Mainstream theater has been largely a white domain with dabs of color throughout its history—until now. Hamilton, along with the Gloria and Emilio Estefan–produced On Your Feet!, Eclipsed, and other shows, is diversity incarnate. But in the theater business, like any business, profits are the lifeblood, and Hamilton’s financial success is significant in and of itself: The show notched a whopping $30 million in advance sales alone.

“The real change is that it’s a cast of black and brown performers and it’s making money,” confirms Miranda, 36. “And that’s what leads to change. Because of the success of Hamilton and On Your Feet!, you can’t hide behind the old argument of, ‘It needs to be bankable, so we can’t put all these people of color in the show.’ We are bankable. The reason Hamilton works is because there is no distance between that story that happened 200-some-odd years ago and now, because it looks like America now. It helps create a connection that wouldn’t have been there if it was 20 white guys on stage.”

The New York City–born Miranda is the product of the city’s Puerto Rican intellectual elite—his father, Luis, a political consultant, founded the Hispanic Federation; mami Luz is a psychologist—and they encouraged his intellectual and creative growth. Early on, Miranda developed a love of musical theater—cast albums specifically—and of hip-hop culture. “Hip-hop felt like our generation’s music,” he says. “When I started writing musicals in high school, there was always a hip-hop element involved. I think hip-hop tells stories just as beautifully as any other genre of music, and for some stories it’s uniquely suited.”

After graduating from Wesleyan University in 2002, Miranda continued to work on his breakthrough Broadway production, In the Heights, which won the 2008 Tony Award for Best Musical. Even though In the Heights garnered Miranda instant respect, his renown seemed contained to Broadway. Hamilton is bigger than Broadway.

“What’s incredible about Hamilton, and the reason you can’t get a ticket, is because everyone’s responding to it,” he says. “Everyone is seeing a bit of themselves in it. Whether they are seeing themselves in Hamilton—who can never shut up, is super ambitious and got so much done in his lifetime—or they are seeing themselves in Burr, who sometimes stands in awe of Hamilton, but is also his intellectual equal in every way, pero no habla tanto.”

Hamilton’s success has afforded Miranda the ability and money to help the next generation. Thanks to his

recent $625,000 MacArthur Foundation “genius” grant, Miranda is supporting charities like Graham Windham, a child welfare organization cofounded in 1806 by Hamilton’s widow, Elizabeth, and the Mariposa DR Foundation, which focuses on girls’ education and development in the Dominican Republic. Additionally, funded by The Rockefeller Foundation, 20,000 public schoolchildren will attend Wednesday matinees of Hamilton this year alone.