Ham it up! President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama treated dozens of Washington, D.C.–area high school students to a once-in-a-lifetime performance by the cast of Broadway’s Hamilton at the White House on Monday, March 14.
Creator and star Lin-Manuel Miranda and the rest of the leads of the hit hip-hop musical took a party bus from New York City to D.C. on Sunday evening, before taking the stage in the East Room of the White House.
Miranda and cast members including Daveed Diggs (Lafayette/Thomas Jefferson), Phillipa Soo (Eliza Hamilton), Christopher Jackson (George Washington) and Leslie Odom Jr. (Aaron Burr) performed selections from the Alexander Hamilton–themed show for students from local high schools. According to the Washington Post, the cast also led a series of workshops for the teens and participated in a Q&A.
The performers were understandably excited to be invited to D.C. — by the president, no less — and documented their whole trip on Instagram and Twitter using the hashtag #Bam4Ham.
The Obamas have been big supporters of the show since before it took Broadway by storm in 2015. Per the Post, Miranda actually performed a song from the show — which he had not then completed — at the White House’s Evening of Poetry, Music and the Spoken Word in 2009.
Since then, the first lady has seen the show twice, including once during its off-Broadway run. President Obama has also been twice, including once in July 2015 when he took daughters Sasha and Malia to a performance.
