Did Lin-Manuel Miranda Work Secret Messages Into the HamilTen Tony Performance?

During Sunday night’s Tony ceremony, the original cast of Hamilton reunited to perform a medley mixtape of songs to celebrate Hamilton’s 10th anniversary.

It was a thrilling performance. It made watching the entire season of Doctor Odyssey worth it because Phillipa Soo finally got to sing again. Everyone looked beautiful and did a stellar job with the performance, especially Daveed Diggs’ knees:

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And that should have been enough. Unsurprisingly, not content to be in the room where that happened, The Internet really wants there to be more to the story. MORE!

Two days after the ceremony, people are throwing out theories about everything from Anthony Ramos’ limited participation having to do with his breakup with Jasmine Cephas Jones (instead of his Ironheart press obligations interfering with rehearsals) to there being a secret meaning behind the cast in all black, except Jonathan Groff’s King George who wore red.

I’m going to hold your hand while I tell you this as a former theater professional: There were no secret messages, and the performance wasn’t encoded in any way. While yes, I agree that Lin-Manuel Miranda is an intentional writer/director/performer, he was already intentional with his messages by creating Hamilton in the first place.

When you’re invited as an ensemble to perform your greatest hits on an international stage, ten years after everyone was last fitted for costumes, you’re going to do what you can to make choices that evoke your costumes and characters, without refitting everyone. The cast was in black to appear coordinated while performing at a black-tie event. Choices were made with regard to accents, accessories, and the cut of the clothes to remind the audience of their characters within that framework.

David Diggs, wearing a beret and lavallière had more to do with the fact that both of his characters in the show, the Marquis de Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson, were either French or had been in France (what did he miss?) than it did with paying homage to the Black Panthers.

Groff was wearing red because his character in the original show wore red.

The Schuyler Sisters wore those beautiful gowns because they wore beautiful gowns in the show, and their choreography involved them having skirts to hold onto and twirl around on stage.

And I’m willing to admit that theater folks are messy, emotional people. So Ramos probably had to eat some shit about his breakup with Cephas Jones (really, Anthony?). But theater folks are also very practical and would not throw away their shot at a perfect ten-year reunion performance because of relationship drama.

This is a great side-by-side comparison of the staged production and the ensemble’s Tony performance.

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Hamilton is already rife with subtext. With intentional casting and lyrics that make us examine our country’s history and what we were taught about America’s Founding Fathers, Miranda did not need to create a super-secret, extra-special level of context for the 10th anniversary performance. It was already built in. Unless you have an actual relationship with Lin-Manuel Miranda, and not just a parasocial one that makes you believe you understand his work in a deeper way than everyone else, maybe just relax a little and enjoy this wonderful performance.