PBS' Hamilton's America Documentary Gives New Depth to the Award-Winning Musical

A longtime friend and college classmate of Hamilton star and creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, Horwitz had unprecedented access to Miranda's creative process - and as a result, Hamilton's America allows us to see some of the earliest incarnations of the songs that comprise Hamilton, with footage of Miranda's process dating back to 2008.

The biggest treat of the documentary is seeing Miranda's complete unawareness of what the musical (which started out as a single song) would become, and his visible stress as he rushed to complete the finishing touches mere weeks before its opening at New York's Public Theater - all while he and his wife were renovating an apartment and expecting a baby.

(Here, he wears jeans for a performance and sit-down interview with President Obama at the White House.) He's a creative genius, to be sure, but rather than having the stereotypical persona of a brooding, serious artist, his wide-eyed enthusiasm about his subject matter is refreshing and completely infectious.

In addition to Miranda, Hamilton's America also features commentary from an array of personalities, including the other stars of the show, author Ron Chernow (on whose Hamilton biography the musical is based), Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush, House Speaker Paul Ryan, Secretary Hank Paulson, rapper Nas, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and a slew of other historians.