Key Takeaways
One name, several things
Alexander Hamilton can mean a real person from the early United States (North America), a famous stage musical, or even a different historical figure with the same two names.
“Based on history” still has writers
History is built from many writings: letters, laws, newspapers, and memoirs. Later, historians shape those pieces into books and biographies.
Animatics often follow strong source chains
Fan animatics tend to choose stories with clear characters, big stakes, and a well-known “source chain,” such as myths, novels, films, and documented history.
Story & Details
What this article is about
As December closes in the year two thousand twenty-five, a wave of fan-made animatics keeps circling the same kind of material: famous myths, famous books, and famous lives. One of the biggest names in that mix is Alexander Hamilton, both the historical figure and the musical Hamilton.
Who Alexander Hamilton was
Alexander Hamilton was a key political figure in the early United States (North America). He argued for a strong national government, helped shape debates around the United States Constitution, and served as the first Secretary of the Treasury from seventeen eighty-nine to seventeen ninety-five. His ideas about credit, debt, and national finance helped set patterns that still matter describing money and government today. His life ended after a duel with Aaron Burr in July seventeen ninety-four.
Why the American Revolution keeps showing up near his name
Hamilton is closely tied to the American Revolution because he served in the Revolutionary War and later fought, with words and policy, over what the new country should become. That link makes his story feel like a “beginning chapter” for the United States (North America): a young nation, a new constitution, and loud arguments about power, money, and law.
What “based on history” means in practice
A myth like The Odyssey has a core text: an epic poem traditionally attributed to Homer in ancient Greece (Europe). A historical life does not have one single “book that equals the story.” Instead, there are many pieces.
Hamilton left behind writings, and many people around him wrote about him too. Those are primary sources: materials made in the time itself. Modern readers often meet Hamilton through biographies, which are careful stories built from primary sources. One widely known modern biography is Ron Chernow’s Alexander Hamilton. The Broadway musical Hamilton is publicly described as being based on Chernow’s biography, which is why many fans talk about a “book behind the show,” even when someone else insists the subject is “history.”
So both statements can be true at the same time:
Hamilton can be “based on history” because the real person lived and left evidence, and Hamilton can be “based on a book” because the musical used a modern biography as a main guide.
A quick note on a name that can mislead
The phrase “Alexander Hamilton papers” usually points to the real Alexander Hamilton. Yet there is also a separate Library of Congress collection for Alexander Hamilton Stephens, a different person with the same two names. That second figure was a nineteenth-century politician, not the founding-era Hamilton, and mixing the two can send a reader to the wrong set of documents.
What an animatic is, and why these topics fit
An animatic is a rough moving storyboard: drawings placed in sequence with timing, often with temporary sound, to test story flow before a final version. Online fan animatics work in a similar way, even when the goal is finished art rather than studio planning. The format loves strong beats: clear scenes, clear emotions, and clear turning points. That is why musicals, myths, and famous historical lives become common fuel.
Alongside an Alexander Hamilton animatic and EPIC: The Musical, other well-known source types often used for musical-based animatics include:
stories drawn from Greek myth, as in Hadestown, which retells the tales of Orpheus, Eurydice, Hades, and Persephone;
stories drawn from English royal history in the United Kingdom (Europe), as in SIX, which frames the wives of Henry the Eighth as pop stars;
stories drawn from modern novels, as in Wicked and Be More Chill;
stories drawn from films, as in Heathers;
stories drawn from classic novels, as in Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of two thousand twelve, which takes a segment from Tolstoy’s War and Peace, and as in Les Misérables, rooted in Victor Hugo’s nineteenth-century France (Europe).
In each case, the “based on what” question has a clean answer: myth, history, novel, film, or a mix.
A tiny Dutch phrase lesson
A reader learning Dutch in the Netherlands (Europe) may want short, practical lines for moments of confusion.
Ik begrijp het niet. Simple meaning: a speaker does not understand. Word-by-word: ik means I; begrijp means understand; het means it; niet means not. Register: neutral and safe in most settings.
Kun je dat herhalen? Simple meaning: a speaker asks for repetition. Word-by-word: kun means can; je means you; dat means that; herhalen means repeat. Register: friendly and normal; a more formal version uses u instead of je.
Conclusions
A simple way to keep the story clear
A strong source chain keeps confusion low. For Hamilton, the chain can start with primary documents and move to a biography, then to the musical, and then to fan animatics. For The Odyssey, the chain starts with an epic poem and then grows through translations and adaptations. When the chain is named out loud, “history” and “book” stop fighting each other and start fitting together.
Selected References
Links
[1] https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alexander-Hamilton-United-States-statesman
[2] https://home.treasury.gov/about/history/prior-secretaries/alexander-hamilton-1789-1795
[3] https://www.loc.gov/collections/alexander-hamilton-papers/about-this-collection/
[4] https://guides.loc.gov/federalist-papers/full-text
[5] https://playbill.com/production/hamilton-broadway-richard-rodgers-theatre-2015
[6] https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/292945/alexander-hamilton-by-ron-chernow/
[7] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soXZPL7KSzs
[8] https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/dec/21/were-figuring-out-cool-ways-of-storytelling-how-tiktok-is-changing-the-way-we-watch-musicals
[9] https://www.britannica.com/topic/Odyssey-epic-by-Homer
[10] https://hadestown.com/about
[11] https://sixthemusical.com/
[12] https://wickedthemusical.com/the-story-of-wicked/
[13] https://playbill.com/article/all-new-be-more-chill-opens-off-broadway-august-9
[14] https://playbill.com/article/heathers-musical-based-on-cult-1988-film-sets-one-night-only-concert-return
[15] https://playbill.com/production/natasha-pierre-the-great-comet-of-1812-regional-zachary-scott-theatre-center-zach-topfer-theatre-2024
[16] https://www.britannica.com/topic/Les-Miserables-novel-by-Hugo
[17] https://boords.com/animatic/what-is-the-definition-of-an-animatic-storyboard
[18] https://www.loc.gov/collections/alexander-hamilton-stephens-papers/about-this-collection/
Appendix
Adaptation
An adaptation is a new work made from an older work, such as turning a novel, a myth, or a biography into a musical, a film, or an animatic.
Alexander Hamilton
Alexander Hamilton was an American statesman in the United States (North America), known for shaping early national government and serving as the first Secretary of the Treasury.
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the struggle that led to independence for the United States (North America), followed by major debates about how the new country should be governed.
Animatic
An animatic is an animated storyboard: images placed in time order, with timing and often sound, to show how a story scene will flow.
Biography
A biography is a book that tells the story of a real person’s life, built from evidence such as letters, records, and other writings.
Federalist Papers
The Federalist Papers are eighty-five essays arguing for the United States Constitution, written under the name Publius by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay.
Hamilton Papers
Hamilton Papers is a common name for collections of Alexander Hamilton’s documents, including letters and drafts, preserved in archives such as the Library of Congress in the United States (North America).
Hamilton Musical
Hamilton is a stage musical described as being based on Ron Chernow’s biography of Alexander Hamilton, using songs to retell parts of Hamilton’s life and the early republic.
Homer
Homer is the ancient Greek poet traditionally linked to The Odyssey and The Iliad in Greece (Europe), though many details about Homer remain debated.
Myth
A myth is a traditional story, often very old, that explains values, fears, heroes, and gods, and can be retold in many new forms.
Primary Source
A primary source is material created in the time being studied, such as a letter, a law, a diary, or a newspaper article, used as direct evidence about the past.
Odyssey
The Odyssey is an ancient epic poem in Greece (Europe), traditionally attributed to Homer, telling the journey of Odysseus after the Trojan War.
My Diary - Leonardo Cardillo 