Usually hundreds of dollars, Chicago students get to see 'Hamilton' for just $10

FOX 32 NEWS - It’s the hottest ticket in town, with some people paying upwards of $500 apiece.

But now, thousands of Chicago high school students are getting a chance to see the hit musical "Hamilton" for just ten bucks a ticket. And yes, Hamilton is on the ten dollar bill.

A loud, raucous and very young crowd filled the seats at the PrivateBank Theatre Wednesday for a special matinee of "Hamilton."

"Yes, I'm very excited. I really want to learn more,” said student Arishanta Turner.

"They pay a lot for this show. This is a special opportunity for us,” said student Leon Vortes.

Nearly two thousand students from 30 Chicago public high schools were able to buy discounted tickets for the mega-hit musical by Lin manuel-Miranda, which uses hip-hop to tell the incredible story of founding father Alexander Hamilton.

And what's so special or different about doing this show for 1900 high school students?

"Well they're the future. Anytime you have an opportunity to inspire young people, which in my mind I see as seeds, you could be inspiring the next Lin manuel-Miranda. You could be inspiring the next President of the United States. You never know,” said performer Wallace Smith.

This is one of ten matinee performances for Chicago high school students in 2017. It’s sponsored by the Guilder Lehrman Institute of American History, which also provides study materials leading up to the show.

"The students have been working for the last four to six weeks in their classrooms, analyzing the primary source documents that Lin Manuel-Miranda himself used to write some of the songs in the show,” said Amy DiChristina of Guilder Lehrman Institute of American History.

"When my kids were getting into the primary documents of actually reading about Hamilton or reading about the duel between him and Aaron Burr and what Hamilton had accomplished as an immigrant, it really spoke to my kids who are largely an immigrant-based population,” said teacher Scott Southerland.

Now to qualify to see the show, each of the 1900 students had to perform a poem or a song in their classroom about Hamilton. The best of those got to perform live in front of a big audience on Wednesday.

FOX 32: So what was it like performing in front of 1900 people?

"For me, I was really nervous. But he helped me get rid of my nerves,” said Esme Huizar. "I was just like put all fear behind me."

It will be history brought to life for 20,000 Chicago students this year.