Hamilton, the hip-hop musical based on the life of one of America’s founding fathers, has been the talk of the theater world for months now. If you aren’t able to get to New York to see it, though — or if you just don’t want to drop the cash needed to get into the theater — you can now listen to the soundtrack, and you can do it for free through NPR.
Creating a bona fide musical theater hit in this decade, with its seemingly infinite entertainment options, is fairly difficult. The stratospheric hit of the decade, The Book of Mormon, has grossed nearly $370M since its 2011 Broadway debut, but no new productions have come close. Hamilton is currently grossing around $1.5M per week since its previews in mid-July, putting it among The Lion King, Wicked and Book of Mormon as Broadway’s top earners.
Hamilton, based on a biography of the statesmen, has been a bit of a surprise hit. It is an interesting move to release the cast recording for free rather than try to capitalize on what could be massive sales.