Just over a month ago, finally tired of the constant hounding by current and former students, friends, colleagues, professors, and even some of the administrative staff at my alma mater, I caved.

I listened toHamilton. I begrudgingly downloaded the cast album (executive producers were Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson and Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter of the Roots, by the way), plugged my headphones into my 8-year-old iPod classic, and settled in to listen to what can easily be called the most hyped-up Broadway musical in the last 20 years. I thought to myself that maybe I'd come away from it much the same way I have with a lot of musicals over the last few years - entertained, but by no means wowed or truly moved or challenged.

How very wrong I was.

To give a little background on why I was so reluctant to give myself over to really liking Hamilton at first: I am a classically trained pianist, vocalist, and composer. My bachelor's degree is in music education - a degree that required me to learn (to a 7th-grade proficiency) almost every instrument in the Western classical orchestra and concert band pantheon, in addition to my studies of vocal and choral music. Finally, (and, for this story, perhaps most importantly), I spent the last three years helping to write, direct and bring to life original musicals for students in grades k-12. Not only that, but this past winter I started my own musical theatre company with a few of my colleagues, and we mounted our first show (an original, story-driven revue built around the songs of lauded musical theatre composer, Stephen Sondheim) in early March of this year. Though I love classical music (and jazz, too, for that matter), musical theatre was - and still is - my first love.

So, as you can imagine, I was more than a little skeptical. There are good musicals, and then there are great musicals. And those don't come around often - and the standards that define what makes a show great are, to say the very least, extremely high. Those standards were on a near-constant loop while I listened to Hamilton for the first time... and the second time... and the fiftieth time...

It not only met those standards for what makes a show great - it far exceeded them, as seen from the 11 Tony Awards it received this past Sunday. It set the standard by which all Broadway musicals will be judged from now on. Those standards are as follows:

A great Broadway musical must not only be culturally responsive but also expose aspects of our current societal state of being in new and illuminating ways.

Hair did this in 1967. Just like Hamilton,Hair opened at the Public Theater in New York City - a theater notorious for being the arena for the development of new and innovative theater. Hair reflected the current cultural state of being - hippie counterculture, pacifism in the face of the Vietnam War, drug use, sexual liberation and revolution, racial integration, and rock music - all things that were shaking up the status quo at the time. As the first-ever rock musical, Hair got people where they lived, brought them in, and left them with a new perspective on the world and the ways it was changing. (Several songs from the show became anti-war anthems during the Vietnam era).

Hamilton parallels Hair in numerous ways - not the least of which include the use of a racially diverse and visible cast (the main characters in the current Broadway cast are all people of color, as are most members of the ensemble, AND many of the creators) and current vernacular music - in this case, hip-hop and rap. It subverts the Broadway genre and reaches out to people who would not normally come to see a typical Broadway show, or would think to otherwise. It explores, among many other things, politics and partisanship, rebellion and revolution, war and the costs of interpersonal violence, racism, love, hate, heartbreak, the power of words, and the necessity of telling stories that would otherwise be swept by the wayside and forgotten. All these things echo loudly and mirror closely much of what is happening now in our country and in the world at large.

These echoes, however, spit rhymes and drop beats unlike anything heard on the Broadway stage - a sonic landscape that transcends musical theater like never before. Hip-hop as form not token content, added in to satisfy a "diversity" or "marketability" requirement. That's revolutionary. Not only that but in what other show in history can you see George Washington played by an African-American guy? Alexander Hamilton played by a man of Puerto Rican descent who grew up in the Bronx? Eliza Schuyler Hamilton played by a Chinese-American woman from the suburbs of Chicago? History finally isn't all about old, dead white guys anymore. Finally, it reflects the America we see today.

A great Broadway show not only has something for everyone but also establishes itself timelessly and cross-generationally.

Shortly after I listened to Hamilton for the first time, I convinced my parents to listen to it, too. Now, these are people who, as a rule, don't listen to hip-hop, and don't pay attention to the goings on of Broadway in nearly the same way I do. It was a gamble on my part - but, as I'd guessed, it paid off big time.

Their comments following their first listening included comments such as "compelling," "moving," "great story," "fast-paced," "complex," "interesting," and (my personal favourite), "really incredible."

And this is from the people I described above - one of whom probably couldn't have told you who Alexander Hamilton was if you paid her the paper currency that has his face on it. (She's from Canada.) Neither of them has ever seen the show, but they were just as enthused about it as I am.

For those of you who have seen all or part of the show - and even for those of you who haven't - Hamilton has something for everyone. Visually, it's stark yet warm - they use period costumes, and lots of brick, wood, and rope in the production design. The choreography is contemporary, dynamic, and the ensemble is in near-constant motion (and not just because of the two turntables that rotate the actors around the stage during the show). The music is by turns fun and catchy and gut-wrenchingly moving. And the actors who sing and rap through the entirety of the show do not only carry it with their honest and nuanced portrayals of the characters - they also bring their whole selves to their performances, and add a personal and intimate depth to the historical figures who are most often presented to the public only as names on a page.

Hamilton is timeless. It takes a story that happened over 200 years ago and makes it immediate and visceral. It wears the mantle of modernity well, keeps the 18th century at its heart, and looks to the future and to the audiences who will see, hear, and be indescribably moved by it in decades to come.

A great Broadway musical is smart.

By smart, I don't mean "clever" or "witty" or even "astute" - though Hamilton is all of those things. I mean fundamentally smart.

The 19th-century composer, Richard Wagner, who authored massive operas (some of which take over 4 hours to perform), coined the term gesamtkunstwerk - that's German for (roughly) "united artwork." Basically, it means that no element of the production is separate from any of the others - they all contribute to the whole, and the product is more than the sum of all the parts involved.

Hamilton is, perhaps, the best modern example of gesamtkunstwerk. The production design, the costumes, the script and lyrics, the music and its instrumentation, the actors, the choreography, and the story - all impressive in and of themselves - add up to become something far more than any one of them could be on its own. This comes from intentional, painstaking choices on the part of all those involved

So many Broadway shows these days, while very good and artistically extremely viable and entertaining, are lacking in one of these areas. Even if it's subtle, even if most people wouldn't notice it, those shortcomings make a difference to the audience and to the participants in the production. Half-hearted choreography, lackadaisical design choices, just-ok acting, singing that is (forgive me) basically lip service... Any one of these changes the way the audience reacts and how they feel when they leave the theater. They may have liked the show - but it will not have shaken them to their cores.

Hamilton does this through the soundtrack alone - onstage, it is absolutely heart-stopping in the best way possible.

(A small side note - from a classically trained musician and singing actor: musically and lyrically speaking, and even dramaturgically - Hamilton is on par with Stephen Sondheim's work in terms of complexity and ingenuity (check out the subtle music theory humor near the beginning of the first act and the wordplay throughout). Take a look at the score - or even just the lyrics - sometime. You'll see it right away. And you'll probably fall as much in love with Hamilton creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda, as much or more than I have.)

A great Broadway musical is fundamentally and inimitably HUMAN.

In an age where Broadway is dominated primarily by Disney and the jukebox musical, and the desire to escape the current cultural landscape of America as much as possible, Hamilton brings a poignant and accessible realism, one in which each and every one of us can see aspects of ourselves, our lives, and come away from it more aware of the parts we play in our history - and the ways in which we tell our stories.

Hamilton tells the classic story of the American Dream - bootstraps and bravery and all that jazz - and takes a story that would otherwise be consigned to a page in a history textbook and makes it irresistibly alive and moving (often literally as well as figuratively).

Immigrants, naturalized citizens, people of all races, creeds, gender identities, sexual orientations, Baby Boomers, Gen X-ers, and Millennials - all are represented. Not necessarily by the people on the stage - though in many cases that is exactly the case - but by the honest and soulful exploration of the human condition from a uniquely American point of view. Hamilton looks, sounds, and looks to the future and to the past the same way we do.

And I say "we" in the most inclusive way I can - We the People. All of us. Finally, a musical for all of us.

Of course, I can't speak for anyone but myself, nor would I try to. But from what I've heard, almost everyone I've talked to - people from all walks of life - would agree with me.

Hamilton is more than worth the hype