The topic of Lin-Manuel Miranda is one that has generated a lot of interest in recent times. Whether due to its impact on society, its historical relevance or its impact on different sectors, Lin-Manuel Miranda is a topic that does not leave anyone indifferent. In this article, we will explore different aspects related to Lin-Manuel Miranda, from its origins to its current evolution. We will analyze its influence in different areas and present different perspectives on the matter. Without a doubt, Lin-Manuel Miranda is a fascinating topic that deserves to be explored in depth.
American songwriter, actor, filmmaker and librettist (born 1980)
Miranda was born on January 16, 1980, in New York City to Luz Towns-Miranda, a clinical psychologist, and Luis Miranda Jr., a political consultant.[1][12] He is of predominantly Puerto Rican descent and also has distant Mexican, English, and African American ancestry.[13][14][15] His parents named him "Lin-Manuel" after a poem about the Vietnam War by Puerto Rican writer José Manuel Torres Santiago entitled "Nana roja para mi hijo Lin Manuel" ("Red Lullaby for My Son Lin Manuel").[16][17] Miranda grew up in the Inwood neighborhood of Manhattan and was raised as a Catholic.[1][18][19][20][21] During childhood and his teens, Miranda spent at least one month each year with his grandparents in Vega Alta, Puerto Rico.[22][23] Miranda has one older sister, Luz, who is the Chief Financial Officer of the MirRam Group, a strategic consulting firm in government and communications.[24]
Miranda attended Hunter College Elementary School and Hunter College High School.[25] Among his classmates was Chris Hayes, now a journalist. Hayes was Miranda's first director when he starred in a school play, which was described by Hayes as "a 20-minute musical that featured a maniacal fetal pig in a nightmare that had cut up in biology class".[26] His classmates also included rapper Immortal Technique, who had bullied Miranda, although the two later became friends.[27][28] Miranda began writing musicals at school.[29]
Miranda wrote the earliest draft of what would become his first Broadway musical, In the Heights, in 1999, during his sophomore year of college at Wesleyan University.[29] After the show was accepted by Wesleyan's student theater company, Second Stage, Miranda added freestyle rap and salsa numbers, and the show was premiered there in 1999.[23] Miranda wrote and directed several other musicals at Wesleyan and acted in many other productions, ranging from musicals to William Shakespeare. He graduated from Wesleyan in 2002.[23][30]
It was nominated for 13 Tonys, winning four, including Best Musical and Best Original Score.[2][29] It also won the Grammy.[3] Miranda's performance in the leading role of Usnavi earned him a nomination for a Tony. Miranda left the cast of the Broadway production on February 15, 2009.[32]
Miranda reprised the role when the national tour played in Los Angeles from June 23 to July 25, 2010.[33][34] He again joined the tour in San Juan, Puerto Rico.[35] Miranda rejoined the cast as Usnavi from December 25, 2010, until the production closed on January 9, 2011, after 29 previews and 1,185 regular performances.[36]
Miranda created other work for the stage during this period. He wrote Spanish-language dialogue and worked with Stephen Sondheim to translate into Spanish song lyrics for the 2009 Broadway revival of West Side Story.[37][38][29] During this time, he also performed at bar and bat mitzvahs.[29] In 2008, he was invited by composer-lyricist Stephen Schwartz to contribute two new songs to a revised version of Schwartz and Nina Faso's 1978 musical Working, which opened in May 2008 at the Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota, Florida.[39]
During these years, Miranda worked as an English teacher at his former high school, wrote for the Manhattan Times as a columnist and restaurant critic, and composed music for commercials.[40]
Miranda co-wrote the music and lyrics for Bring It On with Tom Kitt and Amanda Green. It premiered at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia in January 2011.[45] The musical began a US national tour on October 30, 2011, in Los Angeles, California.[46][47] It played a limited engagement on Broadway at the St. James Theatre, beginning previews on July 12, and officially opening on August 1, 2012. It closed on December 30, 2012. It was nominated for Tony Awards in the categories of Best Musical and Best Choreography.[48]
His theatrical achievements in 2014 included an Emmy for the song "Bigger!", which he and Kitt co-wrote for the opening number at the 67th Tony Awards.[49]
While on vacation in 2008, Lin-Manuel Miranda had read Ron Chernow's biography of Alexander Hamilton. Inspired by the book, he wrote a rap about Hamilton that he performed for the White House Evening of Poetry, Music, and the Spoken Word on May 12, 2009, accompanied by Alex Lacamoire. Miranda later said he spent a year writing the Hamilton song "My Shot", revising it countless times so that every verse would reflect Alexander Hamilton's intellect.[53][16] By 2012, Miranda was performing an extended set of pieces based on the life of Hamilton, which he referred to as the Hamilton Mixtape.The New York Times called it "an obvious game changer".[54]
Hamilton premiered off-Broadway at The Public Theater in January 2015, directed by Thomas Kail. Miranda wrote the book and score, and starred as the title character.[55][56] The show received highly positive reviews,[57] and its engagement was sold out.[58] Chernow and Miranda received the 2015 History Makers Award from the New York Historical Society for their work in creating the musical.[59] The show began previews on Broadway in July 2015 at the Richard Rodgers Theatre and officially opened on August 6, 2015,[60] earning positive reviews.[61] On the first night of Hamilton previews, over 700 people lined up for lottery tickets.[62] The Hamilton ticket lottery evolved into Ham4Ham, a series of outdoor mini-performances for lottery participants that was hosted daily by Miranda and cast members for over a year, until August 31, 2016.[63]
On March 15, 2016, members of the cast of Hamilton performed at the White House and hosted workshops; Miranda performed freestyle rap from prompts held up by President Obama.[67] In April 2016, Miranda and Jeremy McCarter published Hamilton: The Revolution, a book describing Hamilton's journey from conception to Broadway success. It also discusses the sense of cultural revolution that permeates the show.[68]
Miranda gave his last performance in Hamilton on July 9, 2016,[69] but vowed to return to the show.[70] In 2017, he announced that he would reprise the role for one night in celebration of President Obama's commutation of the sentence of Oscar López Rivera.[71]
On January 24, 2016, Miranda performed the offstage cameo role of Loud Hailer in the Broadway production of Les Misérables,[74] fulfilling his childhood dream of being in the show, as it was the first production he ever saw on Broadway.[75]
2019–present: Return to theatre
In January 2019, Miranda reprised the title role in Hamilton for a three-week limited engagement at the Luis A. Ferré Performing Arts Center in Puerto Rico from January 11–27, 2019, for which the engagement was sold out in three hours in November 2018.[76][77] In a review, Chris Jones praised "deeper on-stage emotions" in Miranda's reprisal, as well as improved vocal and dance technique than on Broadway.[78] In March that same year he played King Arthur in a benefit concert of Camelot at Lincoln Center opposite Solea Pfeiffer and Jordan Donica.[79]
In August 2023, it was reported that he had begun work on a stage musical adaptation of the novel The Warriors (which was formerly adapted into the 1979 film).[81] Miranda worked with Eisa Davis on a concept album based on the novel titled Warriors, which was released on October 18, 2024.[82]
2015–present: Disney projects and directorial debut
Miranda interviewed with Disney in the winter of 2013. He submitted a six-song demo package to Walt Disney Animation Studios.[85] This began a series of collaborations with the company:
Moana – In the spring of 2014, the studio hired Miranda to help write and perform music for Moana, its 2016 animated feature film.[85][86] From 2014 to 2016, Miranda collaborated with Opetaia Foa'i and Mark Mancina on the songs for Moana.[87] He later explained that because he was so busy with Moana and Hamilton, he turned down other projects "that would have distracted" him, but this served as an "ego check" as Hamilton became a hit.[85]Moana opened in November 2016 and was a box office hit, earning positive reviews and praise from critics for Miranda's songwriting.[88][89][90] Miranda also sang the song "We Know the Way" in the film, and recorded a duet with Jordan Fisher of the song "You're Welcome", which was played over the film's end credits.[91] For the song "How Far I'll Go", Miranda won a Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media,[92] and received Golden Globe, Critics' Choice, and Oscar nominations.[93][94][95]
DuckTales – Miranda debuted in May 2018 as the voice of Fenton "Gizmoduck" Crackshell-Cabrera in Disney Channel's 2017 reboot of DuckTales, and made recurring appearances throughout the show's run.[97]
Mary Poppins Returns – Miranda plays Jack, a lamplighter, and former apprentice to Bert, the chimney sweep played by Dick Van Dyke in the original 1964 film Mary Poppins. This was his first major role after leaving the Broadway cast of Hamilton. Miranda traveled to London in 2017 to shoot his scenes for the film,[85][98] directed by Rob Marshall, which was released in December 2018.[98][99]
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker – Following his work on The Force Awakens, Miranda contributed music for the Disney-distributed film Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019), writing a song for the scene on the desert planet Pasaana, in addition to making a cameo appearance as a Resistance trooper.[100]
The Little Mermaid – In August 2016, Miranda agreed to write songs with Alan Menken for Disney's forthcoming live-action remake of The Little Mermaid.[105] Miranda co-produced the film with Marc Platt and Rob Marshall, the latter of whom directed.[105] Menken announced in July 2017 that he and Miranda had begun working on new songs for the project.[85][106] Miranda and Menken wrote four new songs for The Little Mermaid, which had been recorded by April 2020.[107] The film was released in theaters on May 26, 2023.[108]
Mufasa: The Lion King – Miranda is a longtime fan of The Lion King (1994) and was eager to work on this prequel/sequel to the 2019 live-action adaptation of that film, but director Barry Jenkins had to first wait six months for him.[109] Miranda was too busy in the second half of 2021 with finishing the songs for Encanto, editing his first feature film as a director and doing press interviews to promote In The Heights, Vivo and Encanto (all released in 2021).[109] He got started on writing the songs for Mufasa at the beginning of 2022.[110] This timing conflict explains why in the meantime, Disney Animation chose to recruit Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear to write the songs for what was then planned as a direct-to-streaming series and eventually became the feature-length sequel Moana 2 (2024).[110] Miranda and Jenkins appeared together at D23: The Ultimate Fan Event in Anaheim, California on August 10, 2024, to present the full theatrical trailer for Mufasa.[111] Although Miranda by that point had already been working with Disney for a decade, this was his first in-person appearance at a D23 event.[111] The film premiered on December 20, 2024.[112]
A feature film adaptation of In the Heights spent many years in development. On November 7, 2008, Universal Pictures announced that they planned to adapt it as a film for release in 2011.[113] However, the project was canceled in March 2011,[114] reportedly due to the fact Universal was looking for a "bankable Latino star" like Shakira or Jennifer Lopez instead of unknown actors.[115] In January 2012, Miranda stated that the film adaptation was back under discussion;[116] in May 2016, it was announced that Miranda would co-produce the film with Harvey Weinstein and backing from The Weinstein Company.[117] On June 10, 2016, Jon M. Chu came on board to direct the film adaptation of the musical.[118] In the aftermath of numerous sexual misconduct allegations made against Weinstein, his producer credit on the film was removed, with the rights to the film eventually auctioned off to Warner Bros. for $50 million.[119] While Miranda originated the role of Usnavi, he felt he was too old to star as Usnavi in the film adaptation. Ultimately, Miranda played the smaller role of Piraguero, the "Piragua Guy", in the film. He was quoted as saying the Broadway production was "...a miraculous experience. I went from substitute teacher to Broadway composer. I will never make a leap that big again in my life. I was very content to let Anthony Ramos and this incredible cast have their own experience."[120] Miranda also served as producer and acted alongside Anthony Ramos,[121]Corey Hawkins,[122]Leslie Grace,[123] and Jimmy Smits.[124] The film was set for release on June 26, 2020,[125] but was pulled from the schedule due to the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on the film industry.[126] It was released in theaters and temporarily on HBO Max on June 10, 2021.[127]
He played several television roles during this period. He appeared on the TV series Modern Family in the 2011 episode "Good Cop Bad Dog".[142] In 2013, he played the recurring role of Ruben Marcado in the NBC drama Do No Harm.[143] He later appeared in the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, in an all-verse episode titled "Bedtime Stories" that aired in November 2013.[144]
Miranda was cast as Lee Scoresby in the BBC series television adaptation of His Dark Materials (2019–2022).[148] Daniel Fienberg of The Hollywood Reporter praised Miranda in his review writing, " I appreciate that Miranda feels initially miscast as Pullman's paragon of cowboy American masculinity... forces you to reconstruct an image of American manliness around him, making him exactly what the series needs".[149]
Miranda (right) with his family upon receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2018. Nadal is in the center.
Miranda and his wife, Vanessa Nadal, attended high school together and married in 2010. Nadal is a graduate of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Fordham University School of Law. She was a lawyer at the law firm Jones Day from 2010 to 2016.[154] At the wedding reception, Miranda, along with the wedding party, performed the Fiddler on the Roof song "To Life".[155][156] His wife is Dominican and Austrian, which gave him some German language familiarity when collaborating on the German translation of Hamilton.[157][158]
Miranda and Nadal have two sons: Sebastian (b. 2014) and Francisco (b. 2018).[159][160] His son Sebastian was named after the Jamaican crab from The Little Mermaid, one of his favorite films, the reason for which he took the job of composing the music for the live-action version.[161] Sebastian was the first name listed in the production babies credits of Moana, for which Miranda wrote the songs.[162] Miranda said Sebastian was bilingual in English and Spanish, and also knew some German. Miranda's son Francisco is listed as a production baby in the credits for Vivo.[163]
Miranda is a cousin of professional baseball player José Miranda.[172]
Activism
After a meeting with President Barack Obama in March 2016,[173] Miranda joined U.S. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand, Chuck Schumer, Elizabeth Warren, and other Democratic lawmakers to call for congressional action to back a Senate bill in Washington that would allow Puerto Rico to declare bankruptcy and significantly ease its $70 billion government-debt burden.[174] Miranda was particularly active in the wake of Hurricane Maria's devastation in Puerto Rico,[10][11] and by December 2017, proceeds from his song "Almost Like Praying" helped the Hispanic Federation raise $22 million for rescue efforts and disaster relief.[175][176]
Miranda uses proceeds from Hamilton to support Graham Windham, a nonprofit adoption agency founded by Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton.[177] Miranda performs at their fundraising gala benefits in New York City and helps to fundraise for children in foster care.[178]
In order to raise money for Puerto Rico's reconstruction after being struck by hurricanes Irma and María, including at least $15 million to be channeled through the Flamboyán Foundation, Lin-Manuel decided to take, and once again play the protagonist role in Hamilton to his father's native Puerto Rico. The Miranda family donated approximately $1 million to bring the University of Puerto Rico theater up to par in order to use it as the venue for the musical's performance in January 2018. After tickets sold out in two hours for the three-week run, producers decided to move out of the university venue due to warnings of potential disruptions by a university workers' labor organization, and move the already-installed set to the Luis A. Ferré Performing Arts Center in Santurce, where the performances ran from January 11 to January 27. The production donated additional hundreds of thousands of dollars in improvements to the Ferré Performing Arts Center.[181]
In 2016, Miranda advocated for the passing of the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA), a law setting out to restructure the debt of Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria.[182] The law led to budget cuts resulting in the closure of over 200 public schools, cuts to government labor benefits, and budget cuts at the University of Puerto Rico (UPR). It was met with protests, with UPR shutting down due to student strikes over the measures in 2017. Miranda became a target of criticism, especially when he performed Hamilton in Puerto Rico, given his lobbying on the bill as well as the musical's subject matter of the United States which many Puerto Ricans see as an oppressor of the island.[183] During the post show, Miranda met with protestors explaining that he had seen PROMESA as the only bipartisan option for the debt crisis previously, he does not support the austerity measures introduced and that he believes full debt-relief should now be pursued.[184] Subsequently, he has argued for full debt-relief for the island[185] and noted that the 2016 act has not led to the promised relief.[186]
^Mead, Rebecca (February 9, 2015). "All About the Hamiltons". The New Yorker. ISSN0028-792X. Archived from the original on September 30, 2017. Retrieved December 25, 2016. The composer of 'In the Heights' grew up not in Washington Heights but thirty blocks farther uptown, across from Inwood Hill Park...
^Cameron, Scott, in "Classic Children's TV Show Makes A Comeback". NPR.org. NPR. January 27, 2009. Retrieved January 12, 2018. : Mm hmm, Lin-Manuel Miranda. And he wrote a lot of the music on 'The Electric Company.'