PBS documentary goes backstage at 'Hamilton'

BEVERLY HILLS — You may not be able to get tickets to Hamilton, but come October, PBS will give you the next best thing.

The network will launch its PBS Arts Fall Festival on Oct. 21 with Hamilton’s America, a behind-the-scenes documentary about Lin-Manuel Miranda’s landmark musical, Hamilton. The film is directed by Alex Horwitz, a college friend of Manuel who started following him with a camera during Manuel’s In The Heights when Manuel started working on what he thought would be a concept album.

PBS is the room where 'Hamilton' happens

So how did Manuel make this highly unlikely idea, a hip-hop musical about America’s first treasury secretary, work so well? Horwitz says he doesn’t know. “I just know that it works, and I think the proof is in the pudding — so I filmed a lot of that pudding.”

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For those expecting conflict in that pudding, Horwitz says you'll be disappointed. "This was a smooth-running operation."

The documentary includes a wide range of interview subjects, from Presidents Obama and George W. Bush, to legendary Broadway composer Stephen Sondheim and the show’s stars, including Tony-winner Daveed Diggs.

Hamilton has broken through in the pop culture conversation in a way few Broadway musicals have done in the last few decades, but Diggs says they never set out to create a phenomenon. They just thought they were developing a Broadway show. “We were just really committed to telling the story the best way possible.”

When did he realize he was part of something incredibly special? “Maybe the second time we met the president? Then by the third time you’re like, ‘OK.’”

Having the president as a fan is great, of course, but Diggs was most shocked and touched by the number of kids who have fallen in love with the show. When he was young, he says "I didn't care about Broadway. I didn't care about Broadway until last year."

Diggs, who left the show earlier this month, says he doesn’t miss having to be at the theater every night at 7. But he does miss his friends — and the experience they shared.

“There’s nothing I’ve done like that before and there will be nothing I’ve done like that after.”