I’ve seen a couple YT vids and tweets of people seeing Hamilton for the first time who feel that Lin-Manuel Miranda isn’t as impressive as the rest of the performers.

While I agree that he gets a bit lost in the ocean of unfathomable vocal talent around him, I want to note...

That the burden on the character of Hamilton is not necessarily to be as vocally impressive, but to nail the emotion required to carry out the second act. And, in this, Miranda is heartbreaking perfection.

Think about how much the character of Hamilton has to convey and absolutely nail an acrobatic performance of contrition, remorse, and sorrow to get us from Eliza’s final line in “Burn” to the moment of “forgiveness” in “It’s Quiet Uptonwn.”

Without that, the finale crumbles. We wouldn’t be anywhere near as invested in the showdown with Burr, or Hamilton’s final soliloquy. We wouldn’t feel that punch in the gut over “who lives, who dies, who tells your story” or Eliza’s afterward.

So, yes, the vocal performances and and other actors are all shooting stars of talent shining out in absolute glory. But don’t be so quick to short change the emotive genius in Miranda’s performance.

It’s easy to miss when everyone else is so good around him.

I think because he gets so much credit for the rest of Hamilton, there’s a willingness to brush him off as somehow less of a performer. But I think he’s giving an amazing performance — it’s just a different kind of amazing than most of the other roles focus on.