The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Liked ‘Hamilton’? New documentary shows where it came from
You’ve probably seen or heard the highly scripted side of Lin-Manuel Miranda. Now get to know the unscripted one.
The playwright, actor and songwriter this month follows up the streaming live capture of his triumphant Broadway musical “Hamilton” with a documentary on Hulu showing his impressive hip-hop improvisation skills in “We Are Freestyle Love Supreme.”
Freestyle Love Supreme performances offer thrillingly creative, fly-by-the-seatof-your-pants moments, in which the performers weave songs out of random words and audience suggestions like “dishwasher” or “peanut butter.”
Director Andrew Fried turned his camera on in 2005 when the troupe did a run of shows at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and then charts the group’s development over the years, capping it with a 2019 Broadway run. In her review, Associated Press film writer Lindsey Bahr called it “essential” to Miranda disciples.
Miranda describes the improv group as a crucial creative spark to his more formal stage shows, which include the Tony Award-winning “Hamilton” and “In the Heights.”
“I’ve often sort of jokingly called Freestyle Love Supreme the opposing muscle group of my writing,” Miranda tells The Associated Press.
“The fact that I have this other artistic output forced me to be present and create lyrics on the spot. It made me a better writer.”
The documentary gives fans of “Hamilton” a chance to see when Miranda’s talent was forged.
For him, it’s a timeline of his career. It opens before he started dating the woman who would be his wife and the mother of his kids. And he’s at a professional low point: He’s just been told “In the Heights” is not ready for the stage.
“It was all of it. It was the freedom and it was the terror,” Miranda recalls of those early days. Of the film’s long look, he adds: “It’s an enormous, lifechanging slice of time. And yet we’re the same. We’re the same idiots.”