Transcript
>> HINOJOSA: His groundbreaking
musical In the Heights, about a
vibrant Latino community in
Northern Manhattan skyrocketed
him to fame.
Two Tony Awards and a Grammy
later, he's paving the way for
more Latino made productions on
Broadway-- composer, lyricist,
and performer Lin-Manuel
Miranda.
I'm Maria Hinojosa, this is One
On One.
Lin-Manuel Miranda, welcome to
our program.
>> MIRANDA: Thank you for having me.
>> HINOJOSA: So you're the
lyricist, performer, and
composer of the award winning In
The Heights on Broadway which
tells the story of this barrio,
this neighborhood in Northern
Manhattan, and it becomes this
amazing musical of survival of
this community.
And you started writing that
when you were in college.
>> MIRANDA: Yeah.
>> HINOJOSA: So did you ever
imagine, "Yeah, it's going to
end up on Broadway," or was that
just like an illusion?
>> MIRANDA: Oh, I imagined it!
( laughing )
I mean, you wouldn't write it if
you didn't feel like it was...
it was worth something, but I
imagined it in the way that you
imagine being a Jedi when you
are three years old, you know?
It's in the realm of
possibility, and sure, maybe one
day.
But you know, I just... I knew
that I wanted to write, I knew
that I wasn't good at anything
else, and I just... I knew there
weren't enough musicals to keep
me employed as a Latino actor if
I wanted to go into theater.
And I... and I just sort of
started writing everything I'd
always wanted to see in a
musical, musically speaking.
Just Hip Hop music and Latin
music and all the stuff I'd sort
of grown up with.
>> HINOJOSA: And you were able
to translate that... what I love
is that you had these images of
Broadway, and you're able to
take Hip Hop and Salsa, and say,
"Yeah, yeah, yeah; it works on
Broadway."
>> MIRANDA: Yeah, well, that was, you
know, that was the gradual
process of writing the show.
But you know, in that first
incredibly messy draft, I
remember being in the audience
and watching the audience sit up
during the rap scenes when story
was taking place and the
characters were rapping to each
other, and the audience
literally sat bolt upright.
And I said, "Okay, well, this is
new; this is something really
interesting."
>> HINOJOSA: So you weren't even
sure of it at first in terms of
the rapping on Broadway?
>> MIRANDA: Well, I didn't know if it
would work in my show, much less
on Broadway-- in my little show
at Wesleyan.
But when I first met with Tommy
Kail, our director, one of the
first things he said to me is,
"The Hip Hop is the most
exciting part of this, and the
way you mix the Hip Hop and the
Latin music."
And I had had that experience
firsthand watching that first
production at Wesleyan.
So you know, that was the
beginning of a conversation that
lasted eight years, and figuring
out how to use it as another
form of storytelling on stage.
>> HINOJOSA: Finding a director
that you could trust... you
said, actually, that when you
met your director, you realized
that he knew this play, in a
way, even better than you did.
>> MIRANDA: Yeah.
Well, you know, it's
interesting.
I had... I wrote it and put it
up my Sophomore year, and then
it was in a drawer for two
years.
And someone gave a copy to Tommy
Kail, some mutual friends, John
Mailer and Neil Stewart.
>> HINOJOSA: John Mailer being
the son of Norman Mailer.
>> MIRANDA: Yes, and... and so he had two
years with this cast album that
I'd recorded, and he'd listened
to it over and over.
And so, you know, he... he said
to me, "Hi, we've just met but
your third song needs to be
first."
( laughing ) And luckily, you
know, I think any young writer
gets very precious about their
material, but since it had...
I'd had two year's distance on
it I was like, "Well, those are
good ideas; what else do you
have?"
And that was the beginning of
the process.
>> HINOJOSA: The ability,
though, to trust Broadway to
take this show-- well,
off-Broadway at first, right?
>> MIRANDA: Oh, well, before that a
basement in a bookshop.
I mean, that's where..
>> HINOJOSA: That you would go
to after...
>> MIRANDA: ...that's where Tommy Kail
and I met.
I mean, there were... it was
literally a storeroom that they
converted into a black box
theater.
It was being painted when we met
in that basement.
So this was not, "Trust me to
take it to Broadway,"
this was, "I have some good
ideas on how to make show
better," and that's the mindset
we always tried to stay in mind.
We didn't worry about the end
goal.
We just said, "Well, how can
this be better and how can this
be clearer?"
And if you keep your eye on the
rock in front of you, then
that's... that's the way to get
it done.
>> HINOJOSA: Now, the show
actually continues to change,
even... like, in other words,
you... there are lots of things
that you talk about in the show.
You bring up gentrification, you
bring up immigration.
It's not at all a political show
per se, ( speaking in Spanish)
>> MIRANDA: Well, a spoonful of sugar.
>> HINOJOSA: You know?
Here and there, there's just
like, a little political thing
here and a little political
thing here, and you're... is it
constantly being adapted,
because it's still on Broadway?
>> MIRANDA: It's still on Broadway, and
it changes with every performer
who comes with it.
The text doesn't change much,
but we also made a lot of little
changes when we rehearsed the
touring production, as well.
And what's fun is... is what
different people bring to it.
I... we now have... there are
now eight people in the world
who have played Usnavi.
>> HINOJOSA: No!
>> MIRANDA: Yeah.
>> HINOJOSA: Eight people?
>> MIRANDA: Eight people if you include
understudies and swings.
>> HINOJOSA: I'm sorry, but you
know what?
You will always be Usnavi.
>> MIRANDA: Well, thank you.
>> HINOJOSA: I just... I mean, I
know it has to happen, but it
just breaks my heart to not see
you in that central role.
>> MIRANDA: But for me, the joy is in
watching new people adapt it and
seeing what they bring, and you
know, we're all... it's all very
friendly.
It's such a hard role to play.
I mean, you are rapping for two
and a half hours and you never
leave the stage.
>> HINOJOSA: And moving for two
and a half hours.
>> MIRANDA: And moving and dancing and
all of that.
That... you know, we give each
other tips.
It's like a little survivor's
club, and it's, "Hey, I like the
way Corbin did that.
I'm going to steal that next
time I get to do it."
>> HINOJOSA: But Corbin is doing
Usnavi?
>> MIRANDA: Corbin is playing Usnavi.
>> HINOJOSA: Corbin is
playing... Corbin Bleu...
>> MIRANDA: Yeah.
>> HINOJOSA: ...from High School
Musical fame.
>> MIRANDA: Yeah, and you know, he
originally came in to play
Benny, because he's not...
>> HINOJOSA: Right, right,
right.
>> MIRANDA: ...he's not Latino and he
came in to play Benny, and he
was so charming and so
effortlessly charming that we
said, you know, "I think this
guy might be Usnavi."
>> HINOJOSA: Oh!
All right, people are probably
saying, "What's that name--
Usnavi, what's that?"
So we have to tell.
There might be some people who
get it immediately.
It's spelled U-S-N-A-V-I...
>> MIRANDA: Yeah.
>> HINOJOSA: ...but if you just
spell it U-S-N-A-V-Y...
>> MIRANDA: Correct.
>> HINOJOSA: ...it says...
>> MIRANDA: It's says "US Navy," and his
parents named him after the boat
they saw when they first got to
the United States.
>> HINOJOSA: Urban legend, or...
>> MIRANDA: Urban legend, but also
becoming a very popular name in
Florida with Dominican and Cuban
communities.
I heard the story from a friend
who works in Immigration, and I
said, "Well, that's too good."
>> HINOJOSA: Really?
Because I heard that story from
someone who had nothing to do
with... so it's true?
>> MIRANDA: No, it's becoming a thing.
There's a great book called The
Dirty Girl's Social Club by
Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez, and
there's a female character named
Usnavys in that, and it's "US
Navy" with a Y and an S at the
end.
It's the feminized version.
So it's really becoming a thing.
>> HINOJOSA: And... and seeing
someone like Corbin Bleu doing
that role, for you... I mean, I
know that what you say is you've
got your nights back.
>> MIRANDA: Yes!
>> HINOJOSA: You get to go home
at night.
>> MIRANDA: I sure do.
>> HINOJOSA: Because you were
working for a full year.
>> MIRANDA: Well, yeah.
Eight shows a week, your life
becomes about being at your peak
at 8:00 p.m., and 2:00 and 8:00
on the weekends, and I was
finding I didn't have time to
write anymore, because you're...
you're just thinking about 8:00
p.m. all day.
>> HINOJOSA: And so now you're
writing?
>> MIRANDA: I'm writing like crazy.
>> HINOJOSA: Really?
>> MIRANDA: Yeah.
>> HINOJOSA: Because you're kind
of busy.
>> MIRANDA: ( laughing ) I'm incredibly
busy!
>> HINOJOSA: You're incredibly
busy.
>> MIRANDA: Yeah, which is great.
>> HINOJOSA: You are... well,
let's see.
Right after you were in the
middle of finishing your role as
Usnavi, you started translating
songs of West Side Story.
>> MIRANDA: Yeah, I actually did that
while I was doing Usnavi, at the
same time.
>> HINOJOSA: And what I love is
that even though your primary...
your first language was English,
and your parents always sent you
back to Puerto Rico so you kept
the Spanish alive, and then now
you're actually translating into
Spanish.
>> MIRANDA: Yes, and it was such an
amazing process, and really, it
was... for me, the fun was it
was a bonding experience with my
dad, because, you know, my dad
moved here when he was 18 for
school, and so he was the same
age as these characters in West
Side Story, although he came
here for... under very different
circumstances.
But we learned a lot.
I learned a lot of vocabulary
from him; he learned how hard my
job is in terms of writing
lyrics.
You know, he would... he would
sit there with these thesauri
and he would say, "Well, what if
we did, ( speaking gibberish)?"
And I go, "That's great, dad,
but that's 15 syllables and we
have five, so we need to make it
fit here."
>> HINOJOSA: Oh!
>> MIRANDA: And we were rhyming English
with Spanish, and so, you know,
we had to find a rhyme for the
word "size."
En EspaÒol, there's no... yeah.
There about three words that do,
so we have to find a word that
rhymes with "size," we have
eight syllables, and the Sharks
are singing it to the Jets in
the quintet.
And so, you know, my dad... I
remember my mom telling me, you
know, "Your dad has a whole new
appreciation for how difficult
your job is because he's staying
up at night trying to think of
rhymes for 'size' in Spanish."
>> HINOJOSA: You... part of, I
think, why this... this show has
become so successful is because
you kind of confront what a lot
of young people are dealing
with-- this kind of bifurcated
existence.
Which is on the one hand, you
are completely Latino in your
home-- in your barrio, in your
neighborhood-- and then you
leave and you went to a very
high-performing public school...
>> MIRANDA: Yeah.
>> HINOJOSA: ...in Manhattan,
but it was like two different
worlds.
>> MIRANDA: Absolutely.
I mean, I commuted to... to a
low-middle class barrio, to the
richest zip code in the country
every day for school since
kindergarten.
You know, I would go from 200th
Street to 94th and Park, and so
I... I absorbed that schism so
early that it wasn't until
college and I stepped back from
it that I really gave myself
permission to write about it.
I'd written musicals before
Heights-- little one-act
musicals in high school-- but
I'd never written Latin music
before that.
I didn't know that that was fair
game to write about.
In my Sophomore year when I
wrote the show, I lived in a
Latino Program House at Wesleyan
with a bunch of other kids who
were just like me-- who grew up
with Marc Anthony and the
Thunder Cats.
And you know, it was the same
American, but then our own
special, you know, culture on
the side and language
on the side.
And writing about that schism
and getting to joke about that
with friends-- it was the first
time I had Latino friends my
age.
Because in Puerto Rico, I was
the gringo who spoke a really
badly-accented Spanish.
>> HINOJOSA: And you weren't
quite accepted in Puerto Rico.
>> MIRANDA: No, I... no, not at all.
>> HINOJOSA: You were a
gringo...
>> MIRANDA: I was a gringo, I hung out
with my grandparent's friends.
I am... you know, when I go to
Puerto Rico, I visit ( speaking
Spanish )
>> HINOJOSA: No!
>> MIRANDA: Those were my friends, those
were the people I hung out with,
those were the stars of my first
movies.
And so... so yeah, so my
Sophomore year of college was
the first time I really had
Latino friends my age and we
could make jokes about, you
know, Jerry Rivera and
Transformers, you know?
It's... and both those cultures.
>> HINOJOSA: You know, it was
interesting, because the
reviews... wonderful reviews,
but there were some people who
said, "This is so not realistic.
This is not what In The
Heights..." Washington Heights
is a neighborhood that went
through some rough times...
>> MIRANDA: Absolutely.
>> HINOJOSA: ...some serious
rough times-- major drug
dealing, turf battles, you
know...
>> MIRANDA: I was there in the 1980s, I
know all about it.
>> HINOJOSA: It was rough.
But people looked at your play
and they were like, "Well, this
isn't true."
And it's like, well, no,
actually, when you were growing
up, there was that, too.
Where it was a community, it was
warm place, it was a welcoming
place, it was a safe place.
>> MIRANDA: Yeah, I mean, though, I think
if you looked at mainstream
coverage of New York City, you
would think it ended at 96th
Street.
>> HINOJOSA: Right.
>> MIRANDA: You know, there's the Apollo
in Harlem, and then it ends.
So the only time we'd be on the
news is if there was a crime.
There's just no coverage.
And Washington Heights is home
to more small businesses than
any other part of New York City.
There's 3,000 small businesses
there.
>> HINOJOSA: This is a statistic
I did not know.
>> MIRANDA: So the fact that we can't
tell a story about, you know,
stores struggling to get by and
stay up on their rents?
That's another economic reality
that unfortunately, thanks to
our recession, I think, is more
relevant to our audience than I
think even when we first came
out.
But you know, the story of crime
and drugs, that's all over New
York, so you know, why can't...
why aren't we allowed to tell
those stories and why is it
unrealistic to tell the stories
of the other 23 and a half hours
of the day when there isn't a
crime taking place?
>> HINOJOSA: So the media,
again, becomes this way in which
we somehow envision these
places, and the media again, it
focuses on all this negativity.
You are now something of a major
player in the media.
>> MIRANDA: ( laughing )
>> HINOJOSA: Well, in the sense
that you've created something
that has impacted popular
culture and now it's going to be
made into a Universal movie...
>> MIRANDA: Yeah.
>> HINOJOSA: ...so what does
that feel like to know that
you're having an imprint on...
on the media, on how communities
are perceived?
>> MIRANDA: Well, it's... it's
gratifying... it's strange.
I mean, you can't think of
yourself like that.
You can't...
>> HINOJOSA: You don't walk
around like...
>> MIRANDA: ...you can't get out of bed
and be like, "I'm impacting the
media!"
>> HINOJOSA: "Today I'm going to
have an impact."
>> MIRANDA: "I'm going to have breakfast
and impact the media."
But... but it is... you know, I
always tell people, "Our
greatest blessing and our
greatest curse as Latinos in
theater is West Side Story.
And really, it swings both ways
in terms of I don't know a
Latino who hasn't been in that
production.
It's our foot in the door; it's
also a... it happens to be a
masterpiece of storytelling.
However, it did its job so well
that the iconic... you know, if
you had never heard of Puerto
Rico or Puerto Ricans, you'd
probably heard of West Side
Story and your image is of a
guy with a makeup of a color not
found in nature with a knife in
his hand.
And it's so... it's become so
iconic that that's what they
think of when they think of us.
And so what has been gratifying
about the success of Heights is
that it's allowed for an
alternative image to flourish,
particularly in theater, of who
we are.
>> HINOJOSA: So I was telling
you the story about my husband
who is a Dominican immigrant,
and when I told him that we were
going to go see In The Heights
off Broadway, and he was like,
"You know what?
I've done the musicals on
Broadway, I don't need to see
another one; they're all the
same."
And I was like, "You've got to
come."
And he started crying from the
first moment that you hit the
stage and probably didn't end
crying until the very last
scene.
And I have heard this story from
many, many people-- that they
are sitting in their seats
crying as they're watching
In The Heights.
>> MIRANDA: ( laughing )
>> HINOJOSA: What does that... I
mean, that must just...
>> MIRANDA: It's unreal.
I... it's really unreal, and...
you know, I... I'm a theater
kid.
We didn't get to go to much
theater as a kid, but I remember
seeing Rent at 17, and crying
like your husband did at our
show, because I'd always loved
musicals-- I love music-- and I
didn't know you were allowed to
write musicals about now.
It just... it had never occurred
to me.
You know, I'd seen musicals in
opera houses, I was in Pirate of
Penzance like your son, and...
and it always took place in some
other place, in some faraway
land, and these were kids
struggling to make a life for
themselves through their art and
living and dying, and it hit me
like a ton of bricks.
And that's when I started
writing, because it just... it
tacitly gave me permission.
And for me, the most fun from my
time performing in the show was
when we would have school
groups, and we'd have kids from
the South Bronx, the Dominican
Republic.
And I would say, "Dominican
Republic," and you couldn't hear
the next five bars...
>> HINOJOSA: Oh, they'd be...
>> MIRANDA: ...because kids would scream
so loud.
I think if I had seen In The
Heights when I was a kid, I'd
be President of the United
States right now.
It's just sort of... it's
just... you know, it was...
it's... I watch it impacting
these kids and seeing
themselves, and that's so
enormously validating.
It's... it's really the best
part of the thing.
>> HINOJOSA: How did you know
that you could trust your voice?
How did you know... I mean, I
know that your dad was
the president of the Debbie
Reynolds club...
>> MIRANDA: ( laughing )
Yes, that's true.
>> HINOJOSA: ...okay, so I know
you grew up also watching
musicals, but how did you know
that you could do this?
Where did you learn how to trust
that, "Yeah, I'm going to put
pen in hand and I'm going to
start writing a musical"?
>> MIRANDA: I... I was lucky enough to be
encouraged by people who were
not family.
I had an eighth grade English
teacher named Rembert Herbert--
he still teaches at Hunter-- and
we had a class assignment for
school, and we were teaching
Chaim Potok's The Chosen.
And we had to present three
chapters, and I took charge of
our group and I wrote a song
based on each chapter.
And I was such a control freak
that I made the other kids in
the group lip sync to my voice
on tape.
And Dr. Herbert-- you know, I'd
been lounging, doodling in the
back of the class-- and he said,
"You've been hibernating in my
class and this is amazing, and
you're a writer, and that's what
you've been doing in the back of
my class instead of paying
attention."
>> HINOJOSA: Oh, my gosh.
>> MIRANDA: And it was the first time
someone who wasn't related to me
said, "You're good at this
thing."
And that was enormously
empowering, and I started
writing that year.
>> HINOJOSA: So do... did you
worry, though, about the fact
that, you know, there have been
other Latino-produced or
Latino-centric productions on
Broadway that didn't go so well?
>> MIRANDA: My heart broke with each one
of them.
And I think that's part of the
impetus... that as part of the
impetus to begin writing.
I saw, you know, The Capeman
came out my Senior year in high
school, and it was written by
one of my favorite songwriters
of all time...
>> HINOJOSA: Paul Simon.
>> MIRANDA: ...and starred two of my
other favorite songwriters of
all time...
>> HINOJOSA: Marc Anthony...
>> MIRANDA: ...and Ruben Blades.
And I went into that thinking,
"This is going to be my dream
musical."
And it got killed by the
critics.
The score was gorgeous; it got
killed by the critics and it
closed after 68 performances.
I saw it three times in
previews.
And the cold, hard thud of
reality set in-- "No one's going
to write your dream show for
you, Papa," you know?
"No one's going to write that
dream... it doesn't exist unless
you make it."
And I spent two years editing
Capeman in my head.
I remember thinking, "Well, if
you start it in the 1950s and
you just tell that part of the
story," or, "if you start in
prison and maybe you do a
flashback," you know, I tried to
fix that show before I started
writing my own.
>> HINOJOSA: On the subway, you
were doing this?
>> MIRANDA: ( laughing ) On the subway,
yes.
>> HINOJOSA: All right, so big,
big changes for you.
Hollywood-- wow.
>> MIRANDA: Yeah.
>> HINOJOSA: And I told you, I
asked you, "Are you moving to
Hollywood?"
You said, "No, no, I have an
apartment north of the Heights."
>> MIRANDA: Yeah, I do, I do.
I live uptown, and you know, for
me it's just logistical.
I do most of my writing on the
subway.
I find it's the perfect mix of
being able to interact with the
world and be closed off, so any
time I'm in L.A.-- like when I
had to shoot my episode of
House-- any time driving feels
like lost time.
That's... that's my writing time
is commuting time.
So you know, I... I participate
in that world as much as is
necessary, and then I go home.
>> HINOJOSA: You're a producer
of a Hollywood film.
>> MIRANDA: ( laughing ) Well...
>> HINOJOSA: I'm sorry, I just
have to say that.
>> MIRANDA: I'm a co-producer.
>> HINOJOSA: Okay, you're a
co-producer... all right, well,
let's just say you are producing
a major Hollywood film in a
team...
>> MIRANDA: When you say it like that
it's terrifying!
( laughing )
>> HINOJOSA: Well, I want to
know if it's terrifying.
I mean, how do you... I mean,
suddenly you're like,
negotiating Hollywood
executives.
And not one, but a room full.
How do you like, kind of say,
"No, it's going to stay this
way," when you've got other
people saying, "No," and "you
must," and "you've got to
change," and "we've tested
this," and "we've screened
this"...
>> MIRANDA: Well, I have the luxury of
great collaborators.
You know, our producer Meryl
Poster saw us very early off
Broadway and really champions
the show very early on.
And Kenny Ortega is a fantastic
collaborator, and...
>> HINOJOSA: And just so we
don't... in case people don't
know, Kenny Ortega of... let's
see, High School Musical fame,
of...
>> MIRANDA: ...Newsies, my favorite;
Michael Jackson's This Is It...
>> HINOJOSA: Michael Jackson
This Is It, an amazing...
>> MIRANDA: Yeah, choreographed Dirty
Dancing and Footloose; I mean,
has just unbelievable history.
>> HINOJOSA: One of your heroes,
right?
>> MIRANDA: Yeah, absolutely.
>> HINOJOSA: And now you're
working with him.
>> MIRANDA: Yeah.
It's... it's... I mean, it's
quite literally a dream come
true.
So I mean, to answer your
question, I have people who are
very protective of the work
working with me, and I also, I
feel like my... my reason for
being in the room is, you know,
I helped to write this thing and
I have been with it for going on
11 years.
So you know, I'm sure there are
people who know more about the
movie making business than me,
but there's no one who knows
more about this story and these
characters than me.
And so that's... that's my way
in.
>> HINOJOSA: And you will be
playing Usnavi.
>> MIRANDA: Yeah.
>> HINOJOSA: Oh, my God!
>> MIRANDA: I have to go to the gym.
>> HINOJOSA: You have to get
back to the gym.
>> MIRANDA: I've been sitting on the
couch, writing.
>> HINOJOSA: What are writing
about?
>> MIRANDA: I am writing a lot of things.
I'm going to probably write
couple of new songs for the
movie, and I'm working on...
>> HINOJOSA: You know, I'm
still... I'm kind of like, wow,
you have been doing this for 11
years and you still have the
capacity to write a new song...
>> MIRANDA: Well, it...
>> HINOJOSA: ...about this story
that's...
>> MIRANDA: Well, you know, it's... it
sounds like we've been working
on the same story for eight
years, but really, that was the
process of me going from having
a good idea and not really
having the craft to pull it off
yet to getting to be a good
writer and that practice.
So I have a trunk full of music
already, and also, you know,
just... it's... I know these
characters backwards and
forwards at this point, so it's
very easy to slip into their
skin.
But the fun of writing for
musicals is it's acting.
You put on someone else's
clothes, you sit in someone
else's pantolone, and you talk
to yourself until it feels true.
And if it feels true and it
sounds... sings well, you write
it down.
It's not much more complicated
than that.
>> HINOJOSA: ( laughing )
>> MIRANDA: And so, you know, right now
I'm working on an animated film
for DreamWorks, I'm writing a
score for an animated movie, and
so I get to be a Cuban monkey
every once in a while.
( laughing ) And that is a
blast!
>> HINOJOSA: How do you switch
it off?
Like...
>> MIRANDA: You... you kind of don't, and
you know, my fiancÈe Vanessa...
>> HINOJOSA: Congratulations, by
the way.
>> MIRANDA: Thank you, thank you.
And she'll... she'll see me get
an idea and I look like I'm
having some sort of episode,
because I just... I go... I'll
stop and I'll... talking to
myself.
I get my Rain Man on, and
then... and she knows to just
kind of like, "Oh, he's... he's
in a thing," and she goes and
does something else until I've
written it down.
>> HINOJOSA: And you're writing
by hand sometimes?
>> MIRANDA: It depends.
I catch it any way I can catch
it.
A lot of the time when I'm
composing, I'll write... I'll
use Logic, which is a great
program, and so I play each part
into the computer and it's freed
me up enormously since that
technology came out.
I used to write by hand-- I
wrote the entire first draft by
hand and I wrote out all the
parts by hand, but I'm very slow
at it.
I can read and write music, but
I'm just very slow.
So technology has helped the
speed at which I can write and
the specific... the specificity
with which I can write
enormously.
But yeah, I... I often will
write until I have a chord
progression or a melody I'm
really crazy about, and then
I'll put it on my iPod and I'll
get on the train and I'll talk
to myself.
And I'll play the thing on a...
>> HINOJOSA: On the train?
>> MIRANDA: ...on a loop-- yeah.
I'm... that crazy guy next to
you on the train?
That's me!
>> HINOJOSA: Okay, good to know.
>> MIRANDA: And then I'll have it on a
loop and I'll just kind of let
it sort of sink in and then
figure out how this thing wants
to talk.
>> HINOJOSA: So your dream has
kind of come true two or three
times over.
>> MIRANDA: Yeah.
>> HINOJOSA: What are you
dreaming about these days?
Or do... do you, I mean... or it
is about Vanessa?
>> MIRANDA: ( laughing ) Well, it's
always.
But well, you know, Vanessa and
I went to high school together,
so I've been... I've been
dreaming about her for a minute
now.
>> HINOJOSA: Yay!
>> MIRANDA: But the... it's a lot of
things.
I think what's really exciting
about writing is it's just...
it's limitless, you know?
I'm working on a lot of
different things and they're
using different parts of my
brain.
You know, I'm working on this
Hamilton mix tape-- this
Alexander Hamilton concept album
that I got to sing... I got to
perform at the White House.
>> HINOJOSA: Right.
A friend of Michelle and the
Prez...
>> MIRANDA: Yeah, which was... and that
was the first time I'd performed
that song in public outside of
the shower.
So it was really terrifying and
thrilling and amazing.
But you know, that is...
requires all this historical
research and this part of my
brain that has long laid dormant
in terms of, you know, being
accurate historically while
getting to really play with
contemporary music.
And then you know, slipping back
into my old Heights bathrobe and
writing those songs.
So the fun for me is in trying
to get as much done as I can.
>> HINOJOSA: But more can you
dream about?
I mean, if you already have a
play on Broadway that's been a
success and it's going to be
made into a Hollywood movie,
kind of what... you know, what's
like, the next thing?
>> MIRANDA: Well, you know, you just
continue to... I think the goal
of any writer is to continue to
find stories that move you,
and... whether they're self
generated or you hook into
something, you know?
Like, when I read Hamilton's
biography, I... you know, I'm
not a found... you know... it's
a different type of
identification than In The
Heights, which is, you know,
I'm Latino, I grew up in Upper
Manhattan.
Like, I'm not a founding father,
but I read Hamilton's story and
I said, "I know that guy, I just
know that guy and I know how he
thinks and why he was so
brilliant and ambitious but also
self destructive, and the
childhood that fed that," and it
just... just spoke to me.
And so that's how you do it.
You just hook in.
>> HINOJOSA: I'm interested, so
we'll be looking forward to it.
Lin-Manuel, congratulations.
>> MIRANDA: Thank you very much.
Continue the conversation at
wgbh.org/oneonone.
Captioned by
Media Access Group at WGBH
access.wgbh.org
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