Right Hand Man

COMPANY
British Admiral Howe’s got troops on the
water.
Thirty-two thousand troops in New York harbor.
ENSEMBLE 1
Thirty-two thousand
troops in New York ENSEMBLE 2
harbor. Thirty-two thousand
troops in New York
When they surround
our troops!
harbor.
They surround our
troops!
They surround our
troops!
When they surround
our troops!
They surround our
troops!
HAMILTON
As a kid in the Caribbean I wished for a war.
I knew that I was poor,
I knew it was the only way toHAMILTON/BURR/MULLIGAN/LAURENS/
LAFAYETTE
Rise up!
HAMILTON
If they tell my story
I am either gonna die on the battlefield in
glory orHAMILTON/BURR/MULLIGAN/LAURENS/
LAFAYETTE
Rise up!
HAMILTON
We will fight for this land
but there’s only one man
who can give us a command so we canHAMILTON/BURR/MULLIGAN/LAURENS/
LAFAYETTE
Rise up!
HAMILTON
Understand? It’s the only way toHAMILTON/BURR/MULLIGAN/LAURENS/
LAFAYETTE
Rise up! Rise up!
HAMILTON
Here he comes!
ENSEMBLE
Here comes the General!
BURR
Ladies and gentlemen!
ENSEMBLE
Here comes the General!
BURR
The moment you’ve been waiting for!
ENSEMBLE
Here comes the General!
BURR
The pride of Mount Vernon!
ENSEMBLE
Here comes the general!
BURR
George Washington!
WASHINGTON ENSEMBLE
We are outgunned, What?
outmanned, What?
outnumbered,
outplanned.
Buck, buck, buck, buck,
buck!
We gotta make an
all out stand
ayo, I’m gonna need
a right-hand man.
Buck, buck, buck, buck,
buck!
WASHINGTON
Check it—
Can I be real a second?
For just a millisecond?
Let down my guard and tell the people how I
feel a second?
Now I’m the model of a modern major general,
the venerated Virginian veteran whose men
are all
lining up, to put me up on a pedestal,
writin’ letters to relatives
embellishin’ my elegance and eloquence,
but the elephant is in the room,
the truth is in ya face when ya hear the British
cannons go...
ENSEMBLE
Boom!
WASHINGTON
Any hope of success is fleeting,
how can I keep leading when the people I’m
leading keep retreating?
We put a stop to the bleeding as the British
take Brooklyn,
knight takes rook, but look,
WASHINGTON ENSEMBLE
We are outgunned, What?
outmanned, What?
outnumbered,
outplanned. Buck, buck, buck, buck,
buck!
We gotta make an all
out stand
ayo, I’m gonna need a
right-hand man.
Incoming!
HAMILTON
They’re battering down the Battery
check the damages.
MULLIGAN
Rah!
HAMILTON
We gotta stop ‘em and rob ‘em
of their advantages.
MULLIGAN
Rah!
HAMILTON
Let’s take a stand with the stamina God has
granted us.
Hamilton won’t abandon ship,
Yo, let’s steal their cannonsMULLIGAN COMPANY
Shh-boom! Boom!
WASHINGTON
Goes the cannon, watch the blood and the shit
spray and...
COMPANY
Boom!
WASHINGTON
Goes the cannon, we’re abandonin’ Kips
Bay and...
COMPANY
Boom!
WASHINGTON
There’s another ship and...
COMPANY
Boom!
WASHINGTON
We just lost the southern tip and...
COMPANY
Boom!
WASHINGTON
We gotta run to Harlem quick, we can’t afford
another slip.
Guns and horses giddyup,
I decide to divvy up
my forces, they’re skittish as the British cut
the city up.
This close to giving up, facing mad scrutiny,
I scream in the face of this mass mutiny:
are these the men with which I am to defend
America?
We ride at midnight, Manhattan in the
distance.
I cannot be everywhere at once, people.
I’m in dire need of assistance . . .
BURR
Your excellency, sir!
WASHINGTON
Who are you?
BURR
Aaron Burr, Sir?
Permission to state my case?
WASHINGTON
As you were.
BURR
Sir,
I was a captain under General Montgomery
until he caught a bullet in the neck in Quebec,
and well, in summary
I think that I could be of some assistance.
I admire how you keep firing on the British
from a distance.
WASHINGTON
Huh.
BURR
I have some questions, a couple of
suggestions
on how to fight instead of fleeing west.
WASHINGTON
Yes?
BURR
Well
HAMILTON
Your excellency, you wanted to see me?
WASHINGTON
Hamilton, come in, have you met Burr?
HAMILTON
Yes, sir.
HAMILTON AND BURR
We keep meeting.
BURR
As I was saying, sir, I look forward to seeing
your strategy play out.
WASHINGTON
Burr?
BURR
Sir?
WASHINGTON
Close the door on your way out.
HAMILTON
Have I done something wrong, sir?
WASHINGTON
On the contrary.
I called you here because our odds are beyond
scary.
Your reputation precedes you, but I have
to laugh.
HAMILTON
Sir?
WASHINGTON
Hamilton, how come no one can get you on
their staff?
HAMILTON
Sir!
WASHINGTON
Don’t get me wrong, you’re a young man, of
great renown.
I know you stole British cannons when we
were still downtown.
Nathaniel Green and Henry Knox wanted to
hire you...
HAMILTON
To be their Secretary? I don’t think so.
WASHINGTON
Why’re you upset?
HAMILTON
I’m not—
WASHINGTON
It’s alright, you want to fight, you’ve got a
hunger.
I was just like you when I was younger.
Head full of fantasies of dyin’ like a martyr?
HAMILTON
Yes.
WASHINGTON
Dying is easy, young man. Living is harder.
HAMILTON
Why are you telling me this?
WASHINGTON
I’m being honest.
I’m working with a third of what our Congress
has promised.
We are a powder keg about to explode,
I need someone like you to lighten the load. So?
COMPANY (EXCEPT HAMILTON)
I am not throwin’ away my shot!
I am not throwin’ away my shot!
Ayo, I’m just like my country, I’m young,
scrappy and hungry!
HAMILTON
I am not throwing away my shot!
WASHINGTON
Son,
WASHINGON AND COMPANY
We are outgunned, outmanned!
HAMILTON
You need all the help you can get.
I have some friends. Laurens, Mulligan,
Marquis de Lafayette, okay, what else?
WASHINGTON AND COMPANY
Outnumbered, outplanned!
HAMILTON
We’ll need some spies on the inside,
Some King’s men who might let some things
slide.
HAMILTON COMPANY ELI/ANG/PEG
I’ll write to
Congress and
tell ‘em we
need supplies,
Boom! Whoa, whoa,
whoa…
you rally the
guys, master
the element
of surprise. Chicka-boom!
Whoa, whoa,
whoa…
I’ll rise above
my station,
organize your
information
‘til we rise to
the occasion
of our new
nation. Sir!
ELI/ANG/
PEG AND
WOMEN
Whoa, whoa,
whoa…
ENSEMBLE
Here comes the General!
HAMILTON
Rise up!
LAUR/LAF/MULL
What?
ENSEMBLE
Here comes the
General!
SCHUYLER
SISTERS
HAMILTON Rise up!
Rise up!
LAUR/LAF/
MULL
What?
ENSEMBLE
Here comes the General!
HAMILTON
SCHUYLER
SISTERS AND
WOMEN
Rise up! Rise up! LAUR/LAF/
MULL
What?
FULL COMPANY
Here comes the General!
HAMILTON
What?
WASHINGTON
And his right hand man!
FULL COMPANY
Boom!