Category: Hamilton

Criticism will invariably persecute any artwork released into the public domain with no discrimination between renowned and anonymous authors. As expected, even Lin-Manuel Miranda’s preeminent, award-winning Broadway musical, Hamilton, has encountered dogmatic people who have condemned details of the exceptional production and pointed them out as sufficient evidence to ban the musical. The alleged support for slavery and white supremacy, topics that strike a raw nerve when addressed, is based on individual interpretation and constitutes a vitriolic diatribe that, by no means, should lead to the banning of the musical.

Viewers should bear in mind that Hamilton intends to narrate a story, with a mind-blowing complexity indeed, by adapting and incorporating historical references. Even if slavery and white supremacy play an evident role in the plot, it is not a musical about black American rights, “It’s a play centered on one man’s rise and fall, framed to enhance the qualities that made him notable.” (Freeman, 2015). Those details intend to add historical significance and contribute to character development. By criticizing their apparition, it seems to me that the opposition defends that we cannot talk about history if immoral beliefs are involved. Honestly, it is absolute nonsense.

The portrayal of Alexander’s character is highly controversial. There are people like Ishmael Reed, a poet who has harshly excoriated the musical, who argue that his “life has been scrubbed with a kind of historical Ajax until it sparkles.” (Reed, 2015). Whether the real Hamilton’s actions towards slavery (e.g. marrying a slaveholding family) correspond to his statements (he claimed to be an abolitionist), is a historical debate, rather than an argument to cancel an artwork. So, by defining Hamilton as a hypocritical scoundrel, is Reed actually denouncing the fictional character? Or is he subconsciously referring to the historical figure? In my opinion, the personality we perceive embodies concepts, and a humane facet, showing his vulnerabilities, ambitions, and achievements. It connects with the audience, which develops a soft spot for Alex throughout the play. The anti-slavery ideals he defends, may not be historically accurate, but they add significance to the overall message of the musical, and, evidently, it’s not an attempt to redeem Hamilton’s historical immoralities.

Another issue on the table is the casting choice. It is scandalous that “ignorant black and Latino actors have lent their talents to ‘Hamilton.’” (Reed, 2015). That is indeed a presumptuous claim with no foundation. Firstly, the actors were totally conscious of where they are getting involved; in fact, they were proud of telling American history in a modern context. Daveed Diggs, who plays the white slave owner Thomas Jefferson, states “I walked out of the show with a sense of ownership over American history” (Janese, 2015). Second, the cast is one of the most inclusive in Broadway history, with predominately non-white and Latino actors. It is an inclusion of everyone who was left out of the historical record.

The complexity of Hamilton and the variety of topics it comprises leaves a full set of perspectives that are open to discussion. Any approach to delicate matters in American history will be confronted. For instance, what would have been the public’s reaction to an all-white cast? Regardless of what people might argue out of thinly veiled jealousy or to create controversy, we must set the prejudices apart and give the musical a shot. Watching Hamilton is a life-changing experience; frankly, I do not see why we should deprive the world of enjoying it, just because a few decided to converge their attention on “immoral” details.

References:

1. Freeman, J. B. (2015, November 11). How Hamilton Uses History. Slate. Retrieved from https://slate.com/culture/2015/11/how-lin-manuel-miranda-used-real-history-in-writing-hamilton.html
2. Janese, B. (2015, July 07). ‘Hamilton’ Roles Are This Rapper’s Delight. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from https://www.wsj.com/articles/hamilton-roles-are-this-rappers-delight-1436303922
3. Reed, I. (2015, August 21). “Hamilton: the Musical:” Black Actors Dress Up like Slave Traders…and It’s Not Halloween. Counterpunch. Retrieved from https://www.counterpunch.org/2015/08/21/hamilton-the-musical-black-actors-dress-up-like-slave-tradersand-its-not-halloween/

The musical told the story of Alexander Hamilton, one of the American Founding Fathers. Hamilton is initially about the founding of America, written by a man who in many ways personifies the most idealized version of the American dream. The producer of the play Lin- Manuel Miranda, decided to write a hip-hop musical about the story of Hamilton, featuring the Founding Fathers as iconic rap artists. Hamilton is a modern twist on the historical figures who have shaped America. The play is rooted in the 1700s, during the time of Hamilton’s birth, upcoming, and domination. The play covers about 100 years and 83 events according to the project timeline. (Hamilton, 2015). Miranda was inspired to write the musical after reading the biography Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow. (Shaw, 2020).

The director’s focus is the artistic aspect of the play or production. The director (Thomas Kail) did a superior job of directing Hamilton, catching the mood of each act and scene. Kail captured the story of the play, by defining the action that holds the play together. The production did alter time, the play took us back to the 1700s with the scenic and costume design. The play made the audience really think about Hamilton’s upcoming rise to founding America. Hamilton’s production captured a historical event and intertwined modern language to make the audience interested, or relatable. The casting choices were unique because most of the actors were of color, which elevated the storyline. The actors played a major role in the Hip-Hop/ R&B musical because it influenced diversity on Broadway. The director’s staging clearly conveyed the action of Hamilton, because the director wanted to catch the energy of the play while also zooming in on the quieter parts of the character moments. Hamilton had a variety of moods and tempos in each scene. The play built to its climax with the use of song and movement. It made the audience wonder what was going to happen next. For example, the dual between Aaron Burr and Hamilton was the climax, and to catch the moment the director added events that led up to that event. If anything after the battle, the audience was affected by shock. The actors were very well sought out, each actor knew his/her place and beautifully magnified their role. The actors of Hamilton listened to one another as they read their lines, they were very in the moment with each scene. The physical characterization of the play was not what was expected but as a result, diversified the play and made the plot come together. There were actors that acted more intensely during more scenes than others, however, this was not a bad thing because of how the moods of the play fluctuated. Some actors used more body language than others, others used force in their voices to initiate action. The actors in this production had skills in dancing, singing, and accents. As an example, the actor of King George had an old English accent while the others did not. All actors sang and danced. The actors were effective in singing and dancing to each song while conveying the plot. Each actor trained their voice to sound immaculate during the play, the central meaning of each song was to carry out events of Hamilton’s lifetime. The scenic design of Hamilton was designed in the style of the ship that brought Alexander Hamilton from Britain to America. The scene had a second-level catwalk and scaffolding. The stage from the pictures looks smaller than it really is, and the limitations of this play design seem small. The production had three-dimensional units, stairs, and a second-level catwalk. The brick and second-level catwalk made it feel like we were back in the 1700s. The scenery made the actors pop out against the background. The elements that the scenic designer used for Hamilton enhanced the performance and compliment the actors by setting the time and place for the events in the play. The costumes were 18th-century style, with actors dressed in traditional silhouettes, women in corsets, and men in frilly coats. Costume designers had the ensemble wear cream or neutral tones while the leads used color to pop out. The costumes were traditional, but the makeup and hair were modern. Costume played a great role in helping the play come together. The theatre that Hamilton performed in was a proscenium theatre. The theatre supported the bright and sometimes blue colors for the play, the lighting and musical both set the tone and mood. The lighting enhanced the acting, scenery, and costumes by creating mood, time, and place for the play. Lightning helped time-warp the audience into the past.

The value of this production to me is that anyone can do the impossible. The purpose of this play was to tell a story, which brought people together to tell the story of a Founding Father. I found myself gasping during some scenes, shocked by what had followed, or laughing because of the modern language. This musical gives me a visualization of what it must have been like back then, even though we don’t know what it was really like. Especially, with duals, and how legal it was to have a gunfight in the middle of ordinary life whereas now you have an army that goes overseas. The message I got from the play was that a good fight is always worth waiting for, but from Hamiltons’ view, it seemed like it was worth pursuing no matter the cost.

Hamilton provides social commentary by pointing out the political system. This tie between a Broadway musical and the political administration ultimately increased awareness of the social inequalities today. One, for example, was the Black Lives Matter protest, where white officers avoided punishment for the death of African- Americans like Michael Brown. Another example of how the music brings out social commentary is the line “Immigrants we get the job done.” It emphasized the production’s position towards the president’s policies. This content is important because we live in America, the land of the free. We make our own decisions because that is exactly what the founding fathers sought, political justice and human rights. Gun control is also another issue addressed by the play. I was interested in what some of the songs meant so naturally, I did research. The song, titled “Found/Tonight”, was created to support a rally protesting the lack of gun control in response to the fatal Parkland shooting. (Garret, 2018). These examples show how the diverse cast and political commentary, and lyrics of Hamilton come together to create a musical to the social and social commentary. Hamilton is an artifact because it tells a historical story. The events of the play were followed by a song, the events chosen were chronological from Hamiltons’ birth to his death. One example of a historical event in the play is the events in 1775. Wahington is appointed as Commander in Chief of the Continental Army, which follows Hamilton’s capture of the British Cannons. During the war, Hamilton and his volunteers captured 21 British Cannons. A year later, Alexander meets Burr, Laurens, and Mulligan. Another example would be when the U.S. Treasury was founded in September of 1789 and followed by Hamilton taking office as Secretary days later. These events were all accurate and had a major impact on the play, there were added events that also made the play inaccurate at times because of the dates. The arts play a visual representation for explaining how a person might feel, and act towards a situation. Acting in this case served as a visual representation of how the characters might have felt back then. While the singing was added to become an entertainment aspect of the play to engage the audience.

Hamilton: An American Musical was written by Lin Manuel-Miranda and is a musical about the life of Alexander Hamilton. What makes this so unique is how it is presented in the form of rap and even has hip-hop references to go with it. Most of the play is historically accurate which makes learning history very simple for the listeners, even if they don’t realize that they are learning. With this recipe, Hamilton is able to connect with audiences of all ages and more importantly, keep them hooked. On the other hand, Maus I: A Survivor’s Tale and Maus II: And Here My Troubles Began is a graphic novels by Art Spiegelman. It is about Art meeting with his father and interviewing him about his experiences during the Holocaust. The characters are displayed as different types of animals, such as cats, mice, and pigs. The Jews are the mice, the Nazis are the cats and the Polish are the pigs. Both of these books are able to connect with the audience through the use of allusions. Allusions allow the reader to make certain connections without the author ever having to specifically mention it. Hamilton: An American Musical uses many auditory allusions, while Maus I & II: A Survivor’s Tale uses visual allusions, and both works use historical allusions.

Alexander Hamilton was born around January 11th, 1755 in the British West Indies. His father’s name was James Hamilton and his mother’s name was Rachel Fawcett Lavien. Hamilton’s father abandoned his family when Alexander was a young boy (“Alexander Hamilton”). This is the basis for a few of the auditory allusions found in Hamilton. There are auditory references to rappers The Notorious B.I.G. or Christopher Wallace, and Eminem or Marshall Mathers. Both of these musicians experienced a childhood in which their father just walked out on them while they were young. An example of an auditory allusion occurs in the song “My Shot” when there is a line that goes, “A-L-E-X-A-N-D-E-R—we are – meant to be” (Miranda “My Shot,” 0:42). This alludes to “Going Back To Cali” by The Notorious B.I.G. in which he states, “N-O-T-O-R-I-O-U-S—you just—lay down slow” (Smalls “Going Back To Cali,” 2:18). By throwing in these references, the listener is able to make connections between the lives of Hamilton and Wallace. There is another allusion to a rapper with a similar childhood as Hamilton. During the song “Cabinet Battle #1” Jefferson says, “Oh if the shoe fits, wear it. New York’s in debt, why should Virginia bear it?” (Miranda “Cabinet Battle #1,” 0:46). This line is eerily similar to a line in the Eminem song Renegade that goes “If the shoe fits I’ll wear it. But if I don’t then y’all swallow the truth, grin and bear it” (Eminem “Renegade,” 1:24). There’s no one that people my age is able to identify with and look up to more than Eminem. Anyway, his life also has parallels with Hamilton’s, especially the father that walked out on him and his mom. Interestingly, there are also allusions to the rappers Jay-Z and DMX who also suffered the same childhood fate.

Maus is a graphic novel created by Art Spiegelman in which he interviews his father about his experiences during the Holocaust and surviving it all. Interestingly, Spiegelman decided to represent the Jews as mice, Germans as cats, and the Polish as pigs. By doing this he was able to use an art style that makes the content seem much less harmless than the matter that is actually involved. The choice to depict Jews as mice and Nazis as cats go beyond the predator and prey analogy. Mice are often seen as dirty and weak organisms that tend to run and hide most of the time. Projecting this translation directly might make Art look like a racist. However, there’s much more behind the symbolism than just that offensive point of view. The Nazis would actually depict the Jews as mice and declare them as a nuisance that needed to be rid of (“Why Mice?”). By depicting the Nazis as cats, Art was able to capture how the Holocaust was similar to cats hunting for mice. Also, Zyklon B was the gas used to exterminate the Jews in Auschwitz. Zyklon B was originally a cyanide-based pesticide used to kill rats and insects (“At the Killing Centers”). This is also alluded to in the panel where Art uses insect spray in an attempt to kill some mosquitoes while vacationing in the Catskills (Spiegelman II:74). Art definitely put a lot of research into this book as well as just interviewing his father. He was interested enough in the topic to actually research everything and not just believe the words of his father.

Moving on back to Hamilton, there is little known about Hamilton and Eliza’s marriage shortly after she found out about his affair. There have been assumptions and guesses as to what happened, but no one is certain. Miranda alludes to this in the song “Burn” when Eliza writes to Hamilton: “I’m erasing myself from the narrative. Let future historians wonder. How Eliza reacted when you broke her heart” (Miranda). Miranda did research this topic but there is a lack of primary sources available so he could only speculate that Eliza had not wanted to be present during this time. This also speaks volumes about Hamilton as a person. Not only did he betray his wife, more than once, but he also published it all in a pamphlet. This pamphlet included the details about his relationship with Maria Reynolds and how he paid her husband to keep it a secret (“Alexander Hamilton”). Hamilton isn’t perfect and this play makes that known, however, he was an intelligent leader and very good with words. He rose into a position of power on his own, survived a childhood that most wouldn’t have, and eventually is honored on the $10 bill. Hamilton left a legacy behind him that outshines the negative choices he made in his life.

Maus has an important allusion appear about a third of the way through book two when Art is sitting at his desk attempting to work on his book. He tells about how his father died from congestive heart failure and is visually struggling to continue drawing. Art himself is also wearing a mouse mask instead of drawing himself as an actual mouse (Spiegelman II:41). By drawing himself in a mouse mask, he is able to visually show that he can’t truly identify with his father’s tale. There is a pile of dead mice under his desk and flies are buzzing all around him (Spiegelman II:41). A few panels later he is being harassed by the media and it’s immediately noticeable that he doesn’t want the attention. As the panels continue, Art begins to shrink down into a kid. He goes to see his shrink, Pavel, and gradually returns to his normal size as he continues to visit his shrink (Spiegelman II:41-46). To break this down, the bodies under the desk represent Art’s feelings of guilt about profiting off of so many lost lives. He also can still feel the weight of his father hanging over him, making it all the more difficult to continue on. Art begins to shrink back into a kid under the pressure and even quotes, “Sometimes I just don’t feel like a functioning adult” (Spiegelman II:43). All of this together alludes to how he himself doesn’t believe he is ready for the challenges he still has to face. On a final note, after he returns back to normal size, there is a panel right afterward where he goes back to listening to the tape recordings of Vladek and he becomes a kid again. This is a way of visually showing that he knows that no matter what he does in life, it will always be overshadowed by his father surviving Auschwitz. Overall, these few pages accurately depict Art and his contradicting emotions towards his father and the past.

Allusions can be very powerful if used correctly. They have the potential to add imagery to scenes and make a more personal connection with the audience. Both Maus and Hamilton rely heavily on allusions for exactly those reasons. Without the allusions thrown into both of these works, they would lose a lot of their meaning and uniqueness. Part of what makes these works unique is how they make a special connection to the audience and throw in subtle references. In Maus, the allusions help the reader gain some insight into the personality and character that is Art. He is accurately able to capture many of his conflicting emotions towards his father and doesn’t hold back on portraying people for who they are. Hamilton, however, takes an approach that makes the main character, Alexander Hamilton, seem much like successful hip-hop artists from this generation. It’s a unique twist that successfully displays his flaws and the legacy he left behind.

Works Cited

1. “Alexander Hamilton.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 27 Apr. 2017, www.biography.com/political-figure/alexander-hamilton.
2. “At the Killing Centers.” ushmm.org, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/at-the-killing-centers.
3. Eminem. Jay-Z. ‘Renegade.’ The Blueprint. Roc-A-Fella Records, 2007.
4. Miranda, Lin-Manuel. “Burn.” Hamilton: Original Broadway Cast Recording. Atlantic Records, 2015.
5. Miranda, Lin-Manuel. “Cabinet Battle #1.” Hamilton: Original Broadway Cast Recording. Atlantic Records, 2015.
6. Miranda, Lin-Manuel. “My Shot.” Hamilton: Original Broadway Cast Recording. Atlantic Records, 2015.
7. Pruitt, Sarah. “The Sex Scandal That Ruined Alexander Hamilton’s Chances of Becoming President.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 20 Apr. 2018, www.history.com/news/alexander-hamilton-maria-Reynolds-pamphlet-affair.
8. Smalls, Biggie. “Biggie Smalls – Going Back To Cali.” YouTube, uploaded 7 May 2009. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_P-sP698sA
9. Spiegelman, Art. Maus I: A Survivor’s Tale. New York: Pantheon Books, 1986-1991. Print.
10. Spiegelman, Art. Maus II: And Here My Troubles Began. New York: Pantheon Books, 1991.
11. Spiegelman, Art. “Why Mice?” The New York Review of Books, 20 Oct. 2011, www.nybooks.com/daily/2011/10/20/why-mice/.

In recent years, one of the most discussed and highly venerated musicals on Broadway is undoubtedly the hip-hop sensation known as Hamilton. The show has made millions of dollars since it opened at the Richard Rodgers Theater on August 6th, 2015 (Vine). Hamilton was a smash hit far before it even stepped on the Broadway stage. Then President, Barack Obama, even went to see a preview of the show in June of 2015 before its official opening night (MacGregor). Written by a young and doe-eyed Lin-Manuel Miranda, reminiscent of an ambitious Alexander Hamilton himself, it achieved what many have called “overnight success”. Some would say it was an accomplishment in and of itself to create a musical about the life of a founding father set in the 17-the 1800s that somehow manages to entertain audiences young and old alike. Award winner, actor, playwright, lyricist, performer, whatever you want to call him, Lin-Manuel Miranda has marked the world of theater in more ways than one. He may even be “Broadway’s current biggest and brightest star” (The Sandy River Review Literary Magazine).

Miranda was born in New York City on January 16th, 1980. Both his mother, Luz Towns-Miranda, and his father, Luis A. Miranda Jr., were originally from Puerto Rico (biography.com). When his father was 17, he left his job as manager of a Sears on the island to study at NYU, despite speaking little English (Gioia). His father became a political consultant later on and his mother found a career in clinical psychology (biography.com). Being a man of politics, Miranda found his dad to be slightly less supportive of his artistic endeavors than his mother was in his youth. However one of his earliest moments of encouragement came when he had to decide whether to teach English at the high school he graduated from or to pursue his interest in writing. His father surprised him by responding in total understanding and telling his son to do what makes him happy (Gioia).

Despite being born in New York, he and his family stayed very close to their Puerto Rican roots. Miranda spent at least a month every summer during his adolescence with his grandparents at their home in Vega Alta, Puerto Rico. Sometimes his older sister would come along but even when she didn’t, he remembers it as being some of the best summers he ever had. Since the primary language in Puerto Rico is Spanish, he slowly started to learn by way of immersion every time he visited. The last summer he went was in college and he was finally able to drive around and see new parts of the island. During this time he wrote his first Spanish language song, “Siempre”, featured in his first musical, In The Heights (Jones).

Throughout his childhood, Miranda had grown up hearing his mom play cast albums of shows like Man of La Mancha and Camelot, never really having a lot of money to spend on actually attending live productions. The first show he ever saw was Les Miserables which he merits as being one of the biggest influences to get him into playwriting, largely because of the way it affected his parents (The Late Show with Stephen Colbert). It was that ability to affect an audience that sparked his imagination and passion for theater. It also helped that his family was always very musically oriented. His siblings took piano lessons and they were all culturally influenced by their parents (biography.com).

Having this theatrical influence at home, he started participating in school productions as early as 6th grade. When asked whether he knew about musical theater during his summers in Puerto Rico in an interview with Playbill Miranda stated, …we did a sixth-grade play every year, so when I was 12, we did 20-minute versions of six musicals, and they were Oklahoma!, Bye Bye Birdie, a mash-up of The Wizard of Oz and The Wiz, Peter Pan, Fiddler on the Roof and West Side Story. So literally, by age 12, I’d played Conrad Birdie, a cowhand, a son in Fiddler, an Addapearle backup in The Wiz, Captain Hook, and Bernardo, which is a pretty lethal dosage at such a young age. (Jones)

Being a performer while only in middle school really set him on the track to becoming the award-winning man he is now. Although he is best known for Hamilton, it was in his college years that he began writing his first hit musical, In The Heights.

After completing his high school education at Hunter College high school, he attended Wesleyan University (biography.com). There he wrote the first draft of what would become his first theater success during his sophomore year in 1999. Miranda promptly applied to put on a student-run production and was given dates to work with. All he did in the following weeks was write, he was non-stop. He incorporated all the things he’d like to see in a show. That meant salsa numbers, freestyle rapping, diversity, bodegas, and of course it was all set in the city he calls home, New York. When In The Heights was finally put on, it broke box office records at the ’92 Theater. Miranda was approached with an offer to work on his show with a production company; this comes back into play in 2002 when he graduates from Wesleyan (Miranda).

In the following years, he spent his time rewriting the show and perfecting it with a whole team behind him. He had people tweaking dialogue, book writers, arrangers orchestrating music, some doing script notes, and choreographers perfecting blocking, and it was all coming together in his vision (Miranda). In The Heights finally saw the stage in 2008, taking home four Tony Awards that year, including one for Best Musical (biography.com). More than two years after the initial success of the musical, Lin-Manuel Miranda was able to bring his greatest pride to his parent’s homeland of Puerto Rico. Even at the risk of not making much money while on the island, he knew that he wanted to keep prices as low as he could because the most important aspect of the whole tour was to entertain and be embraced by as many people as he could. Miranda and his father said, “We don’t know if we’ll make money, but we’re gonna make history” (Jones).

Following his In The Heights tour, Miranda took some smaller jobs more on the behind-the-scenes side of theater as a sort of well-deserved break; considering he was the lead in his own music. He appeared on screen in a few television shows and won an Emmy award in 2014 with Tom Kitt for a song they performed on the 67th Tony Awards. He also worked on translations for a revival of Westside Story in 2009 and provided music and lyrics for Bring It On: The Musical in 2012. During this time he was already working on what would soon become his second smash hit in a few short years.

In 2008, Miranda had picked up a copy of Ron Chernow’s 800-page biography of Alexander Hamilton while on vacation with his now wife, Vanessa. Before he read that book he knew no more about the founding father than any other average citizen. He knew the man was on the $10 bill and he died in a duel. He got to reading and was quickly fascinated by the story unfolding before him. It took years for him to get around to writing it into the musical it is today, however (CNBC). He first performed the show’s introductory song in 2009 at the White House an invitation from the President to attend the first-ever Evening of Poetry and Spoken Word (biography.com). The video of this performance goes viral and Miranda spends the next few years hard at work on this idea of his (MacGregor). In an interview with CNBC he clarifies, “This is no overnight success — took me a year to write the second song in the show ‘my shot.’ I’m in awe of people who can just write well and quickly”.

Nevertheless, he persisted. In August 2015 the show opened its doors at the Public Theater for the first official performance with Miranda starring as Alexander Hamilton himself. Not long after that it moved right up to Broadway and has since continued to draw in sold-out audiences all over the country (Vine). A little over 4 years later, the show has won a slew of awards, garnered millions of dollars in ticket sales, gone on tour, and continues to entertain individuals of all ages. Some notable acclaim includes the Pulitzer prize for drama won in 2016, the 11 Tony’s that the musical won (just one short of tying for the record), and the 16 Tonys it was nominated for; the most in Broadway history. Miranda himself won two Tonys for Hamilton, as well as a Grammy for both In The Heights and Hamilton. He also won an Emmy for the music and lyrics of the musical in 2013. (broadway.com) When he won an Oscar for his original song in the Disney movie Moana, he joined the small group of 14 other individuals who can call themselves “EGOT” winners, that is Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony; all four major American entertainment awards.

Since his success with Hamilton, Miranda has grown his family. He now has two sons, Sebastian and Francisco. He also played a leading role in the 2018 film Mary Poppins Returns (biography.com). Last year he released a book called Gmorning, Gnight!: Little Pep talks for Me & You which is a collection of poetry-like tweets of his. This book was illustrated by his good friend Jonny Sun and was created purely at the request of his followers as every morning and night he tweets a small inspirational or insightful message (Fierberg). Lin-Manuel Miranda is a force to be reckoned with and there’s never a moment he’s not planning something new, much like Alexander Hamilton. He’s constantly coming up with fresh ideas and these ideas flourish into something better than expected every time. All of this success has come within less than 40 years of his life. There’s no telling what his artistry and talent will bring to life next.

Works Cited

1. Alexandra Bryer, Tania, and Alexandra Gibbs. “Award-Winning ‘Hamilton’ Musical Was ‘No Overnight Success’, Says Creator Lin-Manuel Miranda.” CNBC, CNBC, 28 Dec. 2017, www.cnbc.com/2017/12/28/hamilton-creator-lin-manuel-miranda-on-the-making-of-the-musical.html.
2. The Biography.com Editors. “Lin-Manuel Miranda.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 16 Apr. 2019, www.biography.com/writer/lin-manuel-miranda.
3. Fierberg, Ruthie. “Lin-Manuel Miranda Talks Bringing Tick, Tick…BOOM! to the Big Screen, His Upcoming Book, More.” Playbill, PLAYBILL INC., 24 July 2018, www.playbill.com/article/lin-manuel-miranda-talks-bringing-tick-tickboom-to-the-big-screen-his-upcoming-book-more.
4. Gail. “Alabanza Lin-Manuel Miranda: The Obligatory Lin-Manuel Miranda Praise Post.” The Sandy River Review, 11 Sept. 2018, sandyriverreview.com/2018/03/21/alabanza-lin-manuel-miranda-the-obligatory-lin-manuel-miranda-praise-post/.
5. Gioia, Michael. “Where It All Began-A Conversation With Lin-Manuel Miranda and His Father.” Playbill, PLAYBILL INC., 8 July 2016, www.playbill.com/article/where-it-all-begana-conversation-with-lin-manuel-miranda-and-his-father-com-353054.
6. Jones, Kenneth. “Lin-Manuel Miranda Takes In the Heights to Puerto Rico.” Playbill, PLAYBILL INC., 24 Nov. 2010, www.playbill.com/article/lin-manuel-miranda-takes-in-the-heights-to-puerto-rico-com-173914.
7. The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, director. Lin-Manuel Miranda Talks ‘Hamilton’, New York and His Influences. YouTube, YouTube, 12 Dec. 2015, www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7YTPuEMgaE.
8. MacGregor, Jeff. “Meet Lin-Manuel Miranda, the Genius Behind ‘Hamilton,’ Broadway’s Newest Hit.” Smithsonian.com, Smithsonian Institution, 12 Nov. 2015, www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/lin-manuel-miranda-ingenuity-awards-180957234/?no-ist.
9. Miranda, Lin-Manuel. “Lin-Manuel Miranda: Scaling the Heights.” Broadway.com, 9 Jan. 2007, www.broadway.com/buzz/6213/lin-manuel-miranda-scaling-the-heights/.
10. Vine, Hannah. “Take a Look Back at Hamilton’s Opening Night on Broadway.” Playbill, PLAYBILL INC., 6 Aug. 2018, www.playbill.com/article/take-a-look-back-at-hamiltons-history-making-opening-night-on-broadway.