Speaker 1: So when we last left him, Lynn was getting jobs
Speaker 1: left and.
Speaker 2: Right, and he was wrapping for Obama at the White House.
Speaker 1: For nine years, he had worked tirelessly to recreate his
Speaker 1: neighborhood and to create a new kind of Broadway for
Speaker 1: a new generation.
Speaker 2: Soon he was known around town as a Broadway kid
Speaker 2: who could wrap.
Speaker 1: He was working NonStop, But soon he was answering the
Speaker 1: question that creatives hate the most.
Speaker 2: Who are you wearing? No, not that one.
Speaker 1: They were asking what comes next?
Speaker 2: Uh, let me live my life, not you.
Speaker 1: But I'm sure Lynn kind of felt the same way.
Speaker 1: His performance at the White House had peaked everyone's interest.
Speaker 1: What was this play about a founding father and how
Speaker 1: did hip hop fit in?
Speaker 2: Originally it was just a concept album. No one knew
Speaker 2: what Lynn had.
Speaker 1: When the Heights came around, he wondered how he had
Speaker 1: beat everyone to the finish line by being the first
Speaker 1: to include with salsa and hip hop in a stage musical.
Speaker 1: Now he was going to make a musical about Alexander Hamilton.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but how do you get that sh money?
Speaker 1: On today's episode, we're going to revisit this seven year period,
Speaker 1: tell you how it happened, and dive deep into why
Speaker 1: it became such a cultural phenomenon.
Speaker 2: Lynn was not throwing away his shot.
Speaker 1: Today, it's all things Hamilton, an American musical and how
Speaker 1: it'll turn Lin Mineral Miranda into an icon. I'm your host, Lilianavasquez.
Speaker 2: And I'm Joseph Carrio and this is Becoming an Icon, a.
Speaker 1: Weekly podcast where we give you the rundown on how
Speaker 1: today's most famous LATINX stars have shaped pop culture.
Speaker 2: And given the world some extra le ale.
Speaker 1: Sit back and get comfortable.
Speaker 2: Because we are going in the only way we know how,
Speaker 2: with whenas the chief.
Speaker 1: Me and a lot of opinions as we relive their
Speaker 1: greatest achievements on our journey to find out what makes
Speaker 1: them so iconic. There's an important rule when it comes to.
Speaker 2: Writing the Save the Cat beat sheet.
Speaker 1: You've read Saved the Cat.
Speaker 2: I have a story to tell, Biac.
Speaker 1: Okay, the most important rule is to write what you know.
Speaker 2: Okay, that was Toad's my second answer. But pause, I
Speaker 2: can totally see it applying to In the Heights, but Hamilton.
Speaker 1: Here's the origin story of Hamilton. After two years of
Speaker 1: being on stage within the Heights, Lynn and his fiance
Speaker 1: at the time go on a beach vacation.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: It was one of those like lay around and do
Speaker 1: nothing in the sun kind of trips.
Speaker 2: I love those. Just worrying about which pool you're going
Speaker 2: to go to every day and.
Speaker 1: Making sure you get the chairs that face the beach. Yes,
Speaker 1: it was that kind of trip. Most of us are,
Speaker 1: you know, relaxing reading a little chick lit or a
Speaker 1: steamy novel like Outlander. Wait is that just me? Okay?
Speaker 1: But Lyn's beach read that week Alexander Hamilton by Ron Churnell.
Speaker 2: Okay, I'm more of a Colleen Hoover type of guy.
Speaker 2: It starts with me reading it and ends with me
Speaker 2: reading it.
Speaker 1: So Lynn reads this seven hundred page biography of the
Speaker 1: nation's first treasury secretary and sees a hip hop pioneer.
Speaker 2: What how how does someone think of these two things together?
Speaker 1: That's what everyone kept asking. But we all know that
Speaker 1: Lynn isn't just anybody. Alexander Hamilton, the chief aide to
Speaker 1: George Washington, a founding father, a federalist, the first Secretary
Speaker 1: of the Treasury, and a man on the ten dollars bill. Well,
Speaker 1: he wraps some strong bars. Even Lynn acknowledges that the
Speaker 1: pitch of the show is ridiculous. Here's what Lynn told NPR.
Speaker 1: I understand how ridiculous the elevator pitch for the show is,
Speaker 1: but in a way, that video is a microcosm of
Speaker 1: the reaction the show has gotten. It sounds improbable, and
Speaker 1: then once you start hearing about Hamilton's life story, it
Speaker 1: sort of makes sense. The mode of storytelling makes sense
Speaker 1: to the subject, and that was what grabbed me about it.
Speaker 1: It was this guy who used words to get everywhere.
Speaker 1: And what do my favorite hip hop artists do if
Speaker 1: not write about their struggles their lives and then transcend
Speaker 1: their circumstances by sheer virtuosity.
Speaker 2: Okay, so rap artists write and rhyme their way out
Speaker 2: of their circumstances of their life, and that's what Hamilton did. Okay,
Speaker 2: I see now it makes sense.
Speaker 1: But making that connection between a historical biography and hip hop, well,
Speaker 1: that's what makes Lynn the genius that he is. It
Speaker 1: truly was like, wait, what, what's Hamilton really? He raps?
Speaker 1: What was your reaction when you actually found out the
Speaker 1: story of Hamilton and how it was going to be
Speaker 1: presented on stage?
Speaker 2: Honestly, I was like, bitch, ain't nobody got time for
Speaker 2: that shit, Like at all? How are you going to
Speaker 2: make this cool? I couldn't imagine what he was going
Speaker 2: to do. I couldn't imagine people dressed like that, you know,
Speaker 2: like how they were, how George Washington was dressed. I
Speaker 2: don't know how to call that garb and rapping like
Speaker 2: it just wasn't going to be fun. And look at
Speaker 2: it now.
Speaker 1: Everybody had a similar reaction. I didn't know a lot
Speaker 1: about Alexander Hamilton. I think I had read a couple
Speaker 1: of zero. I'm sure I had read a lot about
Speaker 1: him at some point in high school when I was
Speaker 1: learning about American history. But I can tell you that
Speaker 1: I am certainly not an American revolutionary scholar.
Speaker 2: Although you come off as when sometimes.
Speaker 1: My friends do talk about the American Revolution dinner when
Speaker 1: I'm with really smart people. No, I didn't know anything.
Speaker 1: I mean, I know he was on the ten dollar bill.
Speaker 1: When was the last time you had a ten dollar bill?
Speaker 1: Did they even make those?
Speaker 2: Dude? I just got one back today. I got eleven
Speaker 2: dollars in change because I bought a burrito.
Speaker 1: You're lying they didn't give you a ten nice?
Speaker 2: Well, I got eleven dollars. Yeah, I got a one
Speaker 2: in ten Wow, and it was Hamilton. He's rare and
Speaker 2: he sang to me he raped, he rapped.
Speaker 1: But the way that he was able to merge, like
Speaker 1: you said, like George Washington, what did you call it,
Speaker 1: George Washington garb, the way he was able to merge
Speaker 1: George Washington speak and garb and language in modern day yeah,
Speaker 1: and make history so accessible revolutionary, bitch, there you go,
Speaker 1: that's a better word. Around the beginning, the musical was
Speaker 1: initially referred to as the Hamilton Mixtape.
Speaker 2: Ooh, I'm going to start calling all my work in
Speaker 2: progress mixtapes.
Speaker 1: Didn't Cardi be have a mixtape?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Actually, wasn't it called a mixtape?
Speaker 2: I think that's what everyone calls them when they're like
Speaker 2: about to get there, you know.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I feel like Kanye had a mixtape, Cardi had
Speaker 1: a mixtape, Lin Minimal Miranda had a mixtape. This project
Speaker 1: was described as a hip hop concert album about the
Speaker 1: life of America's first Treasury Secretary, Alexander Hamilton.
Speaker 2: I can totally imagine people wondering what was going on
Speaker 2: through Lynn's head because this just sounds fucking crazy, and
Speaker 2: I still can't let it go.
Speaker 1: Well, neither could Lynn. He obsessed over these songs. The
Speaker 1: show took seven years to write.
Speaker 2: My Man, he just can't write fast, Kenny.
Speaker 1: Listen, greatness takes time. In the book Hamilton the Revolution,
Speaker 1: Linn mentions that even on the day they were about
Speaker 1: to open on Broadway, moments before the first performance, he
Speaker 1: was still changing lyrics in line. Miranda even spent an
Speaker 1: entire year writing just one song, Hey, I'm getting a theme.
Speaker 2: So Cardi b is described as a perfectionist. J Loo
Speaker 2: is described as a perfectionist and bad money too. So
Speaker 2: the key to being an icon is being a perfectionist.
Speaker 2: And I am officially writing that down.
Speaker 1: See I'd like to reframe the word perfectionist because I
Speaker 1: think sometimes that as a negative connotation. I like to
Speaker 1: call it aspiring to excellence and can you can you
Speaker 1: even blame them? Lynn wanted to get every single song perfect,
Speaker 1: and he kept trying to make each rhyme even more clever.
Speaker 2: Which is why I think so many fans became obsessed
Speaker 2: with the songs. You can't hear everything in the first listen.
Speaker 2: You need to listen over and over again to catch
Speaker 2: each reference and rhyme.
Speaker 1: People that had never seen the show. Knew the songs
Speaker 1: word for word. A they were, like you said, it
Speaker 1: made history accessible and revolutionary. People just caught something that
Speaker 1: felt so new and innovative and different. That's what makes
Speaker 1: these people an icon. It's so hard to create something
Speaker 1: that is truly original. Everything is a version of something else,
Speaker 1: Everything is a reimagined or a reworked. But Hamilton is
Speaker 1: truly an original work of art.
Speaker 2: I think that there is, Like we keep saying every
Speaker 2: single episode with everybody, we've talked about everything is so unique.
Speaker 1: What do you think is most unique about Hamilton?
Speaker 2: The visuals? Right there, it's like, what the fuck George
Speaker 2: Washington is black? Only because I don't know how other
Speaker 2: people were going to take it. So I was just
Speaker 2: kind of shocked there. And then the black guy was
Speaker 2: playing a white guy. I'm like, this is too much
Speaker 2: for me brain right now, I cannot deal with it.
Speaker 1: I think for me, it's yes, one hundred percent of visuals.
Speaker 1: But I think it's the visuals in combination with the
Speaker 1: historical accuracy that he incorporated the music, and how he
Speaker 1: was able to really teach an entire generation of people,
Speaker 1: multiple generations people about history. Everybody walked out of that
Speaker 1: show smarter. I'm not saying that other shows haven't done that,
Speaker 1: but I guarantee that everybody walking out of that theater,
Speaker 1: that walked out of their car after they listened to
Speaker 1: the album came away a little bit smarter, knowing a
Speaker 1: little bit more about our country, which is always a
Speaker 1: good thing. Let's always be learning. Now, do you have
Speaker 1: a favorite Hamilton quote?
Speaker 2: I'm not going to miss my shot.
Speaker 1: I think that's a really good one.
Speaker 2: I think that sound spoke to me because like when
Speaker 2: you sit back too much, you feel like, when you
Speaker 2: know you're not going to miss your shot, you just
Speaker 2: go for it, you know, and then if you do
Speaker 2: miss your shot, you don't I feel like you missed it.
Speaker 2: Does that make sense? I do?
Speaker 1: I like that. I like the perseverance of that too.
Speaker 1: I would say my favorite line only because I love
Speaker 1: New Jersey. My husband's from New Jersey. Everything's legal in
Speaker 1: New Jersey. I got such a kick cut of back
Speaker 1: because again, this was like way back in the days,
Speaker 1: and like now it's just it's it's true. Have y'all
Speaker 1: ever been to New Jersey. Everything that took place in
Speaker 1: New Jersey, the Jersey Shore took place in New Jersey.
Speaker 1: It's still is true today. Everything y'all is legal in
Speaker 1: New Jersey. I don't know, it's so stupid, but it's
Speaker 1: just like one of those things that made me smile
Speaker 1: every time. It just makes me smile every time I
Speaker 1: hear it. For Lynn, hip hop has always been his
Speaker 1: most powerful tool of expression, beyond being the only person
Speaker 1: crazy enough to even think of all these ingredients mixing together.
Speaker 1: He had experienced bringing wrap to the stage, yes within
Speaker 1: the Heights, but also with Freestyle Love Supreme.
Speaker 2: Freestyle Love What.
Speaker 1: Freestyle Love Supreme. It was actually a group that Linn
Speaker 1: started with Anthony Veneziali back in two thousand and four
Speaker 1: when they were rehearsing for In the Heights. It was
Speaker 1: like a no ensemble group that wrapped, freestyle, wrapped, improv
Speaker 1: and did comedy all at the same time.
Speaker 2: So kind of like wild and out but really improvised.
Speaker 1: Yes, like it's kind of more like whose line is
Speaker 1: it anyway? But like that's really selling it short, because
Speaker 1: it's genius on stage is exactly what it is. And
Speaker 1: when I saw the show, I knew it was going
Speaker 1: to be amazing because friends had talked about it, but
Speaker 1: actually being in the audience and the fact that every
Speaker 1: single show is different, and every night is different, and
Speaker 1: the performers are different and they change. They literally make
Speaker 1: this like an interactive theatrical experience.
Speaker 2: Sorry for clarity, it's for Freestyle of Supreme.
Speaker 1: Yes, yes, Freestyle of Supreme is the show. It had
Speaker 1: a pretty limited run on Broadway. It's going to be
Speaker 1: I think in residency in Las Vegas. It's this like
Speaker 1: improv troup. But again that is underselling their talents because
Speaker 1: these people are like comedic geniuses, their wordsmiths, their rappers,
Speaker 1: their singers, they're actors, they are entertainers, they are literally everything.
Speaker 1: Because each show is built around improvisation. So every night
Speaker 1: they kind of have like a structured arc of what
Speaker 1: the show will be, and then the audience really drives
Speaker 1: the content because you get to shout out words, they
Speaker 1: ask for audience involvement and interaction, and they literally make
Speaker 1: it up on the fly. And when you sit in
Speaker 1: the audience, you realize the genius of Linna Miranda is
Speaker 1: that that is how his mind works. It works that fast,
Speaker 1: he's that witty, he's that quick, and everyone he surrounds
Speaker 1: himself with is exactly the same. In an article from
Speaker 1: The New York Times, Stephen Holden wrote this preceding the
Speaker 1: Hamilton Mixtape was an anthology of hip hop classics, assing
Speaker 1: me by Juicy, Yuanna, Killer and Renegade. That mister Miranda said,
Speaker 1: form the DNA of my brain. If you listen really
Speaker 1: closely to Hamilton, you can hear all of those songs referenced.
Speaker 2: And hip hop was born in New York City, so
Speaker 2: it's a theme with Lynn.
Speaker 1: So it's twenty twelve, and Lynn has been developing the
Speaker 1: Hamilton Mixtape for years, and he starts performing in around town,
Speaker 1: and soon Broadway producers start hearing it and.
Speaker 2: It starts making its way to Broadway.
Speaker 1: Miranda wrote the musical, and then he gave himself the
Speaker 1: titular role, which you played for almost a year.
Speaker 2: I mean riespect because I would have done the same.
Speaker 2: Bitch knew that he had something really special cooking up
Speaker 2: and put me under all those spotlights.
Speaker 1: But wait, if you ask camel fans, a lot of
Speaker 1: people think that Aaron Burr is actually the best role
Speaker 1: in the musical, played by the incredible Leslie odom Jo.
Speaker 2: Hot So had so hard.
Speaker 1: Why do you think Lynn didn't give himself the role?
Speaker 1: Of Aaron Burr.
Speaker 2: I think that he knew his star was still so
Speaker 2: really bright, you know. I don't I think that he
Speaker 2: could have given that big role away just because it
Speaker 2: wasn't to I don't think that's what he even he
Speaker 2: was looking for.
Speaker 1: I think it just shows the generosity of spirit of
Speaker 1: who Lynn is. And I think it's also so self aware,
Speaker 1: like you know when you're casting something like this, like
Speaker 1: I think nobody knows your strengths and weakness is better
Speaker 1: than you, and you know when you if you talk
Speaker 1: to I feel like anytime I've interviewed like really great
Speaker 1: directors and producers, they're really self aware. The good ones
Speaker 1: are really self aware. In Leslie, I think Lynn recognized
Speaker 1: like the greatness that is Leslie and could see how
Speaker 1: that would fit into Aaron's character. And like I said,
Speaker 1: it just shows his generosity and he's such a team player.
Speaker 1: I know that there's titular roles and he played the
Speaker 1: name of the musical, but when you watch the show,
Speaker 1: like every single person on that stage carries that show.
Speaker 1: It is truly the definition of an ensemble cast, like
Speaker 1: they are a famaly.
Speaker 2: One hundred percent.
Speaker 1: And speaking of family, Lynn cast all people of color
Speaker 1: to play historically white characters, every single one. Why do
Speaker 1: we think he did that?
Speaker 2: I think that for Lynn, maybe he just wanted it
Speaker 2: to feel real as he was acting it, and he
Speaker 2: could do it with all his people. Yeah, I know.
Speaker 1: And I also think that, you know, as somebody who
Speaker 1: grew up listening and loving Broadway, he was also fixing something.
Speaker 1: He had the power to fix something right. And if
Speaker 1: you have that power and you don't use it, then
Speaker 1: what does that say about you. So props to Lend
Speaker 1: because it's completely transformed Broadway and how we see characters
Speaker 1: and who can play what characters. I'm not saying there's
Speaker 1: still not a lot of work to be done, both
Speaker 1: in film and television and Broadway, but I do think
Speaker 1: it's shifted for us culturally how we see characters being played,
Speaker 1: and we're like, wait, but you can see past the
Speaker 1: color because they're just playing a role like you. No
Speaker 1: idea is can't we act like anybody?
Speaker 2: I just saw Frozen on Broadway and it was there
Speaker 2: were people of color and I just remember them coming
Speaker 2: out and I never saw that before, and now after
Speaker 2: I'm just kind of like, oh wow, you know, like
Speaker 2: Elsea's sister or it's just an all different type of cast.
Speaker 2: It's not an all white cast anymore, and you're just
Speaker 2: kind of a little like five percent distracted, and then
Speaker 2: you forget.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and they're incredibly talented, yes, very When Hamilton opened
Speaker 1: on August sixth, it became the hottest ticket in town.
Speaker 1: On the first side of previews, seven hundred people lined
Speaker 1: up for lottery ticket. It's on the first night of
Speaker 1: its previews. So for you non New Yorkers listening, every
Speaker 1: show does a lottery to give away cheap tickets every
Speaker 1: single night. Sometimes they're standing room only.
Speaker 2: And good thing too, because girl, those Hamilton tickets were
Speaker 2: more expensive than my freaking fendy.
Speaker 1: Resellers were charging up to ten thousand dollars for tickets
Speaker 1: to see the show.
Speaker 2: Shut your butt. Did people really pay that much? Yeah?
Speaker 1: Some rich people.
Speaker 2: I quit. I'm done what.
Speaker 1: Lynn wanted everyone to see the show, but he knew
Speaker 1: he couldn't beat the bots that buy up all the
Speaker 1: tickets for resale.
Speaker 2: The bots stay undefeated. I'm still trying to get my
Speaker 2: Tata tickets.
Speaker 1: Best of luck to you. Hamilton turned the lottery into
Speaker 1: an event. Their lottery was soon known as ham for
Speaker 1: ham So in order to win Ham for Ham tickets,
Speaker 1: you had to line up in front of the Richard
Speaker 1: Rogers Theater on the day of the show to put
Speaker 1: your name in a drawing. Then right before the drawing,
Speaker 1: cast members would come out and perform and make a
Speaker 1: little show for everyone that had lined up. But you
Speaker 1: can still catch on their official YouTube channel.
Speaker 2: First of all, I freaking love that. And second, why
Speaker 2: the elf was it called Ham for Ham?
Speaker 1: If you won the lottery, you paid ten dollars for
Speaker 1: the show.
Speaker 2: Oh, Ham for a Ham.
Speaker 1: Bitch, Joe, So I feel like the light just went on.
Speaker 1: It's so right, you're glowy. Soon the word got out
Speaker 1: and every week hundreds of people would line up outside
Speaker 1: the theater to block traffic to watch the Ham for
Speaker 1: Ham show.
Speaker 2: So they had to stop, damn popo.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but they still honor this tradition though. You can
Speaker 1: still enter the lottery for a chance to win ten
Speaker 1: dollars tickets, but it's all online now.
Speaker 2: On Broadway, a show can do well and say bye
Speaker 2: bye Bertie in like a month or two. Hamilton is
Speaker 2: still run.
Speaker 1: The love for the show didn't stop at the Richard
Speaker 1: Rogers Theater. It made its way to Radio City Music
Speaker 1: Hall for a show stopping awards ceremony. Once the show
Speaker 1: got going, it was a cultural phenomenon. The official cast
Speaker 1: recording album went to the top of the Broadway.
Speaker 2: Charts Hobby and it also.
Speaker 1: Made its way to number two on the Rap albums
Speaker 1: and number three overall. Fans were listening over and over
Speaker 1: and over again. It's the eleventh biggest album of the
Speaker 1: twenty tenths, and that's unheard of for a Broadway cast album.
Speaker 1: Last episode, we told you Lynn had grown up listening
Speaker 1: to cast albums, so he wanted his cast albums to
Speaker 1: be perfect. So get this. Most cast albums take about
Speaker 1: two days to record. Hamilton took two weeks.
Speaker 2: He just had to get it perfect. And when you
Speaker 2: listened to the album, you feel like you're there totally.
Speaker 1: I think that goes back to how he experienced musicals
Speaker 1: in his home. You know, with ticket prices in the
Speaker 1: thousands of dollars, the world wasn't going to get to
Speaker 1: see Hamilton like this thing that he was so passionate
Speaker 1: about and driven by to create, was not going to
Speaker 1: see the audience that he wanted for. But that album,
Speaker 1: anybody could download that right right, So it was his job,
Speaker 1: almost redestined to create an album that let you feel
Speaker 1: and hear, but most importantly see what was actually happening
Speaker 1: on stage.
Speaker 2: I wonder if he knew that maybe people weren't because
Speaker 2: the tickets were so insane, people weren't going to be
Speaker 2: able to see it. That he knew early on to
Speaker 2: start recording it.
Speaker 1: When he was in previews in New York. I think
Speaker 1: there's articles of him talking about him kind of knowing
Speaker 1: this right when he's developing Hamilton and showing it off Broadway,
Speaker 1: like he is not a stranger to this business. He
Speaker 1: knows right, and he knows what he has right. He
Speaker 1: saw the reaction. I mean, if you remember that clip
Speaker 1: from the White House of him rapping, that clip went viral.
Speaker 1: Everybody saw that clip. You knew instantly he had something.
Speaker 1: You know, they talk about X factor and you never
Speaker 1: know what it's going to be, but when you hear
Speaker 1: it or see it, you just know he just knew.
Speaker 1: So why not create art that the entire world can
Speaker 1: consume for a download? I mean, I don't even know
Speaker 1: how much the album costs a download, but whatever it was,
Speaker 1: it was way less than a Hamilton ticket unless you
Speaker 1: won the lottery fingers crossed. The next year's Tony's Well,
Speaker 1: they were more of a coronation than a ceremony. It
Speaker 1: practically swept every award it was nominated for.
Speaker 2: It was nominated for sixteen Tony Awards, and it won eleven.
Speaker 1: Best Musical, Best Original Score, and Best Book of a Musical.
Speaker 1: It was also during these tony Is that Lynn gave
Speaker 1: one of his most powerful speeches. The night before the show,
Speaker 1: the world had been horrified to learn of the mass
Speaker 1: shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida. Lynn, accepting
Speaker 1: as Tony for Best Score, with tears in his eyes,
Speaker 1: wrapped a refrain that we can still hear, echoing, love
Speaker 1: is Love is love is love is love.
Speaker 2: It was really beautiful.
Speaker 1: Hamilton would go on to win Best Musical that night,
Speaker 1: making Lin Manuel Miranda the first person to ever take
Speaker 1: home Tony's biggest prize for his first two Broadway musicals.
Speaker 2: And the awards didn't stop there.
Speaker 1: Lynn went on to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama
Speaker 1: for the musical.
Speaker 2: Bring On That Pegot.
Speaker 1: The cast album won the Grammy Award for Best Musical
Speaker 1: Theater Album. Then Lynn received the Drama League Distinguished Performance Award.
Speaker 2: During their acceptance speech, they waived a Porto Rican flag, and.
Speaker 1: Of course, in true Miranda fashion, he wraps the way through.
Speaker 1: Then it all came full circle when Miranda performed freestyle
Speaker 1: raps with President Barack Obama in twenty sixteen.
Speaker 2: I just got an idea, should we freestyle?
Speaker 1: I think I speak for all of America when I
Speaker 1: say no.
Speaker 2: Well, let's talk about these awards. Then, what are your thoughts?
Speaker 2: My thoughts are brav I mean you are a number one? Yeah, Lynn,
Speaker 2: Miranda Fad, I'm not.
Speaker 1: The number one.
Speaker 2: Listen.
Speaker 1: I just know when and where to show respect. I
Speaker 1: have worked in the entertainment industry for going on there
Speaker 1: and hundreds and hundreds of years. I have worked in
Speaker 1: George Washington.
Speaker 2: She knew.
Speaker 1: I dressed George Washington for the inauguration. And what I
Speaker 1: have learned is that people are talented for different reasons. Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm not going to go into the talent versus talentless conversation.
Speaker 1: In this life that he has built and in this
Speaker 1: art that he has made, he is winning because nobody
Speaker 1: deserves to win more than him. Not only does he
Speaker 1: win for his shows and his writing and producing and
Speaker 1: all of it. But then when he gets up to
Speaker 1: accept the award, he wins again, showing you and proving
Speaker 1: why there is no better person to win this award.
Speaker 1: This man never stops in his pursuit of excellence. He
Speaker 1: is just one of those people that is born to win.
Speaker 2: Hamilton was on top of the world, standing in the
Speaker 2: eye of a hurricane of success.
Speaker 1: But somewhere else there was a catastrophic hurricane wreaking havoc.
Speaker 2: In twenty seventeen, Hurricanes Idma and Madia happened. We talked
Speaker 2: about Bad Bunny's involvement in helping Puerto Rico during this time,
Speaker 2: but there was someone else who wanted.
Speaker 1: To help to lin Manuel Miranda jumped at the opportunity
Speaker 1: the only way he knew how Remember, people were willing
Speaker 1: to pay ten thousand dollars for a ticket when it opened.
Speaker 2: It was a highly in demand show.
Speaker 1: So he brought it to Puerto Rico to help raise
Speaker 1: funds for the island as it was recovering. The musical
Speaker 1: was staged at the Centro de veas Artists Luis a
Speaker 1: fere in January twenty nineteen, running from the eleventh through
Speaker 1: the twenty seventh.
Speaker 2: Didn't it sell out in like a couple of hours.
Speaker 1: Yes, the only tickets left were for the lottery. Lynn
Speaker 1: reprised his role as Alexander for the first time since
Speaker 1: leaving the Broadway production back in twenty sixteen.
Speaker 2: I remember that Jimmy Fallon went to the island and
Speaker 2: everything to promote it. Right. It was like the first
Speaker 2: time he did it outside of the studio.
Speaker 1: It was a very big deal and he was back
Speaker 1: with his favorite Puerto Rican Blenn.
Speaker 2: Bad Bunny, Babe, blah blah bub ba.
Speaker 1: The show had a successful run. The production raised funds
Speaker 1: for the restoration of arts and cultural programs in the
Speaker 1: aftermath of Hurricanes Edma and Maria. These were a combination
Speaker 1: of box office revenue, humanitarian grants, sponsorship, and other donations.
Speaker 1: There's nothing like seeing the show live and in person,
Speaker 1: but most people have seen the original cast performance in
Speaker 1: a different way on Disney Plus.
Speaker 2: That's how I saw it.
Speaker 1: During the show's original run, Lynn performed and recorded the
Speaker 1: entire show shot over the course of two days. Lynn
Speaker 1: filmed it with an eye towards making you feel as
Speaker 1: if you were right there in the theater, and three
Speaker 1: years later, Lynn sold it for seventy five million.
Speaker 2: Dollars shut Up for Real, one of.
Speaker 1: The biggest film acquisitions ever. It premiered on Disney Plus
Speaker 1: during the pandemic on July third, twenty twenty, with the
Speaker 1: original cast, and that weekend viewership on the platform jumped
Speaker 1: seventy four percent.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 1: Years have passed and the Hamilton craze seems to have
Speaker 1: died down, but its legacy is undeniable. The musical success
Speaker 1: stopped the US Department of the Treasury from redesigning the
Speaker 1: ten dollars bill with plans to replace Hamilton with a
Speaker 1: woman from the American history.
Speaker 2: Lynn saved Alexander Hamilton from being canceled.
Speaker 1: It's got a lot of power that lived, and instead,
Speaker 1: Hamilton stayed on the bill and they decided to replace
Speaker 1: Andrew Jackson on the twenty with Harriet Tubman. The show
Speaker 1: even got its own interactive museum with Hamilton the Exhibition.
Speaker 2: And let's not forget the time Vice President Mike Pence
Speaker 2: walked out.
Speaker 1: Ooh child yeahs. For those that don't remember or care
Speaker 1: to remember, he was in the audience. On November eighteenth,
Speaker 1: twenty sixteen, Brandon Victor Dixon playing Aaron Burr at the
Speaker 1: time addressed Pence from the stage. The statement was reportedly
Speaker 1: written by the cast Lynn Manuel and the show's producer,
Speaker 1: Jeffrey Seller. Here's what he said, Vice President Elect Pence.
Speaker 1: We welcome you, and we truly thank you for joining
Speaker 1: us here at Hamilton an American musical. We really do we, sir.
Speaker 1: We are the diverse America who are alarmed and anxious
Speaker 1: that your new administration will not protect us, our planet,
Speaker 1: our children, our parents, or defend us and uphold our
Speaker 1: inaliable rights. Sir, But we truly hope that this show
Speaker 1: has inspired you to uphold our American values and to
Speaker 1: work on behalf of all of us. All of us. Again,
Speaker 1: we truly thank you, truly for seeing the show, this
Speaker 1: wonderful American story told by a diverse group of men
Speaker 1: and women of different colors, creeds, and orientation.
Speaker 2: Damn the chilled bitch.
Speaker 1: I love this cast.
Speaker 2: I'm having heart palpitations. I don't know if it's the
Speaker 2: coffee here or if that statement really just got me.
Speaker 1: It got you, because imagine delivering that on a Broadway stage.
Speaker 2: Imagine being there and you're kind of like just even
Speaker 2: kind of around pens and you're just kind of like
Speaker 2: I would have serious anxiety.
Speaker 1: Well, if I was with Pens that night and he
Speaker 1: was sitting next to me, I would do one of
Speaker 1: those like slow leans away, like bow your head down,
Speaker 1: and you're like, I don't, I don't.
Speaker 2: I don't know you, I don't know her. Sorry to
Speaker 2: this man, I'm kind of weird about that Pence would
Speaker 2: have gone to this type of play.
Speaker 1: Well, listen at the core, the show is about American history.
Speaker 1: He's the vice president elect of America. It is a
Speaker 1: show that is necessary for him to see. I just
Speaker 1: think that this version of America and this version of
Speaker 1: American history is maybe just not one that he wants
Speaker 1: to subscribe to. But when you look at the impact
Speaker 1: of this musical, to me, this is exactly the America
Speaker 1: that we all subscribe to. So sorry, dude, you're the
Speaker 1: odd man out. This is America he left.
Speaker 2: Yeah by Hamilton fulfilled its purpose.
Speaker 1: It revolutionized musical theater and changed the lives and careers
Speaker 1: of everyone involved. Miranda quickly became one of the highest
Speaker 1: earning celebrities.
Speaker 2: It also got him the attention of a.
Speaker 1: Mouse, Yes, the big mouse himself.
Speaker 2: Disney came a Collin Lynn has been writing for them
Speaker 2: ever since, cleaning lamps for them, writing animated classics, including
Speaker 2: a musical about Bruno. We don't talk about Bruno.
Speaker 1: No no, there really is no limit to how far
Speaker 1: he'll go. Next up, we'll be culminating Lynn's career with
Speaker 1: his professional work related to Disney, the film adaptation of
Speaker 1: his first ever musical, and his directorial.
Speaker 2: Debut on the next Becoming an Icon.
Speaker 1: Becoming an Icon is presented by Sonoo and Iheart's Michael
Speaker 1: Duda podcast network. Listen to Becoming an Icon on the
Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts.