Because of the success of ‘Hamilton’ and ‘On Your Feet!’ you can’t hide behind the old argument of, ‘It needs to be bankable, so we can’t put all these people of color in the show.’ We are bankable. Lin-Manuel Miranda Read Quote
There’s been lots of theater that uses hip-hop in it, but more often than not, it’s used as a joke – isn’t it hilarious that these characters are rapping. I treat it as a musical form, and a musical form that allows you to pack in a ton of lyric. Lin-Manuel Miranda Read Quote
If there is a Busta Rhymes of musical theater, it probably is Mandy Patinkin. Lin-Manuel Miranda Read Quote
Rent’ was the show that made me want to write. Or that showed me you’re allowed to write. Lin-Manuel Miranda Read Quote
I like to separate the music- and lyric-writing processes if I can. I’ll sort of noodle around on my keyboard and my computer until I have a beat or a chord progression, I’ll record it as a loop, export it to iTunes, then walk around with the loop and sort of talk to myself in the loop, and that’s how I get the lyrics. Lin-Manuel Miranda Read Quote
The only other thing that’s like video games for me is watching tennis on TV. I can have it on, and there’s a rhythmic quality to it – I can be watching Wimbledon or the U.S. Open and still be working. Lin-Manuel Miranda Read Quote
I can’t say I have enough experience with Hollywood to feel that I’ve encountered racism there. I can tell you that I did about five fruitless years of auditioning for voiceovers where I did variations on tacos and Latin accents, and my first screen role was as a bellhop on ‘The Sopranos.’ Lin-Manuel Miranda Read Quote
What I learned from my go-round with ‘In the Heights’ is that it’s tough to make a movie. In Hollywood, even the people in charge have people in charge. Lin-Manuel Miranda Read Quote
I like the quiet it takes to pursue an idea the way I pursued ‘Hamilton,’ but I couldn’t write a book, because there’s no applause at the end of writing a book. Lin-Manuel Miranda Read Quote
