He first gained attention from the theatre community with his original musical "In the Heights," which details the life of two characters living in a Hispanic neighborhood in New York. Now he has skyrocketed into the world of Broadway fame with his most recent masterpiece, "Hamilton," which uses rap and hip hop to detail the life and accomplishments of founding father, Alexander Hamilton.
Ever since its early 2015 debut, "Hamilton" has revolutionized the way musicals are written, performed, and perceived by an audience. Most Broadway audiences are mostly populated by those who love the rush of theatre, music, and dance with the occasional person who was mostly likely dragged to a production by a friend or relative. However, Miranda’s historical telling of Hamilton reels in all kinds of fans: rap and hip hop fans, musical theatre fans, American history fans, music fans, and even regular fans of entertainment.
The most striking characteristic of "Hamilton" is the fact that every single cast member, including Miranda himself, is a person of color. That’s right, the story of Hamilton and the founding fathers is brought to life by minorities and though that has been met with some slight controversy, it definitely has not stopped "Hamilton" fever from spreading amongst the masses.
Despite Miranda’s accomplishments, the biggest point I would like to make here is that Lin-Manuel Miranda isn’t just a contemporary Broadway icon. He is also a contemporary Latino icon and because of that, he means a lot to the Latino community (especially those who enjoy the arts).
Miranda is the son of Puerto Rican parents and has lived in New York, one of the most diverse cities in the United States, his entire life. He has said that, alongside the traditional Latin music, he heard plenty of original cast albums growing up including "Man of La Mancha" and "Camelot" and later saw legendary musicals like "Les Miserables" and "The Phantom of the Opera," which ultimately inspired him to pursue his theatrical dreams.
Imagine a young Latino boy being inspired to delve into the world of theatre, perhaps one of the most competitive job fields in existence, working many different jobs to support himself in the process, and finally reaching a point of success with his first original musical creation only to be met with even larger success with another original musical currently taking the country by storm.
This story is similar to many other successful Broadway actors of many different backgrounds and they are all just as inspiring. However, Lin-Manuel Miranda inspires aspiring Latino/a actors to never give up and break the racial divides that are still alive and well in many other job fields, including entertainment. His success is a symbol of minority representation and what minority actors can bring to the table regarding musical productions.
Miranda, like many others, challenges the idea that culture and contemporary musical theatre cannot exist in harmony and possibly attract audiences of all races. The music in his show "In the Heights" is heavily influenced by many Latin music genres like salsa and many songs are in both English and Spanish. Despite what many would think about the inclusion of Latino culture into a musical, the production has a very positive reception and allowed Miranda and finally be seen in the theatre world as a force of talent. That is precisely why he is a real inspiration to Latinos in theatre and Latinos in general.
A boricua (which is a term denoting a person from Puerto Rico or of Puerto Rican descent) on Broadway is nothing new, but there haven’t been too many who have reached levels of success that would deem them legends like Rita Moreno. Lin-Manuel Miranda, in many ways, is a contemporary symbol of Latinos on Broadway doing just as many amazing things as their other racial counterparts and I believe it is important to know of his prideful Puerto Rican heritage as we all continue to jam out to his musical hits.
