When the show first came out (and still, if you don’t use Gametime) tickets for Hamilton were so hard to get, that venues hold community-wide raffles just to secure two.

The musical, which initially starred Lin-Manuel Miranda, is a look back in history at the man and the life of Alexander Hamilton. That’s why it was such a big surprise when it became the most talked-about musical of the decade. People aren’t that interested in plays based around what they learned in History class. So how did Hamilton manage to become what it is today? Rapping, a general hip hop sound, and painstakingly developed characterizations of all involved.

From 1800 to 2015

Alexander Hamilton Died in 1804, so why did he come back on the scene in the twenty-teens? It had something to do with the book “Hamilton,” by Ron Chernow, that came out in 2004. Lin Manuel Miranda himself was spotted reading the book on vacation in 2008, which is where most think the idea for a musical was born.

Later, but still pre-musical, Miranda would perform one of the first tracks at what he called “a White House Poetry Jam,” for President Barack Obama. The standing ovation it got him was all the push he needed to pursue his Hamilton obsession officially.

The Hamilton Mixtape

Though the play wasn’t finished yet, Lin-Manuel built up anticipation by dropping his “Hamilton Mixtape” a few months later. Finally, in 2014, the play (now officially called Hamilton) was picked up by the Public Theater in NY. However, it didn’t open until July 2015, which gave the public a lot of time to get hyped. The premiere went so well that it was invited to be “on-Broadway,” instead of off, where it debuted. That transfer to Broadway was all it took for Hamilton to become what it is today.