10 Types of Tears Hamilton Made You Shed

Photo credit: Sara Krulwich

#8: Forgiveness Tears

We all knew this was coming. And it may be quiet uptown but it sure as hell wasn’t quiet in my apartment the first time I listened to (just gonna say it!!!!) Philip’s death and its aftermath. After getting into a scuffle with a young man who publicly disparaged his father, Philip and Alexander consult and plan Philip’s very first duel. At Alexander’s insistence, Philip does what is honorable, and fires his gun into the air instead of into his opponent. Great intentions, horrible results. Philip, having been shot, loses a lot of blood. And just as his mother reaches his side, he apologizes for forgetting what she taught him, and thus, with a heartbreaking nightmarish obligation to the reality of history, he dies.

In the days following his death, the Hamiltons move uptown to escape the political noise, and Alexander can do nothing but roam the city. He’s inconsolable and broken. But he still, after everything he’s done to her, has Eliza. He tells her: “If I could trade his life for mine, he’d be standing here right now, and you would smile, and that would be enough.” UMMMMMM, NO *YOU’RE* CRYING JUST THINKING ABOUT IT!!! She forgives him, and every damn time, we are reminded that she truly genuinely one hundred percent is the BEST of wives and BEST of women.

Songs to cry to:That Would Be Enough, Stay Alive (Reprise), It’s Quiet Uptown, Best of Wives and Best of Women