Lin-Manuel Miranda tries to imagine Hamilton through Dick Cheney’s eyes
If you or a friend is a fan of the Broadway sensation Hamilton, you know it's an obsessive love. Lin-Manuel Miranda's electric musical has not only brought the Founding Fathers to life, but has inspired a fervent fan base of "Faniltons" (though for the record, the Vox-preferred term is "Hamsters").
On November 8, CBS's 60 Minutes got an illuminating behind-the-scenes look at the production of Hamilton. When Charlie Rose asked Miranda why so many call the musical "transformative," he got contemplative. "I think it's because when great people come across our path — and I'm talking about Hamilton, here — it forces us to reckon with what we're doing with our lives," he said.
Miranda believes the same goes for those "boldfaced names" that go to see his show: "I see those [names] as an opportunity to see the show with fresh eyes while I'm doing it." While a revolving door of celebrities has attended the Richard Rodgers Theater to see the show, the musical's fans include some of the world's most powerful people — and we don't just mean Beyoncé.
President Obama, for instance, is a well-documented Fanilton Hamster Hamilton devotee, who has seen Hamilton twice, including at a commissioned performance that also acted as a Democratic National Committee fundraiser. "What is [the president] thinking as he sees Washington," Miranda mused. "Saying, 'I have to step down so the country can move on'?"
One Hamilton attendee Miranda has questions for, though, is former Vice President Dick Cheney. For one: "What is he thinking when he hears the lyric, 'History has its eyes on you'?"
If anyone could come up with a sicker burn than this ... well, it might just be Miranda's Hamilton.