Everyone from downtown Chicago seemed to have crowded into the Lyric Opera House on Friday, September 23 to see Lin-Manuel Miranda speak. Fans in sweaters and jeans chatted animatedly with those in crisp black suits and ties about their favorite song, favorite scene, and favorite line of the hit musical and Tony winning “Hamilton.”

A worldwide phenomenon, the musical–which follows the life of the United States’s first Treasury Secretary, Alexander Hamilton–opened in Chicago on September 27 after an almost year long run on Broadway. For those who didn’t get tickets and even for those who did, this was a chance to catch their very first glimpse of the famed creator.

Miranda barely had a chance to step onto the stage before he was greeted with a roar of applause from the crowd. As advertised both inside and outside the theatre, every ticket had been sold in the first ten minutes, and every seat was occupied.

Luckily for all of Parker’s “Hamheads” or “Hamiltonies,” as fans of the musical are affectionately named, Upper School History teacher Jeanne Barr’s college roommate works for the Humanities Festival and was able to secure Parker 10 tickets.

When it was announced that the tickets were first-come-first serve, 9th grader Isabel Olesinski came to school on Wednesday, September 14, at 6:50 am just to secure her spot. Biting her nails, sitting against the wall in the hallway next to Barr’s room for over an hour that morning, Olesinski looked repeatedly towards each ends of the hallway. “It was definitely worth it when I got the ticket,” she said. “There was no way I was missing anything having to do with ‘Hamilton.’”

At last, the date finally arrived, and Miranda discussed how his ideas about “Hamilton” came into action, how stepping out of his role as Alexander Hamilton affected him and New Yorkers alike, and how Chicago was the obvious choice for the next stop on “Hamilton”’s National Tour.

Miranda also freestyled and beat-boxed about the city of Chicago and about basketball, he joked, quoted, reminisced, mocked, laughed, and confessed that he tells the truth more when his socks are off. At one point he even showed the eager audience his bright blue “Sunday in the Park with George” socks.

Miranda told the audience about his hopes for the movie version of his musical “In the Heights,” which will be coming out in the near future. He freestyled about the Great Chicago Fire, Chicago theater, Second City and Chance the Rapper. He answered the question of whether he would ever consider a person with a disability for a role in “Hamilton” with an immediate and clear “yes.” He took a jab at Donald Trump when discussing Alexander Hamilton’s temperament and ability to be president, and he smiled in remembrance of his words–“love is love is love”–at the Tony Awards.

The deafening applause and standing ovation from the audience couldn’t have shown Chicago’s excitement any more, and Parker students couldn’t have gotten luckier.  If the teenager dressed in a pink civil war era Schuyler Sister dress doesn’t show the passion associated with Miranda, then what does?