Watch: High school students perform their own take on U.S. history on ‘Hamilton’ stage in Seattle

The student-filled crowd at Seattle’s Paramount Theatre was cheering long before the cast of “Hamilton” took the stage.

Three hours before a matinee performance of the critically acclaimed Broadway musical on Thursday, students from Title I schools across the state performed their own takes on American history. In true “Hamilton” style, a lot of them were raps or imagined the inner turmoil of those who lived at the time of the American Revolution.

Here are the highlights from their performances, which Education Lab captured on Twitter.

1. A debate over the separation of church and state takes a musical turn

2. A powerful exchange over Thomas Jefferson’s true nature. (Afterward, the students told The Seattle Times they wrote this piece the night before.)

3. A soulful retelling of Angelica Schuyler’s affair with Alexander Hamilton

4. Mariner High School students Sheila Luong, Theresa Nguyen and Nellie Rivo rap about the Boston Massacre