I was fortunate to be able to see the play in London last year, and I enjoyed it! I especially liked that it's different from many musicals nowadays in its subject matter, cast, and musical content.
(Majorly unpopular opinion though: I don't like Lin Manuel-Miranda as Hamilton! He's a talented writer but I am just not a fan of the way that he sings and acts.)
That being said, I do have many problems with the historicity of the musical itself. I understand that the point of the musical wasn't to educate, but rather, to entertain. Still, there will be many people (myself included) whose first in-depth exposure to Hamilton and the founding fathers was the musical itself. It perhaps could have done a bit more to address issues such as the founding fathers and their relationships to slavery, for example. Or, it could have featured non-elite people of colour who were involved in the abolitionist and revolutionary movements themselves (of which there were many at the time!). Would it really have been
that difficult to put in at least a few references to Hercules Mulligan's slave Cato for example, who served as a spy, if not to have him as a character at some point?
There is an interesting Smithsonian Magazine article about a series of essays written by historians about Hamilton's historicity
here. I haven't been able to read the essay collection yet, but some of the arguments that its writers are proposing are very interesting. I would absolutely recommend checking it out if you're interested in learning more about the history of Hamilton or if you're a fan of the musical. As a whole, the authors aren't arguing that Lin-Manuel Miranda is bad for choosing to write the musical in the way that he did, or that Hamilton wasn't an important cultural touchstone. However, they do essentially argue that by making the decisions he does, Miranda's interpretation of history in Hamilton sends certain messages to the audience it reaches that perhaps are not completely accurate to the historical record.
I took a class last year about historiography, which partially covered how historical narratives are often perpetuated through the media we consume. Even if the intent of the media was not to send any particular message or to act as historical education, it often ends up somewhat serving that purpose for people. Even if Hamilton isn't strictly academic, it still perpetuates a certain view of history. And let's be honest: how many people are really going to pick up the Chernow biography the musical is based off or any books on Hamilton after seeing the musical, especially if they're just a casual fan or if they're not American themselves?
I do appreciate that Lin-Manuel Miranda is open to hearing criticisms about his musical and acknowledges that perhaps the musical could have done more to address the historical critiques it's received. It's just been really frustrating for me as the history nerd I am to see some people embracing Hamilton whole-heartedly whilst just brushing off these important critiques as meaningless because "at least the musical is getting people to know about Hamilton". You can love and appreciate Hamilton as the beautiful work of musical theatre it is whilst also recognizing that it offers only a perspective on Hamilton and that the real-life characters had much more complicated lives than the musical portrays.
a lot of it was very uncomfortable to watch, and it was hard to enjoy the stuff above knowing that like... all of these people were white men that have already been glorified to hell in our country and, y'know, owned slaves. all lines regarding ending slavery or women's rights very much felt shoehorned in for like, "woke points," when it absolutely was not a priority in that time period for any of the founding fathers. there could be essays written about how problematic the musical is and whatever, but basically any part of history being romanticized isn't a good thing. i would hope it'd spark interest for people to learn more about the subject, but unfortunately most people just take it at face value and end up with a lot of inaccurate facts and beliefs, as @ mayortiffany said in their reply.
