VIDEOS: Toronto High School Stages Three Songs From HAMILTON; Asking For Performance Rights

"It's our dream to be the first high school to perform HAMILTON. Thank you so much for creating a musical that speaks to people like us."
- Sincerely, the kids from Wexford Performing Arts

That was the note attached to the three videos recently posted on YouTube by students of Toronto's Wexford Collegiate Institute School for the Arts, showing their fully staged and costumed performances of "Right Hand Man," "Yorktown" and "Burn."

It will be a long time before the performance rights to Lin-Manuel Miranda's revolutionary Broadway smash are made available for high schools, but these talented students from the Toronto area are not throwing away their shot to show the world they're ready.

In fact, as reported by The Huffington Post, Ann Merriam, the Wexford teacher who staged the videos, is serious about acquiring the rights now and school officials have "been in touch with a lawyer who is interested in getting this message across to the producers of HAMILTON."

"With the price of the musical now," says Merriam, "how are young people going to be able to afford it? The musical resonates with young people and creates community, positivity and the values of friendship."

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Winner of eleven 2016 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, HAMILTON is now playing at Broadway's Richard Rodgers Theatre. With book, music and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda, direction by Thomas Kail, choreography by Andy Blankenbuehler and musical direction and orchestrations by Alex Lacamoire, Hamilton is based on Ron Chernow's biography of Founding Father Alexander Hamilton.

HAMILTON is the story of America's Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, an immigrant from the West Indies who became George Washington's right-hand man during the Revolutionary War and was the new nation's first Treasury Secretary. Featuring a score that blends hip-hop, jazz, blues, rap, R&B, and Broadway,HAMILTON is the story of America then, as told by America now.