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Lin Manuel Miranda Influence

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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.

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