Lin Manuel Miranda Essay

On the 16th of January in the year 1980, a future inspiration was born. Lin-Manuel Miranda is a 38 year old man, known for not only his skills as a composer and playwright, but also for using those skills to inspire others to learn more about the world around them. His mother was a psychologist and his father was a consultant to the mayor of New York, so Miranda knew what hard work means. Puerto Rican man born in the city of New York brought the past into the present with his world renowned musical Hamilton, a hip-hop styled musical about the first Treasury Secretary of the United States of America. When he first came up with the idea it resulted in him being laughed at by even Barack Obama, but more than half a decade

Miranda. He grew up in a Latino neighbourhood called Inwood, but always spent at least one month a year at his grandparents’ home in Vegas Alta, Puerto Rico (thefamouspeople.com). He and his sister grew up in a family that might break out in song at any moment, due to the fact that their house had a musical atmosphere throughout the year. His parents adored theatre as much as they did music, and encouraged both children in practicing piano and passed on their adoration of Broadway on to their children (thefamouspeople.com).

Miranda had said it before: “History is so subjective. The teller of it determines it” (brainyquotes.com). To be told of a person’s past would make it clearer how they came to be the person they are today. The first musical Miranda a saw on Broadway was Les Misérables when he was seven, which stayed with him forever. Even though his family wasn’t always able to see live performances, Miranda was still able to listen to cast recordings and sing along. (brainyquotes.com) Miranda had gone to school at Hunter College Elementary School and Hunter College High School, later majoring in Theatre Studies at Wesleyan University. It was one of his teachers who asked him to first write a musical, fanning a spark into the flame that would be his career as a playwright and lyricist

In The Heights was a huge success, becoming a hit Broadway performance in 2008 and running for almost two years. It won four Tony Awards, and an award for Best Musical. In addition to that, he also won a Grammy for Best Musical Show Album in 2009. Not only that, but in the same year he also received an honorary degree from Yeshiva University in Washington Heights, Manhattan, and became the youngest person ever to receive it. He also met up with his high school crush, Vanessa Nadal, and eventually married her.

Miranda truly does represent the lyrics he writes, especially the famous line: “There’s a million things I haven’t done, but just you wait” (Hamilton: The Revolution). Lin-Manuel Miranda was on vacation and reading Ron Chernow’s biography on Alexander Hamilton when the idea to make a musical out of it was born. Not many people thought he would succeed, but that very musical won was awarded in 2016 the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and received 11 out of the 16 Tony Awards it had been nominated for (Hamilton: The