NPR Politics Podcast host, Congressional Correspondent Ailsa Chang, may not have been expecting to talk about Lin-Manuel Miranda's smash Broadway musical Hamilton when chatting with United States Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, but when she asked the classic question of which people, living or dead, he would invite to a dinner party, the show seemed to be fresh in his mind.
"I just went to see - we got to see - the play Hamilton. And it was terrific. I mean - And I'm not someone who would naturally say, 'I want to see two hours of rap music.' But I came away thinking, well, it was an opera, it was a ballet, it was a story, it communicated the values that I believe from all I've read the Framers really did have. And it did so in a way that the next generation and the generation after that will understand and absorb and like it. And I thought that's such a good thing. And I learned a lot about Hamilton. So I'd love to have Hamilton at that dinner. I think he would be very interesting to talk to. Very interesting, indeed."
They spent the rest of the chat talking about expected topics like the advice he got from his predecessors, his experiences working with Senator Ted Kennedy and, of course, what it's like when oral arguments are through and he and his eight colleagues are in the room where it happens.
The new musical Hamilton has book, music and lyrics by Tony and Grammy Award-winning composer Lin-Manuel Miranda, who also plays the title role. The musical is directed by Thomas Kail, with choreography by Andy Blankenbuehler and music direction and orchestrations by Alex Lacamoire. Hamilton is inspired by Ron Chernow's biography "AlexanderHamilton."