Hamilton is, of course, one of the most popular musicals in recent memory. A great deal of its success stems from the brilliance of its music and from its choreography, as well as its riveting story of a young immigrant who, despite his base origins, managed to climb the rung of political power before his stunning death in a duel with Aaron Burr.
It’s a play populated with a number of larger-than-life personalities, men and women who played a fundamental role in the founding of the United States and its early history. Many of them, however, look quite different in the play than they did in their existing portraits.
10 Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was, by all accounts, one of the most enigmatic of the Founders, in part because he was often reluctant to engage in explicit conflicts with others. He was known for being a tall man (standing well over six feet tall), with reddish hair.
He was also said to have small eyes that were hazel in color. In the play, of course, he is played with actor Daveed Diggs, who performs the role with true panache.
9 Alexander Hamilton
Alexander Hamilton, the titular hero of the play, has a very distinct appearance in many of his portraits. When looking at portraits of him, it’s clear that he was a handsome man, with a very prominent nose (that also seemed to be a bit on the thin side).
Like many men of his time, he wore his hair powdered and often tied back. In the play, however, he is shown as having black hair (not powdered), though he is also still a very handsome man.
8 George Washington
The first president is one of those men whose image looms large in the American public imagination. It’s not hard to see why, since in both his portraits and in descriptions of him he is described as being a man of noble and handsome appearance (something that is carried over into the play).
He was a physically imposing man, with blue eyes and what were described as heavy brows. According to reports from the time, he also apparently had rather large feet.
7 James Madison
In the play, Madison is depicted as being a very tall man. In real life, however, Madison was noted for being a rather short sort of person (he stood only five feet, four inches tall). He was also known for being slight in build (he weighed only about one hundred pounds).
Though he worked to make his constitution more robust, throughout his life he was known for being rather sickly, and he even had a scar on his nose from frostbite.
6 Eliza Schuyler Hamilton
In the play, Hamilton has many important relationships, but one of the most significant is, of course, with his wife Eliza (played to perfection by Phillipa Soo). In the play, she is shown as being a very lovely young woman at the time that she met Hamilton, with dark hair.
In the portraits that exist of her from her marriage, she is shown as having a rather pointed chin and nose. She is also shown having very firm eyebrows and dark hair.
5 Angelica Schuyler Church
Throughout the musical, Hamilton finds himself somewhat torn between his obvious attraction to his wife’s sister Angelica and his true devotion to Eliza. It’s not hard to see why, because in the play Angelica is both beautiful and fiercely intelligent.
While her on-stage counterpart (played by the amazing Renée Elise Goldsberry) was still clearly beautiful and incredibly intelligent, it is different from the portraits that exist of her, though it must be said that those few portraits that have come to do the present show her with a thin nose and eyes that are set close together. She is also shown as possibly having reddish hair in portraits.
4 Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette
In the first act of the play, Hamilton becomes good friends with the Marquis de Lafayette, the notable French nobleman who played a pivotal role in the Revolution. Like Jefferson, he’s outstandingly played by Daveed Diggs. In the portraits that exist of him, particularly as a young man, he is shown as having the powdered hair common to the time.
He had very prominent eyes, and a nose considered too long for him to be considered handsome. Daveed Diggs as Lafayette is much more handsome than his historical counterpart.
3 Aaron Burr
Hamilton’s fate is, throughout the musical, inextricably connected with that of Aaron Burr (portrayed by Leslie Odom, Jr. who performed wonderfully), and the two’s fraught relationship is one of the narrative’s most important dynamics.
He’s a handsome fellow in the play, and from what historians know of him in real life he was handsome then as well. In several portraits that currently exist, he’s frequently shown as being a rather average man for his time, and most of them do nothing to disguise his receding hairline.
2 King George III
Though he only appears relatively briefly in the show, George III makes quite the impression. Played by the great Jonathan Groff, he’s shown as being a young man who nevertheless wears what appears to be a powdered wig (very common for royals and nobles).
In most of his portraiture, he is shown as being a blandly handsome sort of man, with a wide face (his prominent cheeks are particularly notable), rather wide eyes, and a pursed mouth.
1 Margarita "Peggy" Schuyler Van Rensselaer
Time and again throughout the song with the Schuyler sisters, it’s made clear that Peggy is a bit of an add-on, rather superfluous to her elder two sisters. However, she’s clearly considered as attractive as they are. Also, Jasmine Cephas Jones, who portrays her and later Maria Reynolds, gives a superb performance.
In the few extant portraits of her, Peggy is shown as having a rounder face and with curlier hair than her on-stage counterpart.
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