Reaching new heights
Not even a pandemic could slow down life for Lin-manuel Miranda, writes Tiffany Bakker
LIN-MANUEL Miranda is holding Australia close. The man who created Hamilton, the entirely rapped Broadway musical that changed theatre forever, is optimistic about the fact that the Sydney production remains slated to open in March, global pandemic and all.
“I check in every week [with local producers] and what I’ve been doing is holding weekly Zoom calls among all of the five Hamilton companies around the world,” Miranda says of the show’s suspended productions, which include New York, London, and a US touring cast.
“We’ve got a lot of frustrated energy, so we try to check in with each other, encourage each other. We’re all optimistic.”
Miranda is talking over
Zoom at his neighbour’s house in Manhattan’s Washington Heights neighbourhood.
“I had to come over here as my internet wasn’t good enough,” he says, laughing.
Miranda grew up in the vibrant Manhattan neighbourhood and still lives there with his wife Vanessa and the couple’s two sons.
He stayed because he always wanted to give back to the community which shaped him.
For Miranda, that came full circle in 2019 when, pre- COVID, he watched on as old folks he’d known since childhood served as extras during filming of the screen adaptation of his first pre- Hamilton Broadway smash In the Heights.
Now, as he finishes the film’s sound mix from home, a certain melancholy struck.
“To watch hundreds of Latinos dancing and hugging and crying in the streets is so bittersweet; there’s obviously that poignancy to the stuff that was created before the pandemic hit.”
He feels the same sentiment towards season two of His
Dark Materials, based on the wildly popular Philip Pullman fantasy trilogy.
“This is a pre- COVID series you’re going to be watching and there is a poignancy to that; now we’d be on set with masks, socially distancing,” he says.
The show centres on the world of Lyra (Dafne Keen), an orphan who exists within a parallel universe where people’s souls walk alongside them in the form of animals called ‘daemons’; the church rules and talking polar bears wander the north.
Miranda plays Lee, an aeronaut whose preferred mode of transport is a hot air balloon.
Unlike most of us, who have navigated 2020 by sitting on the couch streaming TV, Miranda’s eye-watering productivity is enough to make you feel bad about your life choices.
He’s writing two animated musicals; finishing postproduction for In the Heights and about to resume stewardship of Tick, Tick… Boom!, his directorial debut for Netflix.
But the year has forced him to take stock.
“This pandemic has made everyone double down on their families and loved ones. You learn who’s important to you and what’s important to you. You learn who texts you first, you learn what measures and what lengths you have to go to, to keep your family safe.”
“Everyone likes to talk about how art isn’t essential, but imagine surviving this time without it. Art is a magic bullet in a way that politics can never be.”
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