How much is too much to see a play about the long-dead stuffy old white guys who founded our nation? $300? $400? This show has quickly become the hottest and most expensive ticket on Broadway, earning glowing praises from even the most relentless critics.

“I am loath to tell people to mortgage their houses and lease their children to acquire tickets to a hit Broadway show. But ‘Hamilton,’ directed by Thomas Kail and starring Mr. [Lin-Manuel] Miranda, might just about be worth it,” Ben Brantley, chief theater critic of The New York Times, said.

Although the costumes are authentic to the time period of the American Revolutionary War, the similarities end there. The cast, predominantly black and Hispanic, gives audiences a riveting history lesson in the form of rap music –– providing insight into the life of Alexander Hamilton with lyrics like:

         The ten dollar founding father without a father

         Got a lot farther by working a lot harder

         By being a lot smarter

         By being a self starter

         By fourteen, they placed him in charge of a

         Trading charter.

Lin-Manuel Miranda, the creative force behind the show, has written lyrics that redefine the story of the American Revolution. He shows audiences an adventurous and exciting version of history, not the staid version learned in the classroom.

With Ron Chernow, the American biographer, historian and journalist who wrote the biography on Alexander Hamilton that serves as the musical’s inspiration, as Miranda’s historical consultant, the musical generally remains true to Hamilton’s life. However, Miranda does admit to taking dramatic license on a few occasions such as dramatizing Hamilton’s relationships with both sister-in-law Angelica Schuyler and perpetual nemesis Aaron Burr. This may be a good history lesson, but keep studying for your APUSH exam.

Part of the reason Hamilton lives up to its immense hype is that Miranda has found a way to incorporate points of interest for all audiences. A theatre buff might recognize the use of “nobody needs to know” as a direct quote from Jason Robert Brown’s The Last Five Years.

A rap enthusiast will pick up on how each founding father has a rap style specific to a certain rapper. Alexander Hamilton, with his densely packed rhymes and ideas that are way before his time, is Rakim. Fast-talking Hercules Mulligan is Busta Rhymes. Both Alexander and Phillip Hamilton reference yet another genre, hip-hop, with the line “I’m only nineteen, but my mind is older,” which is a exact quote from Mobb Deep’s “Shook One Part 2.”

King George III sings a different tune as he watches his colonial subjects revolt from across the Atlantic Ocean. George brings comic relief to the intense show and with it, yet another musical genre –– vintage Britpop. Although George is comical, condescending and an overall crowd pleaser, it is not his story to tell. It is through the eyes of Hamilton that audiences see our nation come together.

As the word began to spread about Hamilton, tickets are becoming increasingly harder to procure and prices are soaring. There were many who were wary of buying tickets from Ticketmaster for over  $1,000 for a show that may very well be over hyped. For many, it is instinctive to reject this. However, when the cast album came out, it became clear that Hamilton is not all that it was made out to be –– it is much more. This is the reason that tickets are sold out until well into 2017 and why the world knew that Miranda and company would be taking home the grammy for Best Musical Theatre Album weeks before it was announced.

Lin-Manuel Miranda’s version of the founding fathers is much closer to who they really were than the glorified version in the history books. They are rebellious sons, cheating husbands, loving fathers. Hamilton brings diversity to the forefront, breaking unspoken rules and showing the world the true meaning of the American dream.