VIDEO: HAMILTON's Thomas Kail Discusses The Fusion of Theatre and Rap For #BARS Master Class

Growing up in Northern Virginia, the first song Thomas Kail ever memorized was Slick Rick's rap "Mona Lisa." Its narrative about a guy chatting up a woman he meets in a pizza place opened up Kail's mind to the concept of songs having characters and telling stories.

From there it was just a matter of time before he went on to direct Broadway's two most successful hip-hop infused musicals, IN THE HEIGHTS and HAMILTON.

Click the Facebook post below for a video interview where Kail speaks of the intersection of contemporary verse and theatre at a master class for The Public Theater's #BARS Workshop.

#BARS was created by spoken word artists Rafael Casal and HAMILTON's Tony-winner for Best Supporting Actor In A Musical, Daveed Diggs, for rappers who wants to step into theater and actors who wants to incorporate rap into their wheelhouse. Visit publictheater.org.

With book, music and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda, direction by Thomas Kail, choreography by Andy Blankenbuehler and musical direction and orchestrations by Alex Lacamoire, Hamilton is based on Ron Chernow's biography of Founding Father Alexander Hamilton. The musical recently celebrated its 1st anniversary on Broadway on August 6.

HAMILTON won eleven 2016 Tony Awards including Best Musical, Score, Book of a Musical, Direction of a Musical, Choreography and Orchestrations. Mr. Miranda received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Hamilton.

HAMILTON is the story of America's Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, an immigrant from the West Indies who became George Washington's right-hand man during the Revolutionary War and was the new nation's first Treasury Secretary. Featuring a score that blends hip-hop, jazz, blues, rap, R&B, and Broadway, Hamilton is the story of America then, as told by America now.

The musical is produced by Jeffrey Seller, Sander Jacobs, Jill Furman and The Public Theater.

The Hamilton Original Broadway Cast Recording is available everywhere nationwide. The Hamilton recording received a 2016 Grammy for Best Musical Theatre Album.

HAMILTON: The Revolution, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jeremy McCarter's book about the making of the musical, is also on sale, regularly appearing on the New York Times Best Seller List.

A Chicago production of Hamilton will open in October 2016. A touring production begins a 21-week run in San Francisco in March 2017 followed by a 21-week engagement in Los Angeles. A London production will be mounted, also in 2017.