The 'Hamilton' Album Is Missing One Scene & Here's Why Lin-Manuel Miranda Excluded It

The Broadway musical Hamilton is almost completely sung-through, so the cast album features nearly every moment in the show… except one scene.

The show’s creator and original star Lin-Manuel Miranda said that he made a conscious decision to exclude “the only scene in our show” from the cast album.

“It’s the scene in Hamilton that goes between ‘Dear Theodosia’ and ‘Non Stop.’ I made a decision not to record this scene on the album, for two reasons 1) It really is more of a scene than a song, the only SCENE in our show, and I think its impact is at its fullest in production form. 2) As someone who grew up ONLY listening to cast albums (we ain’t have money for a lot of Broadway shows, like most people) those withheld moments were REVELATIONS to me when I finally experienced them onstage, years later. Hamilton is sung through, and I wanted to have at least ONE revelation in store for you. I stand by the decision, and I think the album is better for it,” Lin-Manuel wrote on Tumblr four years ago.

SPOILER ALERT: In the scene, Hamilton receives a letter and finds out that his friend John Laurens was killed in a gunfight against British troops retreating from South Carolina, The war was already over. Hamilton’s wife Eliza reads the letter from Laurens’ father while Laurens sings a reprise of “The Story of Tonight.” At the end of the scene, Hamilton recites the famous line, “I have so much work to do.”

In his explanation, Lin added, “I know, I know. ‘But what about people who won’t get the chance to see it…’ I know. ‘And Laurens is already so underrepresented in history…’ I KNOW. THAT’S WHY HE’S SO PROMINENT IN THE SHOW. So here’s where we meet in the middle. The missing scene is above. Please understand that the reason I left this scene off the album is precisely BECAUSE I value it (and Laurens) so much.”

Don’t worry… the scene is of course featured in the Hamilton movie being released on Disney+ this weekend.

You can read the scene right here.

Lin-Manuel recently explained why Hamilton on Disney+ is going to be censored.