Burr tries to flirt with Angelica, who clearly knows him and is unimpressed. Meanwhile, Eliza and Angelica are enthralled by the revolution taking place in the city. Eliza, Angelica, and Peggy have traveled to see the revolution "happening in New York." Peggy, the youngest, is worried that their father would not approve of them being there and tries, unsuccessfully, to convince her sisters to leave. Suddenly, Aaron Burr enters and introduces us to the wealthy Schuyler sisters. The new friends toast to their shared cause and sing "The Story of Tonight," about how people will tell their story in the future. Hamilton expresses his fear of dying without a legacy or a cause. His three new friends want to put him "in front of a crowd," and everyone in the bar bursts into song and dance. Hamilton forms a friendship with the three new characters, singing with Laurens about rising up and taking back their country with the help of the people. Burr cuts in here, telling them that although he agrees with their cause, he thinks they are far too reckless. Laurens is an abolitionist who dreams of forming the first all-black battalion, as well as helping bring an end to slavery. Mulligan is a tailor who is sick of his position and wishes to advance socially using the revolution. Lafayette is a Frenchman who wishes to take down the monarchy in his own country, as well as help the American colonies shake off England. The other three introduce themselves and their ideals. Hamilton also reveals his desire to fight in order to free his country from England's colonial rule. In the course of the song we discover that he is very poor and he is living a humble life. The men are surprised by Hamilton's passionate stance, and he launches into his own number called "My Shot" about how he doesn't want to take his life for granted. The others aren’t happy about this, but before they can say much Hamilton tells Burr that he should be able to fight and die for something-otherwise, what's the point of life? Burr laughs and tells them that they are taking too many risks he would rather stick to the sidelines for the moment. When they see Burr they ask him to tell them his thoughts on the revolution. The characters Laurens, Lafayette, and Mulligan enter the stage rapping loudly and sit around a table at the bar. Hamilton cannot believe that Burr has such a strategic outlook on life, and follows him to the bar. Burr advises him to "talk less, smile more, don’t let them know what you're against or what you're for," and invites him to go have a drink. When Hamilton asks Burr how he graduated so quickly, Burr tells him that it was his "parents' dying wish," and Hamilton feels kindred with him because they are both orphans. He admits that he punched the bursar of the college (a friend of Burr's) when the bursar looked at him like he was stupid. Hamilton introduces himself to Burr in order to ask for advice on how to graduate from college quickly (Burr graduated in 2 years) and join in fighting the Revolutionary War. Aaron Burr comes back and concludes the song, admitting to the audience that he is the one who shot Hamilton, foreshadowing the end of the story. In this opening song, all of the main characters are introduced, and we learn what their role in the story will be: Lafayette and Jefferson, Mulligan and Madison, who fought with or against him Laurens and Philip, who died in war or dueling Washington, who trusted him as his right-hand man and Eliza, Angelica, and Maria, who loved or lusted after him. None of these adversities discouraged Hamilton from working hard in order to make his way, working for his mother's landlord and eventually making his way to America. Aaron Burr opens the show with the line, "How does a bastard, orphan, son of a whore/And a Scotsman, dropped in the middle of a forgotten spot in the Caribbean by providence impoverished,/In squalor, grow up to be a hero and a scholar?" Various characters take turns telling the audience about Hamilton’s childhood in the Caribbean in a song called " Alexander Hamilton," detailing the hurricane that destroyed his town, his father's abandonment of him, his mother's death, and his cousin's suicide.
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