Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “Hamilton” is hitting the big screen.
Disney is bringing the hit musical, starring the original Broadway cast, to movie theaters on October 15, 2021. It’s not an adaptation: It’s a previously recorded “live capture” of the stage performance from the Richard Rodgers Theatre in New York, where it first began.
Miranda announced the news on Twitter.
The original cast has a number of now well-known stars, including Miranda (as Alexander Hamilton), Daveed Diggs, Jonathan Groff, Renee Elise Goldsberry and Phillipa Soo.
The production will combine elements of live theater and film, resulting in a “cinematic stage performance that is a wholly new way to experience” the show, according to a press release.
It was shot in June 2016 over multiple performances with director Tommy Kail at the helm. “Hamilton” has grossed hundreds of millions of dollars according to multiple reports and has been the focus of a PBS documentary.
Miranda has previously said that a movie was coming.
“What I’m most excited about is that you all have that friend that is like, ‘I saw it with the original cast,'” Miranda told Variety. “We’re stealing that brag from everyone because you’re all going to see it with the original cast.”
The music in “Hamilton” blends rap, hip-hop, R&B and classic Broadway to tell the story of the Caribbean-born, French- and Scottish-heritaged Alexander Hamilton, one of America’s founding fathers. It debuted in 2015 on Broadway to several sold-out performances and it’s still playing, but with a different cast. There’s also a touring version of he show.
“Hamilton” received the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and has won 11 Tony Awards.