Hamilton. GOTTA BE Best Musical.

 First there was In The Heights,

Lin Manuel Miranda's first creation, begun back in 1999,

when he was a sophomore at Wesleyan.

Umpteen drafts later, it successfully opened on Broadway (2008).

He then set his sights on Hamilton.

(Above, Daveed Diggs, Leslie Odom, Jr., Anthony Ramos,

 and Miranda.)

Inspired by Ron Chernow's biography of Alexander,

Miranda began writing a hip hop/rap/R&B score...

it debuted off-Broadway at the Public in January of 2015,

but by August, it was very much ON Broadway.

(Above Phillipa Soo, Renee Elise Goldsberry, and Jasmine Cephas Jones)

 Phillipa as Eliza Hamilton, and Lin-Manuel as Alexander.

Critics were over the moon.

Hamilton was praised as "a watershed, a breakthrough, a game changer,"

yet Miranda is "too savvy to reinvent all the rules at once."

Ben Brantley went so far as to suggest we mortgage our

houses and lease our children to get tickets.