Hamilton cast performs "Alexander Hamilton" at White House

we want to take you live to the White House where earlier today first lady Michelle Obama hosted Broadway's Hamilton at the White House you can see President Obama is now in front of a podium where he's about to introduce the cast let's listen in the curtain fell so feeling a little deprived we invited the cast to perform today because we wanted to share this incredible musical with folks who might otherwise not get the experience and I want to thank them so much the show's producers for help helping to bring Hamilton to the White House the truth is though they they do owe me because seven years ago lin-manuel Miranda came to the White House poetry Jam he took the mic and he announced that he and his musical collaborator Alex black amor if they were going to perform a song from a hip-hop album they were working on and I'm quoting him about the life of somebody who embodies hip-hop Treasury secretary Alexander Hamilton and so we all started laughing but lin-manuel was serious and who's laughing now having said that not to take undue credit or anything but this is definitely the room where it happened obviously since that time Hamilton has become a phenomenon a smash hit taken Broadway by storm captivating the entire country winning tons of awards turn Musical haters into diehard fans it has become a favorite in the Obama household that was the first lady pooting was that grandma who in fact Hamilton I'm pretty sure is the only thing that Dick Cheney and I agree on I'm trying not to get carried away when my Secretary of Health and Human Services challenged me to a rap battle I had to draw the line but this show brings unlikely folks together and lin-manuel if you have any ideas about a show about Congress for example now's your chance we can use the help there is a reason why this has become a cultural phenomenon in rancheros extraordinary biography of Alexander Hamilton and a great historian is here on lin-manuel picked up this biography at the airport for some light beach reading but he identified a quintessentially American story in the character of Hamilton the striving immigrant who escaped poverty made his way to the New World climbed to the top by sheer force of will and pluck and determination well then Manuel saw something of his own family and every immigrant family and in the Hamilton that lin-manuel and his incredible cast and crew bring to life a man who is just like his country young scrappy and hungry we recognize the improbable story of America and the spirit that has sustained our nation for over 240 years now in this telling rap is the language of revolution hip-hop is the back beat and each brilliantly crafted song we hear the debates that shaped our nation and we hear the debates that are still shaping our nation we feel the fierce youthful energy that animated the men and women of Hamilton's generation and with a cast as diverse as America itself including the outstandingly talented women the show reminds us that this nation was built by more than just a few great men and that it is an inheritance that belongs to all of us and that's why Michelle and I wanted to bring this performance to the White House because Hamilton is not just for people who can score a ticket to a pricey Broadway show it is a story for all of us and about all of us and so we are absolutely thrilled that the show's producers have been working with the New York Public Schools the Rockefeller Foundation the Gilder Lehrman Institute to make sure that thousands of low-income students have the chance to see the show there's now a curriculum to give students context in a deeper meaning a deeper understanding of our nation's founding today Michelle hosted a workshop for a group of area high school students with some of the cast members I understand these young people put on some pretty terrific performances of their own look at this brother he's all like thank you thank you okay that's good I mean you got to have confidence what it wouldn't Malia Sasha saving the other day you got to be your own number-one fan he's obviously internalized that we did have we did have one rule which is no dueling on the nice furniture some of which is antique but the real heroes are the extraordinary educators and counselors and community members who pour their heart into their students and make a learning come alive every single day so I want to give all those educators counselors and community members a big round of applause we hope that this helps every teacher who spent hours trying to make the federalist papers teenager friendly we hope that the remarkable life of Alexander Hamilton will show our young people the possibilities within themselves and how much they can achieve in the span of a lifetime and we hope that they'll walk away with an understanding of what our founders got started that it was just a start it was just the beginning that's what makes America so great you finished the story we're not finished there's a constant work in progress America we're boisterous and we're diverse we're full of energy and perpetually young in spirit we are the project that never ends we make mistakes we have our foibles but ultimately when every voice is heard we overcome them it's not the project of any one person America is what we make of it and we only need to look at this cast performing in front of George and Martha to know that our founders could not have dress I think it's fair to say that our founders couldn't have dreamt up the future that they set in motion and it's only by exercising their greatest gift to us the gift of citizenship that we keep our democracy alive and continue the work of creating that more perfect union so with that let's get started enjoy the show how does it best Oh son of a disgust dropped in the middle love of forgot spot the Caribbean by Providence impoverished and squalor grow up to be a hero of the Scarlet the $10.00 founding father without a father got a lot farther by working a lot harder by being a lot smarter by being the soap started by fourteen they placed him in charge of the trading chart and every day while slaves were being slaughtered and carted away across the waves he struggled and kept his guard up inside he was longing for something to be a part of the brother was ready to make steal borrow or barter then a hurricane came and devastation drained a man saw his future drip dripping down the drain but a pencil to his temple connected it to his brain and he wrote his first were playing the testing the truth he said this kid is insane man took a book collection just to send him to the plane man it's your education don't forget from whence you came and the world's gonna know your name what's your name Alexander Hamilton my name is Alexander Hamilton two years lettuce and his mother didn't have moving with saker's and the cousin committed suicide left him with nothing but ruin rides up the new inside of boys we started retreating and we'd never tree the song would be nothing left to do for someone let's just shoot he would have been dead a destitute without a sense of restitution started working rocking for his late mother's laying low to drinking sugar cane Iran and all the pits he can't afford to pay for every book he can get his hands on for the future see it now as he stands on the bow of a ship headed for a new name a new ship is in the harbor now see if you can spider another Eva coming from the place destroyed is we fought with him me I died for him me I trusted him me I'm the damn fool you

Channel: CBS News

Views: 19,067,252

Keywords: video, live streaming, live video, cbsn, Hamilton, Hamilton the play, Broadway Hamilton, White House, Alexander Hamilton, Obama, Michelle Obama, manuel lin miranda

Id: ZPrAKuOBWzw

Length: 13min 24sec (804 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 14 2016