It was during his sophomore year at Connecticut’s Wesleyan University when a 19-year-old would begin writing the first draft of a play that would forever change his life. Lin-Manuel Miranda, now 30-years-old, created In the Heights, a musical based on the Latin-dominated Washington Heights neighborhood in Manhattan where residents love, laugh, and endure the economical challenges of living their dreams. The show, which features both rap and salsa, debuted on Broadway in 2008 and would quickly become a smash hit. Since then, Miranda has won countless awards, including a Tony for “Best Original Score.” If that’s not enough, the Puerto Rican playwright is set on starring in the film adaptation of his masterpiece, which will be directed by Hollywood director Kenny Ortega early next year. While traveling uptown where he currently resides, Miranda chats with nocheLatina about his many inspirations, performing in Los Angeles, and what the future holds for Washington Heights.
nocheLatina: I read that you were involved with NOH8. Why was it important for you and the cast to participate in that campaign?
Lin-Manuel Miranda: We have a crew member, Rick Caroto, an amazing guy who does hair and wigs for our show. While we were working on In the Heights, he reached out to photographer Adam Bouska. Rick then asked if I wanted to be involved with the campaign. I’m a big supporter of people being in love and doing whatever they want, so I was only too happy to be involved.
nocheLatina: Who continues to be a major inspiration for you?
Lin-Manuel Miranda: Oh gosh, that depends on what realm you’re talking about. You mean the entertainment route or in life?
nocheLatina: Well, when you think of someone who truly inspires you, who’s the first person that comes to mind instantly?
Lin Manuel Miranda: The first person who comes to mind…see here’s the tricky thing, when you’re a writer you get inspired for a living. The more things that inspire you, the better your writing comes off. I’ll give you an example. I just got off the train and there were two different mariachi groups playing while I was on it. One was this guy who had a guitar and a harmonica. He was doing Bob Dylan, but in English, which isn’t his first language. He was singing, ‘The answer my friend is blowin’ in the wind,’ and it just knocked me out. And then there was another mariachi band and it was the deepest one I’ve ever seen. There were like five guys and usually there’s just two. I had a really stimulating 1 train ride and that was inspiring in its way. In terms of people who inspire me in my career, I think a lot about Ruben Blades. He’s someone who writes amazing songs, acts in movies, and gets involved with causes he believes in. He’s the smartest guy in the room no matter which room he’s in. In the musical theater realm there’s Stephen Sondheim, Stephen Schwartz, and John Kander. These are all amazing writers. If I write songs as half as good as them I’ll be in really good shape.
nocheLatina: There has been many rumors surrounding the upcoming film adaptation of In the Heights. What can you tell us about the movie?
Lin-Manuel Miranda: There a lot of rumors because we don’t have a lot of facts. I personally can tell you the only person whose cast is me. It’s fun to speculate. When I was writing this draft at 19 there was a whole different cast for all the characters in the first 80-minute one act in my head. It’s only natural. Who would play you in the movie version of your life? We always ask that question and it’s really fun. Until we have a firm schedule, no casting is going to happen, so we can just play.
nocheLatina: I heard you were thinking of casting Betty White as the abuela.
Lin-Manuel Miranda: I think everyone is trying to get Betty White in everything right now, right? I was sort of joking, but I do love me some Betty White. I watch Lifetime just for ‘The Golden Girls’ reruns.
nocheLatina: What are your thoughts on Washington Heights changing and becoming a trendier neighborhood to live in?
Lin-Manuel Miranda: I think that’s the story of New York and it’s a complicated one. My goal with In the Heights is to paint the neighborhood as it is now and how it once was. A lot of the places that I was using as inspiration existed in my childhood, but aren’t around anymore. When you think about it, the history of musical theater based on neighborhoods that have changed is interesting. Like in West Side Story, that opening rumble is where Lincoln Center now exists, which was the slums of Hell’s Kitchen. I think a lot of the village that Jonathan Larson wrote about in Rent doesn’t exist anymore. Washington Heights is already changing. The block has changed by the time the show ends, but people will know that it was an immigrant neighborhood. Even before it was a Latino immigrant neighborhood, it was an Irish and Italian and Russian-Jewish immigrant neighborhood. I hope it stays that way to some extent.
nocheLatina: You stated in a past interview that you moved out of Washington Heights because the rent was becoming too high. Do you ever see yourself living in the Heights again?
Lin-Manuel Miranda: Oh I moved back to Inwood. That happened to me when we were Off-Broadway. Our lease was up and the rent got hiked majorly. I moved downtown and lived there for the run of the show. I was so homesick, I can’t even tell you. I lived closer to the theater, walking distance, but I didn’t have the neighborhood I knew. I didn’t have a bodega. I don’t know how people live in New York without a bodega on the corner. To me there’s a reason the bodega is the central point of our story. It’s not where you go to get the big ticket items. It’s where you go to get what you need to get by. I moved back uptown two weeks before I left In the Heights on Broadway.
nocheLatina: A lot of people would want to live in the epicenter of the theater world, but you chose to move back to your old neighborhood.
Lin-Manuel Miranda: Well, I had a year there and I missed taking the train. I’m used to having a half hour to collect my thoughts before interacting with anyone. I need that A stop, that 125th to 59th Street, I need that 1 local, which is actually faster in a lot of ways. I like having that mental space from the rest of the action. It can stink if you’re out late at night and you gotta take a long ride home, but for the most part it’s worth it.
Noche Latina: How did audiences in Los Angeles respond to In the Heights?
Lin-Manuel Miranda: It was a fucking rock concert. The energy felt like when we opened on Broadway. I love the entertainment that happens in LA so much. We won the TONY two years before, but it’s almost like it wasn’t real until we got there. It was just amazing and contagious. We had full, boisterous houses every night and loud, vocal applauses. It was fun meeting people who would say, ‘I go to a lot of theater and the reactions are rarely like this.’ It was great for me as an actor too because I didn’t have to worry. The first time I was acting in the show I was thinking, ‘Oh, I hope we do well, I hope we get good reviews, I have to re-write the song.’ I just wanted to have as much fun as possible. It was kind of freeing in a way to just perform for the sake of it.
nocheLatina: What is it about musical theater that keeps you going as an artist?
Lin-Manuel Miranda: I honestly think if you’re a songwriter it’s the most collaborative way of working because songs are just a part of a larger puzzle. What’s funny about musical theater is that it’s not one art form, its 14 art forms smashed together. I tell people if you don’t like collaborating don’t go into musical theater because that’s just not how it works. If you want to write songs and see them pure and untouched, go write an album and release it yourself. I like working with smart people who can make my work better. I was lucky enough to have that with In the Heights. Hopefully, I’ll be able to continue doing that with all of my future projects.
nocheLatina: You’ve done In the Heights for years now, what’s next for you?
Lin-Manuel Miranda: I’m co-writing the score for a new musical adaptation of the Bring It On franchise with Tom Kitt, who also wrote Next to Normal. Andy Blankenbuehler, who was our choreographer on In the Heights, is directing it. We do a workshop that opens in January of next year in Atlanta. Then we’ll sort of tour the country. Andy is such a gifted choreographer that when he said he wanted two cheerleaders in Bring It On I was like, ‘Well, wanna see what Andy and two cheerleaders look like?’ I wanted to be in that room. You go home to write, but all the fun of making musicals happen when you’re in the room together and making each other better.
