15 Mind-Blowing Facts You Didn't Know About Hamilton: An American Musical

Believe it or not, there was once a time when Hamilton wasn't being considered as a musical. Once Miranda had read about the Founding Father, his life and his challenges, he decided to use Hamilton's story as the premise for a concept album; a mixtape detailing the trials and tribulations of a man Miranda claimed "embodied hip-hop."

He performed an early rendition of the opening number - aptly titled "Alexander Hamilton" - at the White House in 2009, for then-President Barack Obama and his family. He had 12 tracks for "The Hamilton Mixtape" by 2012, and in 2014 began work-shopping the whole thing as a musical. The show was eventually first played in early 2015, and made its way onto Broadway that July (officially opening in August).

Miranda himself says the reason for this change - from album to musical, following the footsteps of Jesus Christ Superstar and Evita, which were both albums before they hit the stage - was because he knew more about making musicals than he did about making albums. Safe to say that was a solid move.

It didn't stop there, though, as Miranda eventually released the mixtape in 2016, full of the show's songs as performed by other artists, and even some deleted numbers from the show itself. It was well received upon its release, and is definitely worth checking out.