15 Mind-Blowing Facts You Didn't Know About Hamilton: An American Musical
11. Word Count
Hamilton is something of a unique presence in the world of musical theatre, primarily due to its incorporation of rap (which we'll get to in a bit) and the lyrical brilliance of the songs. Also, it's entirely sang (or rapped), with only a few brief moments of actual dialogue.
The impressive thing is that, over two and a half hours, the show packs in a whopping 20,520 words, which in turn is a ridiculous 144 words per minute. Taking into consideration how often the various casts performed the show, this a great feat. Miranda, in an interview with 60 Minutes, said the amount of lyrics was purposeful, because he wanted to emulate Alexander's intensity.
The musical's fastest verse is like something from the vaults of Eminem or Busta Rhymes, with Lafayette's "Guns and Ships" at one point clocking in at 6.3 words per second. And according to an online essay by Leah Libresco, if the show had been to the pace of other musicals, it would have ran for as long as six hours.