Meet the MIRANDAS
In our exclusive Father’s Day interview, Lin-Manuel Miranda and his father, Luis, recall the New York City memories that sparked the Hamilton creator’s latest—and most personal—project, the joyous movie musical In the Heights.
his story starts in 1981, when married New York University grad students Luis A. Miranda Jr. and Luz Townes-Miranda were looking to move from their downtown college housing unit. With a 7-year-old daughter and a baby boy, the pair longed to relocate to a warm and welcoming community akin to Luis’ childhood hometown of Vega Alta in Puerto Rico.
In the Sunday real-estate section of the New York Times, Luis saw a listing for a townhouse in the Washington Heights area in upper Manhattan. “We showed up and loved what we saw,” he says. “And we sensed that it was changing to become a Latin neighborhood.”
That decision ultimately inspired a joyous, Tony Award– winning Broadway musical and movie adaptation, courtesy of Luis and Luz’s baby boy, Lin-Manuel Miranda. In the
THeights (which premiered June 11 in theaters and on HBO Max) is more than just a tale of a local dreamer experiencing mixed feelings about closing his grocery store and returning to his roots, moving back to the Dominican Republic. With music and lyrics by Lin-Manuel (who also starred in the original Broadway production and now cameos in the film), the salsa-and-Latin-pop-infused project is a deeply personal ode to his community’s people, goals, heritage and aspirations.
The new movie stars Anthony Ramos as Usnavi (the role played by Lin-Manuel onstage), plus Corey Hawkins (from The Walking Dead), singer-songwriter Leslie Grace and Melissa Barrera, who starred in the Starz TV series Vida.
“This was my first attempt to bring all of me into my work,” says Lin-Manuel, who also documented his journey in the new book In the Heights: Finding Home (out now). Though the talented star led a cultural revolution (and picked up Tonys, Grammys, the Pulitzer Prize and a