PEOPLE IN THE NEWS
‘Hamilton’ creator will reprise his starring role in Puerto Rico
Broadway’s buzziest show is headed to Puerto Rico.
Lin-Manuel Miranda is bringing his musical “Hamilton” there in early 2019 for a three-week run — during which he’ll reprise his leading role of founding father Alexander Hamilton.
It’s a dream come true for Miranda — who has deep familial roots to the island — to bring the wildly popular musical to the island, which suffered horrific damage in September from Hurricane Maria.
“When I last visited the island, a few weeks before Hurricane Maria, I had made a commitment to not only bring the show to Puerto Rico, but also return again to the title role,” Miranda said in a statement Wednesday. “In the aftermath of Maria, we decided to expedite the announcement of the project to send a bold message that Puerto Rico will recover and be back in business, stronger than ever.”
The performances will take place from Jan. 8-27, 2019, at Teatro UPR, which is perhaps Puerto Rico’s most famous theater. The venue sustained considerable damage in the hurricane but is slated to be repaired in time for the “Hamilton” shows.
The announcement comes days after Miranda, who was born in New York City, revealed that the nonprofit organization founded by his father, the Hispanic Federation, was donating $2.5 million to various charities to help Puerto Rico in the aftermath of the devastating storm.
“Hamilton” remains the hottest ticket on Broadway nearly three years after its January 2015 premiere. Miranda, 37, starred in his final Broadway performance of “Hamilton” in July 2016.
Miranda has been vocal in his support of helping Puerto Rico recover after Maria, and made headlines in September when he tweeted President Trump was “going straight to hell” after he criticized Puerto Rican officials.
Ilia Calderón will be the new coanchor of Spanish-language network Univision’s nightly newscast “Noticiero Univision.”
Univision announced Wednesday that Calderón will join Jorge Ramos next month on the program, succeeding his longtime co-anchor María Elena Salinas.
Salinas announced in August that she was stepping down from the program and ending her 36-year run at Univision. Salinas will have a program on true crime network Investigation Discovery next year.
According to Univision, Calderón is the first Afro-Latina to anchor a national newscast in the U.S. She is a native of the Chocó region of Colombia.
As a correspondent for the Univision newsmagazine program “Aquí y Ahora,” Calderón had a viral video moment this year with her interview of Ku Klux Klan leader Chris Barker. Calderón stood firm as Barker told her she was the first black person ever to set foot on his North Carolina property, used a racial slur to describe her and threatened to “burn you out.”
Calderón, 45, was a local and national anchor in her home country until 2001, when she moved to Miami to join Spanish-language network Telemundo. She was an anchor at Telemundo until joining Univision in 2007. She has been an anchor on Univision’s “Primer Impacto” and “Noticiero Univision: Edition Nocturna.”
In addition to “Noticiero Univision,” Calderón will also co-host “Aquí y Ahora,” which airs Sunday nights, alongside Teresa Rodríguez.
‘Noticiero Univision’ names co-anchor’