South Carolina,

which is like colonial under glass.

You're not allowed to change anything.

But New York is always making history,

because of people like Hamilton. - Totally.

And it's, what was amazing about writing it was,

you know, I'm a born and bred New Yorker and I love New York,

But I didn't have to go very far.

My first musical was about Washington Heights, and-- Hey!

And there's lots of stuff-- I mean, you know,

Fort Tryon Park where Washington made his last stand before he bounced with his troops, is right uptown.

His first headquarters is on 162nd street,

where Aaron Burr acutually lived for a year.

He married the owner of that house, Eliza Jumel, like, in his 50s.

He was twelve years older, and he took all her money and bounced a year later.

What, Aaron Burr did? - Aaron Burr did, yeah

He was a gigolo? - Yeah, well, he was just kind of like,

she was a very notorious lady.

She married him for his notoriety.

He was famous for having shot homeboy, and--

As his friends called him.

As his friends called him.

He used to walk around and he'd say,

"My friend Alexander Hamilton, who i shot." - Oh, wow.

Yeah, he was-- - Did it bother him for the rest of his life?

Yeah, he was sort of a haunted dude for the rest of his life.

He may have tried to go annex Mexico and declare himself emperor.

There might be a sequel in the works.

I mean, he has this whole crazy other life. - That'd be cool.

But, yeah, he married this lady on 162nd, like,

sort of bilked her for all her money and then, like, fled to Europe.

Umm, one of the amazing songs to me is "The Room Where It Happens."

Yeah. - Okay.

And that's Burr, wanting to be in the room

where a deal is being cut between Hamilton, Jefferson, and Madison, right? - Yeah.

Do I have it right?

Yeah, which sounds so boring, doesn't it?

But-- - They're trying to figure where the banks go and the capital goes.

Yeah, it's a song about the compromise where in Hamilton basically said,

We can trade away the capital of the United States to be down near you guys in Virginia,

if you pass my debt plan,

if you find the votes to pass my financial plan.

Which sounds super dry, but we--

You brought a-- You wrote a broadway show about creating a financial plan for the United States.

Yeah, yeah.

And it swings, baby, it swings. - It does!

I just want to say, you, sir, have got some huevos rancheros.

Really it does, it takes balls. It takes balls to write this kind of musical.

One of my favorite characters in it is Lafayette, okay, -Yeah.

And one of the things that's amazing about, like it hits you in the face with the history of New York is,

You started this thing in the Public Theater,

and so you go in and see, you know, someone playing Lafayette,

telling about how improtant he was to the revolutionary cause,

And you walk out on to Lafayette Street in New York City. - Totally, yeah.

And you can't help but sing it-- ♪ Lafayette ♪

Yeah, the fun thing we do with Lafayette is,

He's kind of struggling with the language at the beginning of act one,

and then at the end of act one, he's a commander

and has the fastest rap in the show.

I call it the "Police Academy Rule."

Which is, you remember the little lady in the, "Police Academy" movies.

Would be like "Please, can you please go."

And then she'd be like, "Hey! Freeze! Sucker!" And everyone will be like "woah!"

So that's kind of what we did with Lafayette.

He's like, "Oh, I do not speak your language."

And then suddenly he's like,

♪ I’m takin this horse by the reins makin’ Redcoats redder with bloodstains ♪

Like, everyone goes "woah!" I'm just stealing from "Police Academy."

Well, the same actor who plays Lafayette also plays Jefferson.

Yes, Daveed Diggs. - What's his name?

Daveed Diggs, he's a force of nature. - Diggs amazing.

And there are great-- There are rap battles between Hamilton and Jefferson in front of Washington

trying to determine things like

Do they support Paris?

Do they pass a debt plan?

We got a little clip, a small clip here - Oh, great

what that's like to watch these rap battles.

♪ In Virginia, we plant seeds in the ground ♪

♪ We create. ♪

♪ You just wanna move our money around ♪

♪ This financial plan is an outrageous demand ♪

♪ And it’s too many damn pages for any man to understand ♪

♪ Thomas. That was a real nice declaration ♪

♪ Welcome to the present, ♪

♪ we’re running a real nation ♪

♪ Would you like to join us, or stay mellow ♪

♪ Doin’ whatever the hell it is you do in Monticello? ♪

♪ A civics lesson from a slaver. ♪

♪ Hey neighbor, your debts are paid cuz you don’t pay for labor ♪

♪ “We plant seeds in the South. ♪

♪ We create.” ♪

♪ Yeah, keep ranting ♪

♪ We know who’s really doing the planting ♪

Was it?

His slaves. His slaves were doing the planting.

You talk about slaves, exactly. - Yes.

Now again, this is like, nothing I've ever seen.

And it's beautiful and it's really moving.

Do you have this kind of this experience?

Like, what was like the thing you saw when you're younger that completely blew you away

and you said, "I have to do that."

Oh, It was a couple of things.

One-- The first musical I ever saw on broadway

We didn't have money for a ton of musicals.

I was a cast album guy.

My mom used to blast "Man of La Mancha" and "Camelot."

Those were like the big ones. - Sure, yeah.

♪ So they found Guenevere ♪ , that was like the banginist - ♪ I am I, Don Quixote ♪

♪ The Lord of la Mancha, ♪

♪ My destiny calls and I go, ♪

♪ I'm Sancho! Yes, I'm Sancho! ♪

♪ I'll follow my master till the end. ♪

We should take it on the road. - Yeah, let's go.

This thing is ready to go.

But then "Les Mis" was the first one I ever saw

And I just remember the effect it had on my parents, acutally.

They brought home that cast album,

And every time they played "Bring Him Home", my mom would start crying

And I think that's probably as responsible for me writing musicals.

I saw the effect that had on my family.

And then "Phantom" was the other-- the second musical I saw

It was about, like, an ugly songwriter who, like, wants to get girls to notice him.

And I was like, "I know all about that!

I'm on the cusp of puberty.

This phantom got some good ideas."

Well, if you could stick around for a little bit more?

Yeah. - Let's talk. Okay, stick around.

We'll be right back with more Lin-Manuel Miranda.