But of course, the fountain of Hamilton knowledge is ever flowing and constant!

So, what else could there possibly be left to know about this grand phenomenon? Only one of the best things I have personally stumbled upon in my musical theatre listenings…the parallels between "Hamilton: An American" musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda, and "Jesus Christ Superstar" by Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Yes, these two musicals (and just the histories as well) are closely entwined, so much so that it is nearly unnoticeable, but I promise the connection is there and mind blowing once one notices it.

So I will start with the one that hasn’t been crazily raved about for the past year to give you some insight into the mastery that is "Jesus Christ Superstar".

For all who do not know, "Jesus Christ Superstar" is the whirlwind rock musical of the events leading up to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Super peppy right? But Webber is able to turn this old biblical historical tragedy into a series of beautiful rock ballads and showstoppers that literally will not leave your head…ever.

So in the opening of the musical Jesus’ good friend and right hand man of sorts, Judas Iscariot, sings a stellar song about how Jesus might not be totally in the right and needs to watch what he says otherwise he is going to get hurt. He is worried about Jesus’ wellbeing and literal life, and as the show progresses you see the Jesus-Judas relationship get more stretched and tense. They stand for the same beliefs; Judas is just confused about how far Jesus will be willing to go to preach the word. Finally, Judas ‘betrays’ Jesus with a kiss which basically leads to his eventual death. This emotionally kills Judas, provoking him to take his own life.

Now if you’d like an actually in depth account of this story I would suggest looking up a synopsis of the musical or, better yet, going straight to the biblical source. For now, this is enough to get our main point across.

Enter "Hamilton" (he says in parentheses)

So we’ve got these two guys, both young, smart, and looking to change the world. Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr meet and they are on the same side. They fight for our country's independence, they hold the same morals, and they want freedom for their children and their children’s children. All that good stuff. Through their tumultuous relationship things do, of course, get a bit bumpy as friendships do at times. Burr cannot believe how far Hamilton is willing to go to fight for what he believes in. Later in their lives Hamilton takes a stand against Burr for the betterment of the United States which leads to the big falling out between these lifelong friends. One thing led to another, and Burr’s anger and disbelief in Hamilton caused a duel to unfold between the two friends that resulted in the death of Alexander Hamilton, Hamilton aiming his gun at the sky. Following Hamilton’s death Burr sees the error in his ways and immediately is full of regret over the foolish, unforgivable thing he has done. But after all the disrespect his ‘friend’ Hamilton had shown him it just seemed the only way to resolve his own humiliation.

Now let’s compare. Jesus is Hamilton and Judas is Burr. With me so far? Jesus is in the right and willing to go to whatever lengths to preach the gospel, Alexander is essentially in the right and cares so much about the freedom of their new country that he too is willing to go to all lengths to do so. Judas is a faithful companion to Jesus for most of his life, until the very end when an action made by Judas leads to Jesus’ demise. Burr is a good friend and colleague of Hamilton’s for most of his life until the very end when an action made by Burr leads to Hamilton’s demise. Judas is full of regret and remorse at what he did and is now "a villain in (our) history" of the Bible. Burr is full of regret and remorse at what he did and is, as he says, "a villain in (our) history" of the United States.

I also find it very interesting that both these musical creators find a point of empathy with the commonly known villain from these stories. So often in history we only hear one side -- hearing the perspective of a so-called "villain" gives us better insight into the fact that they are just people too. We all make mistakes; some just make bigger, more noticeable ones. That doesn’t make anyone less human.

So there you have it! The uncanny parallels between these two magical musicals. I highly recommend watching "Jesus Christ Superstar" if you get a chance, and of course see "Hamilton" if you get that gem of an opportunity!