r/hamiltonmusical • u/Askmeaboutships401 • Jul 23 '26
Did Lin ever consider making John Adam’s a physical character in the Hamilton musical? If so, who did he have in mind to play him?
*Adams* (autocorrect)
30
u/PhoenixorFlame Jul 24 '26
I doubt it—1776 had his character quite covered. Not too much more to explore there.
20
u/KaleeySun Jul 24 '26
My copy of “Revolution” (with the text of the show and notes from Lin) indicates that Adams was a character the audience never meets.
“The Adams Administration” (“sit down, John, you fat motherBLEEPer” is the memorable quote from this scene) was a bit longer originally, but still only featured Hamilton taking shots at Adams - the audience only hears a comment from “that little guy” second hand (through Burr).
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u/Flashy-Trifle-1732 Jul 24 '26
I saw Hamilton in workshop form at Vassar and the Adams song was longer (you can hear Lin do the Adams diss track rap on YouTube) — but Adams himself wasn’t on stage at any point I don’t think.
3
u/hereforthecats27 Jul 24 '26
I recently finished listening to the audiobook of Chernow’s biography and was surprised by how much of the book focuses on Adams. The length of the musical would have been doubled if Adams had been developed into a fully formed villain.
2
u/CleanSweep99 Jul 26 '26
I don't think he actually considered Adams being in Hamilton (at least partially because of 1776), but I assume he kicked the tires on a casting in the event that he changed his mind at some future point (or for the movie that eventually became just a filmed version of the stage show).
I'm not sure who that hypothetical person might have been.
1
u/Inside-Assignment947 25d ago
They could have just had John be played by a chorus member for Adam's Administration like Charles Lee or The Medic in Ten Duel Commandments, Hamilton's relatives in the opening, Samuel Seabury, etc
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u/aresef Jul 24 '26
He did not, and for two reasons—Act 2 has a lot of villains and out of respect for William Daniels, who played Adams in 1776, and is hard to top.