In my 11th grade US History class, my teacher showed us audio from the hit musical, "Hamilton", to help students engage more with history in a fun and educational way. It introduced me to historical characters who were so well-written through song lyrics.

From then on, I have been completely obsessed with the musicals’ soundtrack. Each song is so catchy, and it is written in a way that is so beyond creativity that you don’t even realize you’re learning history while listening.

Two weeks ago, I was lucky enough to see "Hamilton" on Broadway, and I am still completely blown away by it.

Besides finally getting to see the actors, the lights, the costumes, and the sets combined with the music, seeing it live reminded me of the reason I was so obsessed with the musical in the first place: Character.

In any story, whatever the plot may be, the character can make or break it. Characters who can go through some sort of change while being flawed and sometimes be veering off course are more admirable than predictable, unchanging characters.

A good character isn’t inherently good or bad, and because "Hamilton" is based on real people, the shows’ ability to make these characters vulnerable and to show that there are several sides of the story gives it so much depth.

Hamilton himself, for example, cheated on his wife and publicly confessed to it, but that doesn’t make him the story’s villain. The show highlights how his morality changes, how he decides to value his own legacy, and, by the end of the musical, how he ultimately chooses to lay down his life by sparing another’s.

"Hamilton" tells history while showing that these people weren’t simply good or bad, admitting that there might be parts of the story left untold, and successfully mixing history and modern society together.

Each of the characters in "Hamilton" was so multi-dimensional, which is, to me, the most important aspect of storytelling. The show was able to so perfectly create their own characters out of these people while still making sure their stories were complex.

"Hamilton" is such an important example of how to craft and retell a story by relying on character, and I am incredibly lucky to have witnessed it firsthand.