24 Hamilton backstage secrets from original Broadway cast, including "scandalous" prop you never noticed

Now, the addictive hip hop musical is heading back in cinemas throughout North America, the UK and Oceania in celebration of the last decade. The 2020 Disney Plus recording of the show will be screened, showing the original Broadway cast in all their glory.

So, if you're getting ready to re-immerse yourself in the world of this ground-breaking musical, here's a few backstage secrets you might have never heard before.

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Best Hamilton backstage secrets you never knew

One Hamilton cast member can be seen reading an "incredibly scandalous" book on stage

In 2020 Austin Smith, a member of the original ensemble, revealed he found an "incredibly scandalous" prop book that he can be seen reading on stage during the show.

During an X watch party of the Disney Plus film he wrote: "The book I am reading in the corner in this tavern scene was incredibly scandalous. Don’t know where they found this prop, but it was some Fifty Shades type stuff."

To which Lin-Manuel Miranda replied: "You read us passages backstage!"

Pixar's Ratatouille was the inspiration for one of Hamilton's crucial scenes

Talk about unexpected links, Hamilton's director Thomas Kail revealed that Satisfied – the song Angelica sings at Eliza and Hamilton's wedding about the lost love for her brother-in-law – was inspired by iconic Pixar film Ratatouille.

In an interview with the Washington Post, he said: "This is something I talk to the actors playing Angelica a lot — about Ratatouille. When the critic takes the bite, and you go into the critic's eye, that's what we're doing."

Satisfied was Lin-Manuel Miranda's favourite song to write

In the same X watch party, Miranda posted that Satisfied was the best song he wrote for the show. He said: "Satisfied. I'll never top it, as long as I live. From idea to Tommy and Andy and Lac's work to Renee's flawless execution. Will never top it."

It was also by far the hardest song to rehearse and execute

The consensus among the cast is that Satisfied was also the hardest song to perform, owing to the fact it requires all the movements from the previous song Helpless to be performed in reverse while on a turntable. In a previous interview Okieriete Onaodowan (who plays Hercules Mulligan/James Madison) said the cast had to essentially relearn the whole routine once they started working with the turntable.

Miranda's least favourite song to write was Say No To This

Miranda also revealed in the Disney Plus watch party that the song he had the least fun writing was Say No To This, in which Hamilton embarks on a marital affair with Maria Reynolds.

"Hey, did you grow up Catholic? Imagine having to write Say No To This," he posted. "I felt like sh** for days."

Every time Jonathan Groff would turn away from the audience he would be trying to make the cast laugh

In an interview for The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, King George actor Jonathan Groff said he made it his mission to try and make his fellow cast mates laugh while on stage.

"I'm only on stage for nine minutes, and I'm in a giant cape and a crown, and I have this giant sceptre," he said, "but it's just me and the audience, so I sing and walk off stage.

"But any time I'm not facing the audience, like a true professional, I'm trying to make people laugh. So when I turn upstage and the other cast members are rushing on, I'm playing mini golf with the sceptre, I'm turning it into a flute, doing whatever I can."

Leslie Odom Jr would host backstage dance parties during intermission

One intermission a week Aaron Burr actor Leslie Odom Jr would host dance parties back stage – with special speakers no less! While other actors would keep the energy going throughout by imitating the actors on stage.

Renée Elise Goldsberry only had one day to prepare for her Anjelica audition

While on the Kelly Clarkson show, Miranda shared that he was initially sceptical about Renee Elise Goldsberry's audition for Angelica, as she'd only been sent the material the night before. He said: "You can't learn this in a night, it took me a month to write it." Luckily, we all know how wrong he was.

Guns and Ships had two major additions during the original Broadway run

Miranda actually added an entire second section to Daveed Diggs's Guns and Ships rap because he was so impressed with his sense of rhythm.

He also added an extra beat after the line "Immigrants, we get the job done," because of how long the audience's applause lasted.

The rap also breaks a key record in musical theatre history

Diggs's rap is also the fastest in musical theatre history, at 6.3 words a second.

House's Hugh Laurie came up with a key line from the show

Did you know one of Hamilton's most well-known lines came from House and Blackadder star Hugh Laurie?

In the companion book Hamilton: The Revolution, Miranda recalled speaking to Laurie about King George's song to the United States. He said: "I told him I wanted to write a breakup letter from King George to the colonies. Without blinking, he improv'd at me, 'Awwww, you'll be back,' wagging his finger. I laughed and filed it away."

Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote the middle portion of Right Hand Man during a tech rehearsal

According to a post from music director and orchestrator Alex Lacamoire, Miranda added the middle section of Right Hand Man during tech rehearsal. In fact, he didn't even have time to type up the lyrics, so he scribbled them down for Lacamoire to work off.

Miranda also wrote several songs across the globe, including on his honeymoon

He revealed that he wrote Wait For It on the A train, You'll Be Back on his honeymoon, and Dear Theodosia in the Dominican Republic. All of these locations get a special thanks message in the show's credits.

Plenty of Hamilton's songs are inspired by other rap, pop and even opera tracks

Apparently, Cabinet Battle #1 and Cabinet Battle #2 were inspired by 8 Mile and Jay Z's The Blueprint, while My Shot takes inspiration from Going Back To Cali by the Notorious BIG Eliza's song Helpless also follows the structure of songs by Ashanti and Ja Rule – who even sing that track on the Hamilton mixtape.

Meanwhile, Washington's line in Right Hand Man, "I am the very model of a modern Major-General," comes directly from the opera Pirates of Penzance.

The Disney Plus recording of Hamilton was filmed over the course of three days

The Disney Plus recording of the show was stitched together from two live performances while the close-ups, dolly shots and crane shots were filmed without an audience. They even picked 12 numbers to film three or four times to get as many close-ups as possible.

Miranda said: "We filmed a live performance with cameras in the audience on a Sunday matinee. We continued to film close-ups, dolly shots, and crane shots all night Sunday.

"All day Monday, we filmed close-ups and Steadicam, and all the coverage you would want to get in the movie. Continuing to film Tuesday morning, all the way to another live show Tuesday night with all the cameras in the audience in different positions."

Angelica originally had another song which was cut from the final production

Originally a song called Congratulations was set to come after the Reynolds Pamphlet and saw Angelica chastising Hamilton for his affair with Maria Reynolds. In the end, many lines from that song were absorbed into Angelica's section in The Reynolds Pamplet.

Lin-Manuel Miranda secretly wired a microphone into his dressing room from the stage of another musical

In his Kelly Clarkson interview, Miranda jokes he "broke the law" by having a microphone in his dressing room linked to the Les Misérables musical next door. That way he could listen to the end of Act I during his own show's interval.

Okieriete Onaodowan originally auditioned for George Washington

Onaodowan was called in for the part of Washington before it was decided he was a better fit for the Mulligan/Madison role. Christopher Jackson later got the part of Washington instead.

Phillipa Soo destroys real letters between Eliza and Hamilton during Burn

The letters Phillipa Soo destroys in the song Burn were real transcripts of Eliza and Alexander Hamilton's letters. The letters were also printed on special prop paper that would take around two minutes to burn – so the flames would stay alight for the exact amount of time on stage.

There's a secret Parks and Recreation reference hidden in the lyrics

Miranda revealed that the song Your Obedient Servant contains a secret nod to everyone's favourite government employee Leslie Knope (played by Amy Poehler) from Parks and Recreation.

In Hamilton: Revolution, he said the line "Here's an itemised list of 30 years of disagreements" was "such a Leslie Knope thing to do." Sadly, Parks and Rec is one of the few US sitcoms Miranda doesn't appear in.

Daveed Diggs improvised a line in What'd I Miss which Miranda kept in the show

When Diggs returns as Thomas Jefferson in Act Two, he's asked "where have you been?" in the song What'd I Miss, to which he replies "Uh... France?"

It turns out, this line was ad-libbed by Diggs and kept in by Miranda and co.

Ariana DeBose helped sculpt the role of The Bullet

It's no longer a secret that Ariana DeBose originally played the role of The Bullet; an on-stage representation of death who interacts with characters like Philip Hamilton just before they die.

However what you might not know is it was choreographer Andy Blankenbuehler who came up with the part and DeBose herself who "ran with it".

The opening number is inspired by Sweeney Todd

Miranda wrote in Hamilton: The Revolution that he was inspired by Sondheim's Sweeney Todd for the opening number in that all the cast sing about the main character before he appears. He said he liked how they "set the stage for our main man's entrance".

One original cast member still remains on Broadway

Thayne Jasperson played an original member of the Broadway ensemble – and he still does! The actor was a part of the show's first workshop in 2014 and to this day plays British loyalist Samuel Seabury, who sings in act one.

In fact, in a piece for The Washington Post Miranda said: "Thayne has done so many dispatches from that theater, it’s hard not to believe that he lives there."

Long may he be there!

The Hamilton movie is available to stream now on Disney Plus. You can watch it by signing up to Disney Plus for £4.99 a month.

You can also buy tickets to see the show on Broadway or in the West End through Ticketmaster.