Hamilton: The Revolution, the 288-page companion book to the hit Broadway musical, hit bookstore shelves April 12. It's already being listed as the #1 selling book on Amazon.com. Update: less than two days into release the book was listed as out of stock, with the note: ”Order now and we'll deliver when available.”

For the forthcoming audiobook version, the musical's creator and star, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and the book’s co-author, Jeremy McCarter, will narrate lyric annotations as well as the book’s intro, while Mariska Hargitay will read the prose portions.

Samples from the audiobook were posted by Entertainment Weekly, including one with Hargitay and one with Miranda. Listen here.

Miranda said, “Mariska, in addition to being the #1 fan of the show, represents, to me, much of what Hamilton is about — tough, smart, and New York. She’s an essential part of this city; it feels only right for her to narrate the story. And she has a killer voice! I want to hear her telling the story.”

The audiobook will include a PDF of the show’s libretto. No date for the audiobook release was announced.

The book includes, not only the complete libretto of the hit musical, but interviews with the creators and stars, profiles of people like Questlove and Ron Chernow, perspective by Stephen Sondheim and others, a running commentary on the text by Miranda, reproductions of original Hamilton letters and memorabilia, and dozens of production photos, most of them not seen by the public before.

Here’s how the book is described by the publisher: Hamilton: The Revolution “gives readers an unprecedented view of both revolutions, from the only two writers able to provide it. Miranda, along with McCarter, a cultural critic and theater artist who was involved in the project from its earliest stages—'since before this was even a show,' according to Miranda—traces its development from an improbable performance at the White House to its landmark opening night on Broadway six years later. In addition, Miranda has written more than 200 funny, revealing footnotes for his award-winning libretto, the full text of which is published here.

"Their account features photos by the renowned Frank Ockenfels and veteran Broadway photographer, Joan Marcus; exclusive looks at notebooks and emails; interviews with Questlove, Stephen Sondheim, leading political commentators, and more than 50 people involved with the production; and multiple appearances by President Obama himself. The book does more than tell the surprising story of how a Broadway musical became a national phenomenon: It demonstrates that America has always been renewed by the brash upstarts and brilliant outsiders, the men and women who don't throw away their shot.”

Here's a sample comment from Miranda. In the section of the text for the song “The Story of Tonight,” Miranda writes, “This was the way into Burr. I knew he and Hamilton circled each other all their lives. I knew they went from friends to frenemies to foes, but it wasn't til I read this detail online—that Theodosia was married to a British officer when Aaron Burr met her, and he waited until she was available—that the character of Burr came free in my imagination. Imagine Hamilton waiting—for anything. That's when I realized our task was to dramatize not two ideological opposites, but a fundamental difference in temperament. No easy task. But that was the task.”

Miranda and McCarter appeared on “CBS This Morning” to share the creative process on the book: