On a summer day in New Jersey in 1804, two of America’s Founding Fathers participated in a duel that killed one and effectively ended the career of the other.
What had slightly lower stakes and a less tragic outcome was the water cannon duels that took place recently at a child’s birthday party in Pittsburgh. Party goers turned their backs on one another, paced, then shot and fired just like Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr, who the guest of honor, Juliet Forrest, had come to know and love through the hit musical “Hamilton.”
Projected to become a billion-dollar Broadway hit and having picked up 11 Tony Awards, "Hamilton" was guaranteed a place in the pantheon of musical theater. But the "$10 dollar Founding Father" has picked up an unexpected fan base beyond the matinee crowd: tweens, who are experts on the show’s often tongue-twisting lyrics and, incidentally, much of early American history.
Zest for the show among the eight- to 12-year old crowd is showing up not just in backyards, but also in classrooms around the country, where students are becoming “Hamilton” experts, often helping adults navigate the musical's familiar choruses.
While a Treasury secretary is perhaps a surprising icon for a group normally drawn to Disney princesses, what captivates them, explains Dr. Marilyn Plotkins, chairwoman of the theatre department at Suffolk University in Boston, is an intriguing narrative. "There's a really good story,” she says. “There's a lot of action. [And] I think the women in 'Hamilton' are so appealing. You know, they're strong, they're beautiful, they're articulate, they're fighters.”
It all starts with the soundtrack
Christine Forrest, mother of birthday girl Juliet and a 10th grade history teacher, is a fan of the soundtrack and put on the show’s song “Helpless” one day in the car while driving with her daughter. “That was all she asked to listen to all the time, was that song,” Ms. Forrest says. Then Juliet branched out to the rest of the soundtrack, eventually becoming an ardent fan.
It wasn't a big leap from there to considering that the Founding Father be a part of her eighth birthday, as others her age have. Juliet, who loves the character of Hamilton’s wife, Eliza Schuyler Hamilton, suggested that instead of gifts, party guests bring “Hamilbills” – the $10 bills on which Hamilton appears – to donate to Graham Windham, a nonprofit organization that helps children and was co-founded by Ms. Hamilton. The party, held last September, raised more than $350.
