Some artists lay down their musical styles and costumes after the curtain closes, but for others, the world they created in their art lives on. The latter was the case for Lin-Manuel Miranda and the cast of Hamilton in 2016, when their show won Best Musical Theater Album.
In this episode of GRAMMY Rewind, revisit the big moment when their hit musical was officially named the winner. Earlier in the ceremony, the cast had performed "Alexander Hamilton" — the opening number of the musical — live from the Richard Rodgers Theatre on Broadway in New York City, and they were still in late 18th-century period costume when they came on stage as a cast to claim their trophy.
Manuel — who wrote the music, lyrics and book for Hamilton on his own — delivered his acceptance speech as a rap, a more-than-apropos celebration of the hip-hop inspired musical he created. Reading off a piece of paper "so I didn't forget anyone," as he told ET, Miranda rattled off his gratitude to a long list of people in record time.
Those included his musical influences (from Notorious B.IG. and Tupac to Jeanine Tesori), the people who work at his record label, and the cast and crew — including Hamilton music director, orchestrator and conductor Alex Lacamoire, who stood behind him on stage.
"Lacamoire, my right hand man, this frantic Hispanic is nonstop," Manuel rapped, in a callback to one of the songs off the Hamilton soundtrack, "Non-Stop."
Manuel concluded his speech with a message of love to his wife and then-15-month-old son. "Sebastian, Daddy's bring home a GRAMMY for you," he said as he ended his speech to raucous applause.
Press play above to watch Manuel and the gang bring their signature high energy and sharp-tongued lyricism to the stage, and keep checking back to GRAMMY.com for more episodes of GRAMMY Rewind.
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