#Hamilton: Imagination is the only weapon in the war against reality

From an entrepreneurship perspective, can you imagine what the #elevatorpitch to investors was to seek their funding to back the broadway production of Hamilton?

"So, we want to create a #HipHop #opera about one of the #Foundingfathers of our nation who is *not* one who has heretofore captured the imagination of the nation. Most importantly, we want to cast #AfricanAmericans in many of the leading roles as the founding fathers, including in the role of #GeorgeWashington."

"I, a #PuertoRican, wrote and composed the lyrics of this production and will star in the leading role as #AlexanderHamilton. None of the actors, including myself, are really that famous, nor are we necessarily the best singers on Broadway--and many of us haven't even starred on Broadway before, so what do you think---want to invest?"

But, there's more. "I will cast an #AfricanAmerican woman as the sister of my white wife--because she can really sing well." After all, race doesn't really matter in our #storytelling, in our play we are transparent vehicles through which the light flows.

Interesting, but the investors must have asked, "Tell us, why on earth do you want to write a #HipHop #Opera about this particular founding father?" Oh, said Lin-Manuel Miranda, "when I read the book by #RonChernow on which my play is based, I could hear the #HipHop in the story, to me it was screaming out #HipHop!"

Tell us more about the story, the investors must have asked.

According to #Lin-Manuel's explanation in an #NPR interview on #FreshAir yesterday, #Hamilton was an immigrant and as such had to work 3x harder than most other founding fathers to make it in the new world. To make it, #Hamilton had to #mine all of the #gemsofwisdom within himself and put them on full display in his writing. It was #Hamilton's essay writing that brought him to the attention of benefactors who paid for his journey to America and it was his writing skills and intellect that enabled him to write the majority of the #FederalistPapers that were critical in getting "buy-in" for support of the constitution.

"Still, what's the real thing, what did you see in his story that compelled you so?"

Lin-Manuel said yesterday, "it was a moment in history when some could hear the tick tock of the clock more loudly than others, so they had critical decisions to make that would change the course of history". #Hamilton heard it, where others couldn't hear it at (just as only Lin-Manuel could hear hiphop in an 1,800 page dense book about Hamilton)

Today, we all are hearing a new #TikTok" loud and clear and it's a message of hope and a cry for justice; it was heard in Tulsa, on Mt. Rushmore, and throughout the world. As we state our cases, we are reminded by the beauty of what the play #Hamilton conveyed, which is that even the most improbable proposition can succeed and that nothing succeeds more than good and compelling #storytelling, especially when the story appeals to our better nature and encourages us to #imagine and be possibility thinkers.

Hark, hark, I hear the sound of #TikTok roaring.

Sharon T. Freeman, Ph.D., President/CEO www.gemsofwisdomconsulting.com