Lin-Manuel Miranda and His Influence on Modern Musical Theatre Many people would consider Tony Award winning composer, lyricist, and actor Lin-Manuel Miranda a genius. With his musicals In the Heights and Hamilton, Miranda has been able to relate to modern audiences. His innovative uses of hip-hop, diverse casts, and commentary about race and immigration in his musicals allow his works to stand out amongst other modern Broadway shows. A large contribution to Miranda’s ability to write such powerful and original musicals is his upbringing. Lin-Manuel Miranda was born to Dominican immigrants. His father came to the United States at the age of 18 without knowing the English language in order to receive his post-doctorate education at New York …show more content…
Miranda wrote this musical because he knew that there weren’t many roles for Latino/a actors that existed in musical theatre for him as an actor, and that scared him. Similarly, Miranda created roles for people of color in his musical Hamilton, which premiered on Broadway in 2015. This musical tells the story of founding father Alexander Hamilton. The characters that are portrayed in Hamilton, who were based off of real people, were all white in real life. Miranda chose to have them played by people of color, however, to make the story more relatable and accessible to a contemporary audience (Miranda). Often times people put the founding fathers on a pedestal,but Hamilton portrays them in a relatable, humanistic light. The fact that the cast consists of people of color furthers the audience connection to the story because America today is racially diverse; audiences wouldn’t be able to connect to the story as well if the actors were all white because that is not the America that the audiences are familiar with. People of color can now view themselves as a part of American history through Hamilton’s diverse casting. In history class, many people of color cannot personally relate to the information taught because a majority of American history was written from a white perspective. Hamilton allows people of color to feel like they are an …show more content…
Perf. Lin Manuel Miranda. Youtube. CBS, 8 Mar. 2015. Web. 11 Dec. 2015.
Hip-hop and History Blend for Broadway Hit ‘Hamilton’. Perf. Lin Manuel Miranda and Jeffery Brown. Youtube. PBS NewsHour, 20 Nov. 2015. Web. 11 Dec. 2015.
In The Heights – Chasing Broadway Dreams. Perf. Lin-Manuel Miranda. Youtube. videosfordiversity's Channel, 9 Dec. 2011. Web. 11
James, Kendra. "Race, Immigration, and Hamilton: The Relevance of Lin-Manuel Miranda's New Musical - The Toast." The Toast. The Toast, 01 Oct. 2015. Web. 11 Dec. 2015.
Kaplan, Janice. "What Made Lin-Manuel Miranda the $625,000 ‘Genius’ Behind ‘Hamilton’?" The Daily Beast. Newsweek/Daily Beast, 29 Sept. 2015. Web. 11 Dec. 2015.
Miranda, Lin-Manuel. "'Hamilton's' Lin-Manuel Miranda on Finding Originality, Racial Politics (and Why Trump Should See His Show)." The Hollywood Reporter. Ed. Frank DGiacomo. The Hollywood Reporter, 12 Aug. 2015. Web. 11 Dec. 2015.
Snyder, Thomas J. "SPOTLIGHT: Lin-Manuel Miranda" The Harvard Crimson. The Harvard Crimson, 13 Apr. 2010. Web. 11 Dec. 2015.
Vozick-Levinson, Simon. "Revolution on Broadway: Inside Hip-Hop History Musical 'Hamilton'" Rolling Stone. Rolling Stone, 6 Aug. 2015. Web. 11 Dec.
Ernesto Arturo Miranda was born on March 9th 1941 in Mesa, Arizona. Miranda had a rough childhood and constantly acted out in school due to losing his mother at a young age and having a bad relationship with his father. Miranda was criminally convicted for the first time during his eighth grade year and in the following year, convicted of burglary. Due to his charges, Miranda was sentenced to reform school, only to be released in 1956. After being locked up for two years the eighteen year old traveled back to his home state, Arizona, and kept busy working for various companies until he became a laborer on a night loading dock for a Phoenix company.
Les Miserables’s “Drink With Me” directly parallels to Hamilton’s “Story of Tonight.” Both carry themes of brotherhood and comradery in the face of impending war. Even Hamilton’s villain song mirrors that of Les Miserables; so much so that Leslie Odom Jr., who in
Rachel Rodriguez is a singer-songwriter who blends together her Latino heritage, rock n roll attitude, and soulful voice to give her a unique sound. She has released her own self-titled album “Rachel Rodriguez” as well as a bilingual children’s album titled “Songs for My Little Amigos”. Her schedule includes performing with her band, teaching Creative Movement & Music in schools around Nashville, and being a wife and mother. Through an interview with Rodriguez, I was able to get a better understanding of her background, the role music plays in her life, and what she loves about what she does.
GREAT TRIBUTE A JUAN GABRIEL: Juan Gabriel , whose real name was Alberto Aguilera Valadez , was born on January 7 1950 in Parácuaro , a town in the state of Michoacan , but as a child his family moved to Juarez in Chihuahua , where he was placed in an orphanage because her mother I could not keep it . It was there where he learned music and years later he could turn around a difficult childhood to become an icon of Mexican music , composer of hundreds of songs over the past four decades have been performed by world-class artists .
The decision by Lin-Manuel Miranda to portray Alexander Hamilton to be of a minority race is quite interesting and it symbolizes the theme for the entirety of the play. Miranda’s creation of the play is further explained in “Alexander Hamilton as an Immigrant” an article that states, “Miranda notably uses his production to cultivate a laudatory personal dimension in his portrayal of its historical subject matter. Throughout the production, he emphasizes the story of Hamilton as a self-made immigrant…” (Magness 497). This quote gives readers an insight to Miranda’s reasoning for playing the role of Alexander Hamilton as a Hispanic man.
Where do we draw the lines between adoration and mockery, influence and appropriation, and individuality and stereotyping? Accordingly, the racial subject has always been a touchy topic to discuss, but with the lasting effects that the black minstrelsy has left in the society, we most definitely need to deal with the racial subject. Only this way can the American society move forward both as a nation and as a species, and through such efforts, only then can we ensure that such history can never repeat
The film “Dear White People” written and produced by Justin Simien is based on a campus culture war at an ivy league University. The University mainly consisting of white students causes mayhem when a Halloween party occurs and actions take things too far. Justin focused on four black students, their encounters and interactions with their peers. One character in particular brings me to my topic of race. Samantha White, a biracial student who is set on fixing things on campus between white and black students.
Andrew Lloyd Webber has become a household name throughout the entire world. Not only do people flock to see his shows, but the pure fact that people outside of the theatre world know the composer of certain musicals is an accomplishment in itself. He has changed the musical theatre world. Some call him a “Broadway master” because his musical Phantom of the Opera surpassed his own record for the musical Cats to now hold the record for the longest running musical on Broadway as well as London’s West End ( Snelson 1).
Lin-Manuel Miranda has taken many unlikely things, like hip-hop, American history, theater and music, and put them all into one event. This way, people who like only one of those things can all enjoy his performances and now very different people can now relate with each other better. So if one person hates hip-hop, but loves theater, they will still be able to enjoy it, and they will have a reason to go to the performance. Lin-Manuel Miranda has brought many audiences and people closer together by combining many things together. Lin-Manuel Miranda has really revolutionized American culture, theater, music and entertainment.
The orchestra maintained the musical score and provided ornamentation and emphasized the melodic contour of the singer’s vocal line. Without reading the subtitles, there is such emotion and energy in the male singer’s performance that it is easy to see, along with the physical positioning and facial expressions of the female performer, that there is an impassioned dialogue being given from him to
After viewing Episode 2 “The Story We Tell” and reading over the Ten Things Everyone Should Know about Race, I came to realized one main point of the video and article caused me to question what I believed about race. Growing up I was only taught about significant historical events involving race but never about race specifically. Thus, the idea that “race and freedom were born together” sparked interest in my mind. Through watching the video, I learned that while American was primarily founded on the fact that “All men are created equal” it never truly defines what being a “man” entails. The video goes on in saying that in regards to the Declaration of Independence, slaves were not necessarily considered “men”.
Victor Villasenor was born on May 11th, 1940 in Carlsbad, California where his parents had settled down after immigrating from Mexico. He grew up on a ranch with his four siblings in Oceanside where they only spoke spanish until they went to school. Because Victor only spoke spanish he was bullied by teachers and students alike for his heritage and inability to do well in school. Being bullied and ridiculed when he was a child is why Villasenor was insecure about where he came from and who he was, and inevitably shaped him into who he was in and out of school. Villasenor did poorly in school because he had trouble with English and reading he primarily got all D’s and F’s, and had to retake third and fourth grade because he flunked, which resulted with him resorting to cheating the rest of his academic career.
An American Musical and 1776 are both critically acclaimed musicals; however, despite covering the same historical period, they do so with differences. To begin, Hamilton and 1776 each contain a handful of historical inaccuracies to either further the plot or to make writing more convenient for the playwright. The main point where Hamilton strays from history is that every lead character in the show is played by a person of color, whereas, historically all of the people portrayed were white. Also, Angelica Schuyler, Alexander Hamilton’s sister-in-law with whom he had an emotional affair with, was already married when the two met. In the show, Angelica gets married after her sister, Eliza Schuyler, and Hamilton are already married.
Hamilton is a particularly emotionally charged piece, as it deals with themes of love, loss, ambition, and tragedy. For instance, the song "It's Quiet Uptown" offers a moving portrayal of grief in the aftermath of a terrible family tragedy. This song and others like it make audiences experience powerful emotions that resonate with them long after the performance. In this way, the musical makes a compelling emotional appeal to its audience, which bolsters its persuasive
The 19th century’s huge theatrical evolution included many drastic changes, most notably, the inclusion of black theatre troupes to form. The emergence of this is a huge influence in today’s theatre. Hanners mentions the importance of the black theatre troupe by saying, “The ability of black troupes to establish a foothold in American show business, the period of the minstrel show remains one of America’s great artistic and social tragedies” (Hanners 33). The emergence of black troupes made way for incredible black actors and performers, most notably Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, the black tap-artist who starred alongside