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Speaker 1: Joseph. Today we have a new icon.

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Speaker 2: Another one, Wait, did I just sound like DJ College?

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Speaker 1: There I wasn't listening? Do it again?

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Speaker 2: And another one.

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Speaker 1: A little worse flavor good again?

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Speaker 3: Another one there, you just sounded like happy Joseph. But

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Speaker 3: today we are talking about my fellow Brigua Lynn Menuel Miranda.

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Speaker 3: In one of our JLO episodes, we talked a little

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Speaker 3: bit about musicals and our shared love for them.

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Speaker 2: Chicago changed my life.

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Speaker 3: I know, I know, and Rent is one of the

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Speaker 3: core reasons I even imagined a life for myself in

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Speaker 3: New York City five hundred and twenty five thousand and

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Speaker 3: six hundred minutes.

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Speaker 2: How about love?

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Speaker 1: Wait?

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Speaker 2: What?

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Speaker 1: Why do you sound so good?

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Speaker 2: I'm a singer, bitch.

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Speaker 1: Are you taking voice?

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Speaker 2: Yes?

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Speaker 3: Okay, Wait a second, I need my phones. I'm making

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Speaker 3: a RESI for karaoke right now.

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Speaker 1: Okay. So for you, it was Chicago. For me, it

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Speaker 1: was Rent.

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Speaker 3: Those musicals undeniably changed Broadway and Linn Minol Miranda, well,

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Speaker 3: he's responsible.

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Speaker 2: For I know what you're going to say.

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Speaker 3: In the Heights. I got you, didn't I you did,

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Speaker 3: And don't worry hammil fans. It is all coming up

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Speaker 3: in our next episode. So far on Icons, we've talked

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Speaker 3: about Bad Bunny, how he refused to conform, and how

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Speaker 3: he's broken records and shattered stereotypes along the way. We

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Speaker 3: talked about Jennifer Lopez and how her career has inspired.

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Speaker 1: So many young Latinas.

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Speaker 2: And Cardi B and how she shows all women that

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Speaker 2: there's always a path to success.

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Speaker 3: Yes, girl, But now we get to talk about Lynn,

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Speaker 3: how he reimagined and then completely revolutionized Broadway and not

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Speaker 3: just how it sounds, but more importantly, how it looks.

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Speaker 3: What we're about to say isn't breaking news, but Joseph

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Speaker 3: and I, well, we always keep it one hundred on

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Speaker 3: the show, so let's just say it.

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Speaker 1: Broadway is.

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Speaker 2: White. As white as Kenny Chesney's concert in a snowstorm,

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Speaker 2: as white as Karen's chicken at the cookout, whiter than

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Speaker 2: fans of Yellowstone, Wider than a Civil War reenactment.

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Speaker 1: Exactly, it's really white. But that was all.

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Speaker 3: Before Lynn, before he made his way from the top

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Speaker 3: of Manhattan to the Theater District, then out here to

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Speaker 3: where I am in Lalla Land, and along the way,

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Speaker 3: earning the Genius Grant from the MacArthur Fellows Program, a Pulitzer,

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Speaker 3: Grammy's too many Tonys to count, and a few oscar noobs.

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Speaker 2: Oh shit, He's just the o away from the ecodes.

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Speaker 3: On Today is Becoming an Icon lin Manuel, Miranda, the

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Speaker 3: boy from the Heights.

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Speaker 1: I'm your host, Lilianavosquez.

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Speaker 2: And I'm Joseph Carrio and this is Becoming an Icon a.

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Speaker 3: Weekly podcast where we give you the rundown on how

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Speaker 3: today's most famous LATINX stars have shaped pop culture.

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Speaker 2: And given the world some extras.

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Speaker 1: Lebt, sit back and get comfortable.

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Speaker 2: Because we are going in the only.

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Speaker 3: Way we know how, with buenas Hi, bunasriesas, and a

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Speaker 3: lot of opinions as we relive their greatest achievements on

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Speaker 3: our journey to find out what makes them so iconic.

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Speaker 2: Okay, Lil's what are your first thoughts on Lynn?

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Speaker 3: That is is completely unfair, how fucking talented he is.

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Speaker 3: I'm in awe of somebody like lin Manuel, because you know,

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Speaker 3: in theater or in this industry, you always hear of

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Speaker 3: like Triple Threat.

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Speaker 1: Right. Oh, they can sing, they can dance, they can act,

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Speaker 1: but you throw in there.

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Speaker 2: Wait, I thought you were talking about me. I'm sorry, sorry,

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Speaker 2: we know.

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Speaker 1: That's a triple threat. You and Lann are in the

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Speaker 1: same category. Let's just keep it real, you know what

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Speaker 1: I mean.

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Speaker 3: But I think with Lynne goes beyond what he gives

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Speaker 3: you on stage, Like, yes, he can sing, he can act,

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Speaker 3: he can dance, he can rap, he can perform, he

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Speaker 3: can write, he can produce, he can compose. I actually

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Speaker 3: asked him this in an interview. I was like, what

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Speaker 3: can you not do? And He's like, sometimes entertain my children,

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Speaker 3: which I think is really funny because all parents feel that, right,

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Speaker 3: Like sometimes you just show up a little short for

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Speaker 3: your kids. They don't think you're funny, they don't think

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Speaker 3: you're a superstar. You're just dad, and sometimes you're just annoying.

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Speaker 3: So for me, he wears all of those hats. You know,

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Speaker 3: he's also an incredible activist.

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Speaker 1: I mean, I could go.

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Speaker 3: On and on and on about how much immense respect

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Speaker 3: and all I have for this man.

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Speaker 2: In The Heights, I loved it because it was just

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Speaker 2: so different. Yeah, and I got to work with some

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Speaker 2: of the actresses in it, so I was watching it

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Speaker 2: even more in the movie and then the Broadway.

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Speaker 3: Well, what's interesting is you seen in the Heights the

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Speaker 3: musical you have not seen Hamilton the Musical. I have

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Speaker 3: seen Hamilton the Musical, but I have never seen In

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Speaker 3: the Heights of the Musical. I've only seen the movie,

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Speaker 3: which I think is interesting because I think it's how

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Speaker 3: a lot of people have processed so much of Lynn's career.

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Speaker 3: It's the easiest way to process it, because tickets for

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Speaker 3: both I think were nearly impossible to get. People were

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Speaker 3: paying like thousands and thousands of dollars insane in svanity.

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Speaker 1: But you know, when you look at both of these.

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Speaker 3: Works, at the heart of both of them is New

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Speaker 3: York City, right in the Heights and also Hamilton. And

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Speaker 3: I think when a lot of people think about the

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Speaker 3: American Revolution, they naturally think of Boston.

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Speaker 1: They're not thinking about New York City.

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Speaker 2: Do you know a lot of people that think about

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Speaker 2: the American Revolution like of our friends.

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Speaker 1: I don't know.

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Speaker 3: I don't know why that came out like that, as

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Speaker 3: if I'm some kind of like American Revolution scholar.

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Speaker 2: I was about to be like, what's going on.

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Speaker 3: Yes, I'm doing a masters in early American Revolution historical figures.

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Speaker 2: I'm here for it.

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Speaker 1: I was just making a point, thank you very much.

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Speaker 3: But anyways, two things that are always close to Lyn's heart.

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Speaker 1: New York and Puerto Rico has two homes.

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Speaker 3: Lynn was born in New York City and grew up

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Speaker 3: in Inwood And I'll save you the Google search so

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Speaker 3: you don't have to turn away from our podcast. In

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Speaker 3: Wood is like at the very very tippy top of

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Speaker 3: the island of Manhattan.

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Speaker 2: Like the tippy top. It's where you end up when

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Speaker 2: you drink way too much on a Thursday or Friday

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Speaker 2: night and you missed your stops on the train.

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Speaker 3: Okay, just so that's like thirty stop you have to

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Speaker 3: It's a lot of stops.

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Speaker 2: Well, Salue, honey, it's a lot of drinks too.

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Speaker 1: It touche.

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Speaker 2: So.

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Speaker 3: Lynn was born to a psychologist mother LUs and April

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Speaker 3: consultant father named.

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Speaker 2: Louis, Luis and Louis.

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Speaker 1: That's cute, it is.

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Speaker 3: And Lynn grows up in Inwood, but every summer he

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Speaker 3: goes and spends a month with his abola in Vega Altam.

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Speaker 3: Here's what he told the New York Times about Puerto Rico.

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Speaker 3: I believe I owe a great deal of who I

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Speaker 3: am to this island. It's a tactile thing. It's a

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Speaker 3: tempo thing. It's the pace of life here. It's the

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Speaker 3: way the world sounds at night, it's seeing the stars,

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Speaker 3: It's this oneness with nature that is very natural and real.

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Speaker 3: It is all the things you cannot get in New

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Speaker 3: York City, and it is its culture because the kindest

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Speaker 3: people I know are here.

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Speaker 2: I mean, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, and yes.

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Speaker 3: Puerto Rico is just so dear, I think to both

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Speaker 3: of us, and so dear to Lynn. And in a

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Speaker 3: future episode, we're going to tell you all about what

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Speaker 3: Lynn has done for the island and his deep connection

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Speaker 3: to La Isla de Lincanto. But let's head uptown for now.

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Speaker 3: It was the early eighties. Lynn was growing up in

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Speaker 3: Manhattan and his house was filled with the sounds of

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Speaker 3: sadza and show tunes.

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Speaker 1: See.

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Speaker 3: Lynn's parents were huge fans of Broadway, so they would

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Speaker 3: listen to cast albums in the house because theater is

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Speaker 3: expensive and the family just didn't have a lot of money,

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Speaker 3: so they couldn't go to see the show's luck, which

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Speaker 3: meant that Lynn had to imagine everything just through the music,

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Speaker 3: and it's one of the reasons he says he wants

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Speaker 3: every note of the album for his musicals to be

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Speaker 3: absolutely perfect. He knows that for many listening, it's as

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Speaker 3: close as they'll ever get to experiencing it.

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Speaker 2: I believe that, and that is really so cool.

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Speaker 1: I know he's telling you y'all, he's incredible now.

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Speaker 3: Growing up in the eighties in New York also meant

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Speaker 3: hip hop and rap. That scene was explosive at the time,

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Speaker 3: and Linn, well, he couldn't get enough. In his parents' car,

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Speaker 3: they'd be listening to Camelot and the Unsinkable Molly Brown,

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Speaker 3: and on his bus ride, the driver would be teaching

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Speaker 3: him Ghetto Boys, Sugarhill Gang and Boogie Down productions.

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Speaker 2: Damn. First of all, my school bus driver was not

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Speaker 2: that cool. We just smoked a lot of wheat together.

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Speaker 1: Did you just say we?

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Speaker 2: I meant he he definitely smoked a lot of weed. Okay,

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Speaker 2: let's keep going.

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Speaker 3: Hip hop, Salsa, Broadway, no Way, steven sottheim was growing

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Speaker 3: up on that. Lynn became a great rapper and started

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Speaker 3: joining all the plays in high school.

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Speaker 2: By the way, the school he went to was in

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Speaker 2: New York Magnet School, where he was classmates with MSNBC's

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Speaker 2: Chris Hayes.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, Hayes was even Lynn's first director, and he directed

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Speaker 3: Lynn's first play about and I am not making this up.

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Speaker 1: This is a direct quote.

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Speaker 2: Oh gosh.

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Speaker 3: It was about a twenty minute musical that featured a

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Speaker 3: maniacal fetal pig in a nightmare that Miranda had cut

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Speaker 3: up in biology class.

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Speaker 2: I can't even that sounds terrible.

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Speaker 1: I know, we need to find a video of it Internet,

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Speaker 1: do your thing. Soon, though, Lynn.

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Speaker 3: Was off to university where he would start writing a

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Speaker 3: play about his bodio that would ultimately change his life.

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Speaker 3: Lynn attended Wesleyan University in Connecticut. His sophomore year, well,

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Speaker 3: Lynn was feeling a little homesick, missing life back in

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Speaker 3: the city, so he put pen the paper and wrote

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Speaker 3: his first draft of In the Heights.

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Speaker 1: I can totally get on board with being homesick.

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Speaker 3: Like I was so homesick my first year in college,

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Speaker 3: Like it was scary to be that far away.

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Speaker 1: What about you?

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Speaker 2: I was absolutely homesick, but it didn't inspire me to

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Speaker 2: write anything down. I think that's what turned on my

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Speaker 2: party boy way.

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Speaker 3: And this is why we all cannot be the genius

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Speaker 3: that is Linn men Miranda, because when he reached for

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Speaker 3: his pen and paper, Joseph reached for his white cloth, hello,

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Speaker 3: and I reached for tube tops, platform shoes, and the

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Speaker 3: club exactly.

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Speaker 1: So Lynn kept working on his plan, and he added

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Speaker 1: salsa and rap.

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Speaker 3: He said he wanted to make the play feel like

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Speaker 3: a hip hop version of Rent. I am telling y'all

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Speaker 3: please don't sleep on Rent.

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Speaker 1: Yes, gen Z, I am talking to you.

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Speaker 2: I want to go uhoo tonight.

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Speaker 1: Ooh, I love that song.

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Speaker 2: Oh that's a song. I was just telling you that

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Speaker 2: I wanted to get drinks later.

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Speaker 1: I can't with you today, today, every day.

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Speaker 3: So at a showing of the play, a Wesleyan alum

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Speaker 3: named Thomas Kale saw the show and Asklyn if he'd

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Speaker 3: be willing to develop the play for Broadway.

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Speaker 2: Duh, of course he did.

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Speaker 3: So Lynn headed back to New York after graduation and

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Speaker 3: got to work on bringing his dream to the stage.

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Speaker 1: But no one was paying for.

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Speaker 3: Drafts of but yet to be produced musical, so to

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Speaker 3: make ends meet, he took whatever jobs he could get

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Speaker 3: substitute teacher, music coach, restaurant critic, and then he started

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Speaker 3: getting roles on TV.

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Speaker 1: He was in the Sopranos.

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Speaker 2: I haven't seen the finale yet, so don't spoil anything.

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Speaker 1: The finale was seventeen years ago.

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Speaker 2: I've been busy.

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Speaker 3: Okay, yeah, well Lynn also had a memorable run in

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Speaker 3: house as Hugh Lawi's roommate in a psychiatric hospital.

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Speaker 2: It's not lupus.

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Speaker 1: It was never lupus.

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Speaker 3: Now, before we move on, I do think it's important

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Speaker 3: to talk about how many different jobs Lynn had because

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Speaker 3: I love this story. I love that he had to

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Speaker 3: do ten other things before he ever got to do

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Speaker 3: the one thing that he was literally put on this

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Speaker 3: earth to do, which is create music.

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Speaker 1: So, Joseph, what jobs have you done to pay the bills?

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Speaker 1: The legal ones? Please?

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Speaker 2: Oh? Legal, the go go? Oh okay, taxes, taxes on them?

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Speaker 2: Let me think, just make up. Actually, I worked at

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Speaker 2: a call center for a brief minute.

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Speaker 3: Is that why your voice is so perfect for a podcast?

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Speaker 3: Were you manifesting this when you worked at a call center?

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Speaker 1: Hello, it's me.

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Speaker 2: No. What was your first job ever? And what was

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Speaker 2: the most random TV job you've ever had? Oh?

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Speaker 3: I love that question. People always ask what my first

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Speaker 3: TV job is, which was not that out of the ordinary,

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Speaker 3: but my most random TV job? Well, it's a tie.

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Speaker 3: I'm so embarrassed.

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Speaker 1: I don't even know.

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Speaker 2: I want to hear them both.

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Speaker 1: Okay.

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Speaker 3: So my most random TV job, I was a virtual

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Speaker 3: casino host what the for a line gambling site that

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Speaker 3: was hosted in like the fall sort of something, and

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Speaker 3: we recorded it all on a green screen and I

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Speaker 3: was the virtual casino host with two other guys, so

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Speaker 3: fucking random.

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Speaker 1: We shot it at like that.

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Speaker 2: Is when you said that is random, that's random.

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Speaker 1: Okay, that's not all do you want to hear?

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Speaker 3: Like? And this one is the most random. And by

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Speaker 3: the way, this one's still oh.

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Speaker 1: So this one one that was a tie, this is

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Speaker 1: the it was a tie.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Let's be very clear.

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Speaker 3: When you want to work in television and you don't

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Speaker 3: have a broadcast journalism degree and you have no connections

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Speaker 3: and you are literally building from the ground up, you

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Speaker 3: take any and all the jobs.

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Speaker 1: And by the way, there is no shame in any

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Speaker 1: and all of the jobs.

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Speaker 3: But this one still hunts me because they still play

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Speaker 3: it because when I signed my contract for this job,

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Speaker 3: I signed it in perpetuity, meaning they can and run

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Speaker 3: this commercial for the rest of.

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Speaker 2: My life, for all eternity.

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Speaker 1: Till I die. Wow, and even then they'll still run it.

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Speaker 3: I did an infomercial for a used car lot in Pennsylvania. Stop,

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Speaker 3: I swear to God in Spanish.

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Speaker 2: Oh, I cannot wait to google this and tweet it

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Speaker 2: and show everybody listen.

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Speaker 3: I was a working TV host in two languages and

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Speaker 3: I made one hundred and twenty five dollars that day.

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Speaker 2: So and you know what, that commercial is still playing

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Speaker 2: for one.

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Speaker 1: Hundred and twenty five dollars. They bought the rights to

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Speaker 1: me forever.

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Speaker 2: For all attorneityes, y'all, don't.

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Speaker 1: Ever cheapen yourself ask for the big bucks. You just

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Speaker 1: never know.

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Speaker 3: And that's the thing about all of these career starting stories, right.

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Speaker 3: We were all spread then, we were doing any job

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Speaker 3: that we could get, and in our quote unquote free time,

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Speaker 3: we're working on the things that we are passionate about.

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Speaker 3: We're pursuing our dreams, our side hustles. And for Lynn,

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Speaker 3: that was writing in the Heights. But it paid off

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Speaker 3: really soon because the play opens off Broadway and within

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Speaker 3: just six months it's on the Great White Way.

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Speaker 2: Okay, I have a question, what is the Great White Way?

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Speaker 3: Great question because the way we talked about it, it

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Speaker 3: seems like Broadway was created for and catering to white people.

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Speaker 1: And then you that's what I was going to say,

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Speaker 1: and then.

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Speaker 3: You hear that it's called the Great White Way, but

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Speaker 3: it's actually a longtime nickname for the theater district, and

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Speaker 3: it was coined in the early nineteen hundreds to pay

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Speaker 3: homage to the dazzling lights that you see from the Marquis.

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Speaker 1: But I do think when you speak.

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Speaker 3: To actors, producers, musicians of color, we all share something similar,

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Speaker 3: which is that Broadway for a long time felt like

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Speaker 3: it excluded us.

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Speaker 2: Then I went to I think that's like ninety percent Mexican. Really,

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Speaker 2: if you like, google that and I'll pass. So I'm

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Speaker 2: pretty sure that's accurate. I'm not even joking. And you know,

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Speaker 2: if we were going to play a play that was

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Speaker 2: let's say Hamilton or George Washington or whatever it is,

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Speaker 2: it's going to be all these Mexican kids, like we're

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Speaker 2: not confused for being white or anything like that. So

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Speaker 2: seeing this show and seeing all of these non white people,

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Speaker 2: you know, it was just it was really crazy to

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Speaker 2: like even take it all in totally.

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Speaker 1: I mean, I hear you.

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Speaker 3: I think for a long time Broadway has had a

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Speaker 3: really hard time appealing to diverse audiences, and it's because

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Speaker 3: the actors that represent All of these parts are white,

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Speaker 3: and as theater goers, we like to see a little

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Speaker 3: bit more representation, especially in a city like New York

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Speaker 3: that is so diverse. Where the show represents diversity, the

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Speaker 3: cast represents diversity. Behind the scenes, there's diversity. And that's

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Speaker 3: exactly what In the Heights did, even though it's just

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Speaker 3: a show about a regular shmegula day in Washington Heights

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Speaker 3: on the hottest day of the year. Our protagonist Usnavi

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Speaker 3: say who Usnavi Lynn's character's name and In the Heights. Okay,

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Speaker 3: so if you haven't seen it, the joke is that

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Speaker 3: Usnavi's mom pull into the dock and named him after

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Speaker 3: the letters that she saw on the show, like.

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Speaker 2: The US Navy. I get that. I actually have a

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Speaker 2: Breymon named FedEx Felix. No, bitch, his name is FedEx.

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Speaker 2: No you don't, I do. But we won't even go there.

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Speaker 1: Okay, So it's the hottest day of the year in

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Speaker 1: the Heights.

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Speaker 3: No one has ac It feels like the neighborhood is

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Speaker 3: literally melting. There's this big lotto drawing that someone in

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Speaker 3: the neighborhood's gonna win, and then blackout.

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Speaker 2: I mean that sounds fun.

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Speaker 1: It's so much fun. And the entire show is just that.

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Speaker 3: It's this high energy progression filled with it's also and rap,

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Speaker 3: and it was like nothing Broadway had ever seen.

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Speaker 2: Honey. You know those white people were clutching their pearls.

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Speaker 1: Oh for sure, they did not know what to make

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Speaker 1: of this. And here's the thing.

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Speaker 3: When you think of Broadway history, West Side Story quickly

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Speaker 3: comes up. Yes, it has Latino characters, but it was

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Speaker 3: written by two white guys. Then The Whiz comes out

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Speaker 3: in nineteen seventy five and it is an all black cast,

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Speaker 3: but it had to be a remake of The Wizard

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Speaker 3: of Oz for Broadway to even green light it.

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Speaker 1: Then, of course you have Rent.

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Speaker 2: Bit you really, really really trying to sell Rent, honey.

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Speaker 3: Joseph Rent shook up Broadway in the nineties. It had

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Speaker 3: rock music, it had sex, it had drugs, It addressed.

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Speaker 1: The HIV AIDS epidemic.

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Speaker 3: It was like nothing that Broadway had ever seen. And

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Speaker 3: years after RNT, here comes Lynn with the most diverse

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Speaker 3: cast imaginable.

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Speaker 1: They're rapping and waving Puerto Rican flags, Dominican flags. We've

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Speaker 1: got rap and salsa.

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Speaker 3: It's in New York, but it's not in New York

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Speaker 3: that any of these rich people have ever been to.

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Speaker 2: Basically, Washington Heights might as well be Alaska to these

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Speaker 2: soho keeps.

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Speaker 3: Right, but no gang violence, no drugs. This is just

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Speaker 3: a group of twenty somethings trying to figure out their

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Speaker 3: way in the world.

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Speaker 1: This was eye opening at the time.

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Speaker 2: Uh, you mean Latins are just everyday people with everyday problems.

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Speaker 3: Maybe you guys, Yeah, you know this was news to

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Speaker 3: a lot of people, and I mean a lot of

399
00:20:44,080 --> 00:20:49,040
Speaker 3: people because the show was a massive hit. Within ten months,

400
00:20:49,080 --> 00:20:52,520
Speaker 3: it made back its entire investment, and it started touring nationally.

401
00:20:53,200 --> 00:20:56,639
Speaker 3: Then the Tonys came calling. If you want to know

402
00:20:56,720 --> 00:20:59,359
Speaker 3: how Different In the Heights was, here are the musicals.

403
00:20:59,359 --> 00:21:03,280
Speaker 3: It was up again that year for Best Musical. Young Frankenstein.

404
00:21:03,480 --> 00:21:07,359
Speaker 2: I didn't like all frank Next Gypsy, I saw the

405
00:21:07,400 --> 00:21:11,080
Speaker 2: film with Bud Midler and you cannot perfect perfection.

406
00:21:11,359 --> 00:21:12,960
Speaker 1: Next South Pacific.

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00:21:13,560 --> 00:21:16,360
Speaker 2: I do like warm Weather and Sailors, but for three

408
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Speaker 2: and a half hours, I mean, your boy has places

409
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Speaker 2: to be.

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Speaker 1: Next The Little Mermaid.

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Speaker 2: Okay, okay, I won't shade Aerial, but I'll wait for

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Speaker 2: the live action next.

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Speaker 3: Okay, So all of those were basically retreads of other

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Speaker 3: plays or films.

415
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Speaker 1: In the Heights was original.

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Speaker 2: Which, by the way, is a state of Broadway right now,

417
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Speaker 2: just saying.

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Speaker 3: It was nominated for thirteen Tonys that night, and it

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Speaker 3: won four, including the Best Musical. At twenty eight, when

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Speaker 3: was the youngest winner ever for Original Score. After he

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Speaker 3: accepted the Tony for Best Musical, the cast and producers

422
00:21:52,560 --> 00:21:53,920
Speaker 3: of the show hoisted him.

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Speaker 1: Up on their shoulders.

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Speaker 3: It's a moment I think we'll all never forget. And

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Speaker 3: Broadway's new Golden Boy.

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Speaker 1: How to write?

427
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Speaker 2: I love that. Did you ever cover the Tonies?

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Speaker 3: Yes, many times. It's actually one of my favorite nights

429
00:22:07,280 --> 00:22:09,280
Speaker 3: in New York. You know, there are certain things that

430
00:22:09,320 --> 00:22:12,080
Speaker 3: are very specific to the city. I think every city

431
00:22:12,119 --> 00:22:13,960
Speaker 3: has them. I think for New York one of them

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00:22:14,000 --> 00:22:15,200
Speaker 3: is the Met Gala, which.

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Speaker 1: We've talked about.

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Speaker 3: We should just do a podcast about the Met Gala.

435
00:22:18,720 --> 00:22:21,520
Speaker 3: And another night that just feels so special and so

436
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Speaker 3: new York is the Tonies. I mean, it's a celebration

437
00:22:24,880 --> 00:22:29,040
Speaker 3: of something that only exists in New York City. It's incredible,

438
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Speaker 3: and it's also for me, it's a star making night.

439
00:22:32,640 --> 00:22:35,479
Speaker 3: And what I mean by that is I'm not shading

440
00:22:35,560 --> 00:22:38,280
Speaker 3: or disrespecting any of the actors because they are so

441
00:22:38,440 --> 00:22:43,640
Speaker 3: freaking talented, But the Tonys puts actors and dancers and

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00:22:43,680 --> 00:22:47,840
Speaker 3: singers on a much bigger stage, a more mainstream stage,

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Speaker 3: and a lot of careers are made at the Tonys

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Speaker 3: because people then get to see these shows, or songs

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Speaker 3: from these shows, or the actor or actress in these shows,

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Speaker 3: and say, wait a second, that person deserves a shot

447
00:23:00,040 --> 00:23:04,520
Speaker 3: in Hollywood. Joseph, have you ever done makeup for the Tonys?

448
00:23:04,640 --> 00:23:06,200
Speaker 3: I'm sure right I have.

449
00:23:06,400 --> 00:23:08,960
Speaker 2: I have done make for the Tonys for like models

450
00:23:09,040 --> 00:23:14,480
Speaker 2: and designers, no one who has actually been singing in it,

451
00:23:14,560 --> 00:23:16,359
Speaker 2: but like the designers that invite the people. I have

452
00:23:16,480 --> 00:23:16,960
Speaker 2: done that for.

453
00:23:18,760 --> 00:23:21,280
Speaker 3: While still on Broadway, in the Heights gets optioned to

454
00:23:21,320 --> 00:23:24,359
Speaker 3: be a film, but it didn't premiere on screens until

455
00:23:24,400 --> 00:23:28,000
Speaker 3: twenty twenty one. Don't worry, we will discuss the movie

456
00:23:28,080 --> 00:23:31,560
Speaker 3: version of the play in our third episode on lin Manuel. Now,

457
00:23:31,640 --> 00:23:34,760
Speaker 3: remember I mentioned West Side Story. Somenheims sees in the

458
00:23:34,760 --> 00:23:38,920
Speaker 3: Heights and hires Lynn to rewrite the Latino songs in Spanish?

459
00:23:39,280 --> 00:23:41,720
Speaker 2: How had they never thought of that? I know?

460
00:23:42,400 --> 00:23:44,320
Speaker 1: And then he gets called on to write the music

461
00:23:44,400 --> 00:23:46,080
Speaker 1: for Bring It On. The musical.

462
00:23:46,760 --> 00:23:49,840
Speaker 2: Oh, it's already been a bot in.

463
00:23:50,400 --> 00:23:54,160
Speaker 1: That movie is so much fun obsessed.

464
00:23:54,440 --> 00:23:57,560
Speaker 3: I lived close to Torrents in California, and I thought

465
00:23:57,720 --> 00:23:59,320
Speaker 3: that I was going to go to the school and

466
00:23:59,320 --> 00:23:59,880
Speaker 3: see the Toro.

467
00:24:00,480 --> 00:24:02,640
Speaker 2: It's not that we have to go to homecoming when

468
00:24:02,640 --> 00:24:03,320
Speaker 2: they have it.

469
00:24:03,280 --> 00:24:03,800
Speaker 1: Not them.

470
00:24:04,840 --> 00:24:07,960
Speaker 3: After seeing in the Heights, everyone wants to add rap

471
00:24:08,000 --> 00:24:11,360
Speaker 3: and diverse music to their shows, and Lynn became the

472
00:24:11,400 --> 00:24:14,720
Speaker 3: man to call. Listen, Bring It On isn't going down

473
00:24:14,760 --> 00:24:16,879
Speaker 3: as one of the great musicals of all time.

474
00:24:17,320 --> 00:24:20,840
Speaker 2: Uh time will tell.

475
00:24:19,840 --> 00:24:22,840
Speaker 3: Right right, But it was a payday for Lynn and

476
00:24:23,000 --> 00:24:25,960
Speaker 3: those were coming in left and right. Broadway saw what

477
00:24:26,080 --> 00:24:30,960
Speaker 3: Lynn was doing and they wanted in, including theatre's biggest night.

478
00:24:32,480 --> 00:24:35,120
Speaker 3: We talked about the Tonys before and how Lynn had

479
00:24:35,160 --> 00:24:37,640
Speaker 3: one a few of them, but he also got invited

480
00:24:37,680 --> 00:24:41,600
Speaker 3: back every year to write sketches for the Tonys, and y'all,

481
00:24:41,880 --> 00:24:45,679
Speaker 3: they are amazing. He sits backstage as the winners are

482
00:24:45,680 --> 00:24:48,720
Speaker 3: announced and then writes a song as the show is

483
00:24:48,760 --> 00:24:52,280
Speaker 3: happening live. Then Neil Patrick Harris comes out at the

484
00:24:52,359 --> 00:24:55,960
Speaker 3: end and raps the song which Lynn just wrote on

485
00:24:56,200 --> 00:24:56,960
Speaker 3: the fly.

486
00:24:57,720 --> 00:25:03,880
Speaker 2: That is legend wait for it, dairy, Uh.

487
00:25:04,080 --> 00:25:04,720
Speaker 1: It's Lynn.

488
00:25:05,240 --> 00:25:09,600
Speaker 3: Literally, all he does is legendary. I also bring it

489
00:25:09,640 --> 00:25:12,119
Speaker 3: up because in twenty thirteen he wrote the opening number

490
00:25:12,160 --> 00:25:15,000
Speaker 3: for the Tonys and if you haven't seen it, it's

491
00:25:15,119 --> 00:25:20,000
Speaker 3: eight minutes of absolute joy and pure celebration of theater.

492
00:25:20,560 --> 00:25:23,840
Speaker 3: And it was so good it won Lynn an Emmy. Joseph,

493
00:25:23,880 --> 00:25:25,240
Speaker 3: have you seen this performance?

494
00:25:26,440 --> 00:25:27,159
Speaker 2: No? I haven't.

495
00:25:27,280 --> 00:25:29,280
Speaker 1: Okay, you need to watch it. Just google it.

496
00:25:29,560 --> 00:25:33,199
Speaker 2: I will. So he's got a Tony an Emmy.

497
00:25:33,640 --> 00:25:34,920
Speaker 1: He's missing the Oscar.

498
00:25:35,400 --> 00:25:36,280
Speaker 2: Did you have a crimey?

499
00:25:36,440 --> 00:25:37,080
Speaker 1: He does.

500
00:25:37,520 --> 00:25:40,800
Speaker 3: He won one for In the Heights and for a small,

501
00:25:40,960 --> 00:25:46,159
Speaker 3: little obscure show about a founding father. After in the Heights,

502
00:25:46,280 --> 00:25:49,560
Speaker 3: Lynn is a rising star in demand, including from the

503
00:25:49,560 --> 00:25:53,919
Speaker 3: forty fourth President of the United States. So I know,

504
00:25:54,080 --> 00:25:57,560
Speaker 3: now this seems like five lifetimes ago, But in two

505
00:25:57,600 --> 00:26:00,800
Speaker 3: thousand and nine, Barack Obama hosted a night spoken word

506
00:26:00,880 --> 00:26:02,520
Speaker 3: and poetry at the White House.

507
00:26:02,840 --> 00:26:04,679
Speaker 2: They trying to class that place up.

508
00:26:05,040 --> 00:26:08,680
Speaker 3: He invites Lynn to perform. Now, most people invited to

509
00:26:08,720 --> 00:26:10,920
Speaker 3: perform at the White House in front of the President

510
00:26:10,960 --> 00:26:13,800
Speaker 3: and the First Lady are going to perform something that

511
00:26:13,960 --> 00:26:17,600
Speaker 3: they know works, you know, something they practice they rehearse,

512
00:26:18,160 --> 00:26:22,919
Speaker 3: but Lynn m m Lin decides to debut something he

513
00:26:23,440 --> 00:26:24,480
Speaker 3: just wrote.

514
00:26:25,040 --> 00:26:27,560
Speaker 1: He told Jimmy Kimmel, so, yeah, I had.

515
00:26:27,440 --> 00:26:29,960
Speaker 3: Just written it, and I figured, if this doesn't work,

516
00:26:30,160 --> 00:26:31,000
Speaker 3: I'll just scrap it.

517
00:26:31,720 --> 00:26:35,840
Speaker 2: Like some white people say, those are some hue weelvos.

518
00:26:36,680 --> 00:26:39,679
Speaker 3: So Lynn takes the stage and says he's working on

519
00:26:39,720 --> 00:26:43,119
Speaker 3: a concept album about someone who he thinks embodies the

520
00:26:43,200 --> 00:26:48,160
Speaker 3: hip hop Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton. The audience cracks up,

521
00:26:48,560 --> 00:26:51,160
Speaker 3: and then Lynn starts rapping.

522
00:26:51,640 --> 00:26:53,439
Speaker 2: And the crowd stops laughing.

523
00:26:54,119 --> 00:26:57,119
Speaker 3: That performance was the first time the world learned of

524
00:26:57,160 --> 00:26:59,960
Speaker 3: a play that was coming to change the game.

525
00:27:01,240 --> 00:27:02,080
Speaker 2: What's my Name?

526
00:27:02,200 --> 00:27:04,080
Speaker 1: Man, Alexander Hamilton?

527
00:27:05,520 --> 00:27:19,160
Speaker 3: Hamilton on the next Becoming an Icon. Becoming an Icon

528
00:27:19,320 --> 00:27:23,320
Speaker 3: is presented by Sono and Iheart's Michael Duda podcast network.

529
00:27:23,760 --> 00:27:28,080
Speaker 3: Listen to Becoming an Icon on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast,

530
00:27:28,359 --> 00:27:30,440
Speaker 3: or wherever you get your podcast