In November of 2009, a creative, hispanic man was about to take the stage and perform a concept rap for a prestigious audience that included the newly elected President of the United States. He was nervous and terrified, stuttering his way through the introduction before he started the rap. However, before the performance was over the entire crowd was stunned and the first spark of interest was lit.

This year’s Grammy’s proved to be iconic not in the outfits that were broadcasted nor in the speeches made– but in the airing of one category that has been looked over for years now: Best Musical Theater Album.

Musical theater has been downplayed and forgotten as a type of music for so many years that many people weren’t even aware it had a category on the Grammy’s. Compared to chart topping country songs and catchy pop tunes, musical theater scores aren’t that important to some people– this year thing’s changed.

This man was Lin-Manuel Miranda, the creator of the Tony Award winning musical In the Heights and, more currently, the hit musical Hamilton. Initially, Miranda was set to perform a song from Heights, but had decided last minute to perform a draft of the first song which would kick off the musical about the United States’ first Secretary of Treasury, Alexander Hamilton– obviously. It was a bold move, but it proved worthy. The musical has now gained international attention and has grossed well over one million dollars in ticket sales and has now changed the game by winning the Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album.  

Musical Theater has been revolutionized by Hamilton as the musical has broken a major ‘norm’ of Broadway Theater. This telling of founding fathers and American history represents America today, and has casted African American and Hispanic members to play people like George Washington, John Laurens, and Hamilton himself.

“There are no jazz hands,” Anthony Ramos, who plays John Laurens and Philip Hamilton, says in a Forbes 30 under 30 interview, “It’s gritty, hip hop, R&B– so many different genres of music in one sitting.”

By winning a Grammy they ultimately changed the game when it comes to musicals being represented in the media. Before Kinky Boots, another Grammy award winning Theater Album, the airing of the acceptance speeches for this category was sporadic and aired only when the producer was well known; so a rap musical about something as ‘boring’ as the life of the most unknown founding father winning a Grammy and then being aired on live television is something huge.

Lin-Manuel even took his speech a step farther and rapped his acceptance speech, closing it with an endearing message to his 1 year old son, Sebastian.

“Sebastian, Daddy’s bringing home a Grammy for you!”