Thursday, October 1, 2026
A collection of local children performed the play “Almost Hamilton,” at Sparkle on Stage with production in part thanks to help from the Freeport Recreation Center. The play helped celebrate U.S. history, as well as teach its school-age actors meaningful lessons about the country’s origins.
“Almost Hamilton,” which was performed on June 27 ahead of other Freeport America 250 celebrations, is the second play Sparkle on Stage has held performances for that has been written by Frank Morris, 58, a Long Island special education tutor, who wrote “Almost Hamilton.” He explained that his play is starkly different from the popular Broadway play “Hamilton” written by Lin-Manuel Miranda about U.S. founding father Alexander Hamilton.
“It’s about encouraging the students to learn about the vote as the foundation of American democracy,” Morris said. “As a teacher, I think there are gaping holes in the curriculum, regarding civics education. This play hopes to fill in those gaps.”
The play depicts a presidential campaign between three candidates, and the various musical numbers throughout the production shows how each candidate tries to encourage citizens to vote and elect them.
Morris also said that the play was written for fourth to sixth grade students, and he hopes to share his script with other communities to further spread the lessons “Almost Hamilton” teach.
“I’m very thankful to Robyn Workman for giving this independent artist an opportunity to present to the world,” he said. “I’d love to see this picked up by a (school) assembly. …If you did a poll (asking) how many congresspeople there are, I don’t think you could get one out of 30 people to tell you it’s 435. The basic mechanics of our civic infrastructure is what this show teaches.”
Several of the young actors expressed enjoying learning and singing Almost Hamilton’s multitude of songs as well as learning about the U.S. civic system.
“I learned that congresspeople and judges do all the work,” said Charlotte Charles, 8, who played John Q. American.
Kathryn Kuenhn, 8, who played the Duke of Earl, had a bit more appreciation for the executive branch, stating, “I learned that being a congressperson, senator or president is a very important job.”
Parents and other attendees left Sparkle on Stage both charmed and educated.
