Lin-Manuel Miranda

"I am not throwing away my shot. I am not throwing away my shot. Hey yo, I'm just like my country, I'm young, scrappy and hungry, and I'm not throwing away my shot!" (Lin-Manuel Miranda). These lyrics from the musical, Hamilton describe its playwright and leading man, Lin-Manuel Miranda, well. Miranda is an American composer and performer of Puerto Rican descent, known for his composition of award winning musicals In the Heights, and more recently, Hamilton. In spite of his young age, Miranda has already altered the future of musical theatre for the better.  He takes inspiration from his childhood neighborhood in New York City, which was lush with Puerto Rican culture. His broadway journey began when his debut musical, In the Heights, opened at the Richard Rodgers Theatre. Audiences were pleasantly surprised to find that Miranda did not write traditional musicals like other playwrights. He wrote a hip-hop musical, something that hadn't been well recognized before. Miranda exceeded Broadway's expectations and he was not afraid to do it. He is heroic in this way. A hero must be humble, determined and revolutionary to be an inspiration. Lin-Manuel Miranda's ability to be humble despite all the attention on him, his determination even though others underestimated him, and his innovative vision for musical theater makes him a hero.

The way Miranda gives back to society and supports charities makes him humble.  Miranda has received overwhelming amounts of recognition ever since Hamilton took America  by storm but has always been modest about it, in spite of being awarded:

One of the stealthiest--and most generous--professional honors for U.S. trailblazers: the fabled genius grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation...the MacArthur fellowships include a no-strings-attached $625,000 bequest. Miranda told reporters he planned to allocate some of his 2015 windfall as a bequest to a little-known New York City social services provider, the Graham Windham Services for Families, whose origins were in a charity co-founded in 1806 by the real-life Hamilton's widow Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton. ("Lin-Manuel Miranda." Newsmakers)

Miranda could have kept the bequest for himself, but considered otherwise and gave some of it to the charity Alexander Hamilton's wife cofounded. Miranda is not selfish because he thought of those other than himself, and offered the money to those who needed it more than he did. Tickets to see Miranda's most recent success, Hamilton do not only sell fast, but they are also expensive. Miranda made tickets more accessible when he "...set up a partnership with the Rockefeller Foundation to perform more than a dozen matinee shows for 20,000 New York City public school students. The producers charged just $10 per ticket while the rest was subsidized by the foundation" ("Lin-Manuel Miranda." Gale). Miranda did not spend seven years invested in producing Hamilton for the money he would receive. He wanted to share Hamilton's legacy with America, especially its youth. So by working with the Rockefeller Foundation, he made the show available to public school students and passed on Hamilton's story. Miranda is humble because he gives back to society by supporting charities.

Despite his young age, Miranda is determined because of his persistent work ethic and passion towards his projects. Miranda had a rough time jumpstarting his career after college, but he did not let that stop him. "Miranda had some lean years as he struggled to develop a creative career in the performing arts while supporting himself. He and some friends formed Freestyle Love Supreme, a hip-hop improvisation act, but he also worked as a bar mitzvah entertainer-for-hire" ("Lin-Manuel Miranda." Newsmakers). Miranda worked many jobs but he pursued through his hardships so he could support himself and focus on his artistic career. He could have given up on his dream, but Miranda did not settle for anything less than what he wanted. Miranda worked relentlessly for years before working on his debut musical, In the Heights, which opened in early 2008. After In the Heights had opened, Miranda got acknowledged for his artistry: "In an interview with Broadway.com, Miranda said 'I barely slept, I barely ate; I just wrote. I put in all the things I'd always wanted to see onstage: propulsive freestyle rap scenes outside of bodegas, salsa numbers that also revealed character and story. I tried to write the kind of show I'd want to be in'" ("Lin-Manuel Miranda." Gale). Miranda was dedicated to this project and worked nonstop, making sure every detail fit into his vision. His tenacity to ensure the authenticity of In the Heights truly proves his determination. Following his success with In the Heights, Miranda started writing The Hamilton Mixtape. He performed drafts of early songs for the first time at the White House where:

Lin had been asked to close the program. That was an honor, but it also meant that he had to wait all night to take the stage.Lin gripped his mic and prepared the crowd for what they were about to hear. 'I'm actually working on a hip-hop album-a concept album-about someone who embodies hip-hop,' he said. 'Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton.' You can see what happened next on YouTube, where the video of the performance has been viewed more than one million times. As Lin began to rap, the first lady took up his invitation to snap along. President Obama didn't snap: He watched smiling. When the song ended, he was the first one to his feet. (Miranda 14-15)

Immediately after Miranda started explaining the project he was working on, the audience was laughing. Even as the crowed cackled, he did not back down. Instead, he went on with his performance, and shocked the audience to the point where every person was on their feet, applauding him. Miranda is passionate about what he creates and is determined to make them the best they can be.

Miranda's vision to expand the possibilities of musical theater makes him innovative and revolutionary. Miranda's In the Heights earned him great amounts of praise for his immense skill, despite how young he is.

Just 27 years old on its opening night in New York, Miranda garnered exceptionally strong accolades for both his creation and stage presence. 'The most obvious of the show's many virtues is that it doesn't sound like the ... pseudo-pop that clutters up Broadway. Miranda's score is rich and kaleidoscopic, as it needs to be,' declared New York magazine writer Jeremy McCarter. 'Songs slip into one another, advancing plot and shifting mood,' McCarter noted. ("Lin-Manuel Miranda." Newsmakers)

Miranda's unique artistic style earns him the recognition he deserves as an innovator. His compositions are refreshing, bringing new things that are unheard of on Broadway, like his pattern of writing hip-hop musicals. When Hamilton came along, many were surprised with its diverse cast. When asked as to why that decision was made, Miranda responded with, "'This is the story about America then, told by America now. It looks like America now'" (CBS Sunday Morning). He did not only envision Hamilton's story to be translated through hip-hop, but also to have people of color be the ones translating it. By doing this, Miranda has changed Broadway, setting an example that proves people of varied nationalities can play roles just as well as white people. Miranda's creativity and revolutionary artistic style makes him both heroic and inspirational.

Lin-Manuel Miranda's persistent work ethic and thirst for new ideas makes him an inspiration to others. He is humble despite all of the recognition he receives. Miranda's determination has influenced him to produce musicals that have set new expectations for Broadway. Miranda has found ways to tell stories and simultaneously educate others in a way that "...[resonates powerfully with his audience] because they find eloquent ways to revive Hamilton's revolution, the one that spurred Americans to see themselves and each other as fellow citizens in a sprawling, polyglot young republic" (Miranda 284). It is what makes him inspirational. Taking topics that most students fall asleep to and make it something that motivates them makes Miranda a hero. Being a person that appreciates music and theater, Lin-Manuel Miranda inspires me to stay true to myself and work my hardest to achieve my goals of one day performing on a stage. Miranda has constantly proved that he is not afraid to defy expectations. He does not throw away his shots to create something new. Miranda inspires others not to throw away their shots either.

Works Cited

CBS Sunday Morning. "Hamilton: A founding father takes to the stage." YouTube. YouTube,  8

March 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wboCdgzLHg

"Lin-Manuel Miranda." Gale Biography in Context, Gale, 2015. Biography in Context,

link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/K1650009986/BIC1?u=powa9245&xid=28f17a4a. Accessed 2 May 2017.

"Lin-Manuel Miranda." Newsmakers, vol. 4, Gale, 2016. Biography in Context,

link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/K1618006382/BIC1?u=powa9245&xid=114f67b7. Accessed 28 Apr. 2017.

Miranda, Lin-Manuel. "Hamilton: The Revolution". Grand Central Publishing, April 2016