10 Types of Tears Hamilton Made You Shed

Photo credit: Joan Marcus

In preparation for Friday’s PBS documentary ‘Hamilton’s America,’ we delve into the generals and specifics of the tear-jerking revolutionary musical.

Historically, there’s never been a musical quite like Hamilton. It’s been playing to sold-out houses pretty much since its Broadway opening, its appeal is irresistible and spans all demographics, its ability to blend hard fact, quick rap, and musical theatre is unprecedented, and its subject matter makes it such that I’ve already made at least 3 puns since the beginning of this post. It’s ground-breaking. It’s epic. It’s almost annoyingly permeated every aspect of pop culture. And Rosie O’Donnell has, at last count, seen it at least 14 times so really all of the traditional standards of accomplishment have been exceeded. It’s an American treasure such that the cast was summoned to perform for our current President in his own home, and just recently performed for our next President on its own turf. It’s a big fat gigantic deal, and the momentum doesn’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon. In fact, in just a few days, we’ll be getting even more Hamilton like we’ve never seen it before. Even though most us actually have never seen it before. Thanks, Obama.

Hamilton’s America, the PBS documentary that takes us behind-the-scenes into the world of muskets, duels, founding fathers, and Peggy, is set to premiere this Friday night, October 21st. And in preparation for the embarrassingly abundant Excitement Tears we’re ready to shed while watching, let’s revisit 10 of the other ways our 10 dollar founding father without a father tugs at our heartstrings during every listen.

Spoilers ahead (…but, like, spoilers for things that happened over 200 years ago)!