$2,700 for Hillary Clinton at ‘Hamilton’? That Would Be Enough

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/13/us/politics/hillary-clinton-hamilton.html

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How does a former senator ... stateswoman ... hoping to build a financial stockpile ... find a way to make it worth her donors’ while?

“Hamilton” tickets.

At a special Tuesday matinee, deep-pocketed supporters of Hillary Clinton filed into the Richard Rodgers Theater for a special performance that was, in a rare turn, a touch more expensive than a typical show.

But with seats available for $2,700 — and status as “event chair” on offer for $100,000 — the gathering, held for the Hillary Victory Fund, did include an uncommon guest: Mrs. Clinton, who took the stage after the final bows of a show she has now seen three times.

“I cry every time,” she said, after embracing the show’s creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda, who left his role as the title character over the weekend but returned on Tuesday to introduce her.

Mrs. Clinton, who first attended last year off Broadway, at the Public Theater, took care to establish her “Hamilton” bona fides, to a point.

She neither rapped nor rhymed, but she alluded often to some of the show’s signature numbers.

“As Washington tells us, history’s eyes are on us,” she said at one point, invoking “History Has Its Eyes On You.”

“Let’s not throw away our shot,” she urged later, nodding to perhaps the show’s most famous song.

The musical has become something of a bipartisan cause — “the only thing,” President Obama has joked, “that Dick Cheney and I agree on.” The president headlined a Democratic fund-raiser last year at the theater.

Mr. Miranda has his own political roots: His father, Luis A. Miranda Jr., is a longtime Democratic strategist in New York. The younger Mr. Miranda has, in recent months, urged Congress to assist Puerto Rico in its financial crisis.

In his remarks, Mr. Miranda, his once-long Hamiltonian mane now shorn, made clear his preference for the November election, criticizing Donald J. Trump without saying his name.

“Are you going to vote for the guy who wants to build a wall or for someone who’s building bridges?” asked Mr. Miranda, whose Tony Award-winning show is, after all, about an immigrant.

He observed that the show had featured, or at least alluded to, the first four presidents.

“Right now,” he said, “you’re going to hear from the 45th president.”

Mrs. Clinton, taking the stage to raucous cheers, hugged Mr. Miranda and thanked him for advocating on behalf of Puerto Rico and the families of victims of the massacre last month in Orlando.

Speaking for about four minutes, Mrs. Clinton lingered on the message of the show’s final number, “Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story,” and the meaning of legacy.

“It really is true that it matters whose stories are told,” she said, “and heard.”