Hamilton

Angelica, the eldest and “wittiest” daughter of wealthy New Yorker Philip Schuyler, is considered by the creators of Hamilton to be the “smartest” character in the musical. Though her father tries to separate her from the political hubbub of the day, Angelica knows that “history is happening in Manhattan”—and she is desperate to be a part of it (“The Schuyler Sisters”). Angelica quickly falls in love with Hamilton, but she selflessly does not pursue him, instead setting him up with her sister Eliza (“Satisfied”); her rapid-fire singing in that piece reflects her incredibly quick thinking as a character. After Hamilton and Eliza get married, Angelica becomes a confidante for them both. Her brilliance and ambition are best captured in the letters she exchanges with Hamilton, where she presses him to adopt certain political positions and flirts with him via debates over comma placement. When Hamilton cheats on Eliza, publicly humiliating her and ruining his own reputation, Angelica stands by her sister: “I love my sister more than anything in this life / I will choose her happiness over mine, every time” (“The Reynolds Pamphlet”). By the end of the musical, Angelica’s loyalty to Eliza makes her a narrator of sorts, helping her sister cope first with betrayal and then grief over her murdered son.