Pop-Style Jesus Musical, Inspired by Hamilton, Debuts: ‘My Prayer Is That it Will Awaken People’

Willie and Korie Robertson are producers. Jeff Calhoun, who received Tony Awards for Newsies and Grease, directed it. Bruce Lazarus, who also was nominated for a Tony, produced it.

It will debut on May 5 at the Broadway Tent in Colony, Texas.

“I just hope that people will be able to see the story of Jesus in a new way,” Anna Miriam Brown, who wrote the music and lyrics, told Christian Headlines.

Brown, 22, who grew up on the mission field in Europe, was inspired to write the musical after a new friend introduced her to the songs of Hamilton.

“I didn’t know about Broadway,” Brown said.

She was moved to tears by the story of Hamilton despite knowing little about American history.

“I barely lived in America,” she said.

Brown listened to the music of Hamilton about 100 times, she said. Eventually, she felt God leading her to write a Hamilton-like musical about Jesus with pop and hip-hop tunes. God “revealed to me that this was my way to share the story of Jesus that had so changed my life — to create a musical like this.”

“Maybe that could help people fall in love with Jesus the way that I fell in love with these characters from Hamilton,” she said.

Her sister taught her piano.

“The Holy Spirit led me from there,” Brown told Christian Headlines. “I ended up over the next year writing 30 songs. [And then] my parents helped me kind of create this concept album.”

That concept album landed on the desk of Lazarus, who listened to it and wanted to turn her music into a Broadway-style production. That was far beyond what Brown had envisioned. She thought her concept album would be the end of the road.

“The hand of God was moving all the way through it,” she said.

His Story is billed as a “first-class Broadway entertainment while also being a faithful retelling of the story of Jesus,” according to its website.

Brown wants Christians and non-Christians alike to experience God the way she did when she was 16.

“That’s when I really first found God for myself. And my faith became very real to me,” Brown said. “… It just grieves me that so many people live with that mindset of not knowing that they have a purpose – and the anxiety of not knowing that you’re fully and unconditionally loved by God.”

She added, “My prayer is that it will awaken people.”

Photo courtesy: ©His Story: The Musical

Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.