Kennedy Center Honor), thanks to his musical Hamilton, he says who plays a patriarch in the new movie version of In the Heights.) In the Heights is a true refl ection of who he is. “Th e setting made He credits his older sister, Luz Miranda-Crespo, for introducing sense to me because I grew up and live in one of the most musical him to his favorite hip-hop artists, including A Tribe Called Quest, neighborhoods in New York,” he says of the show, which he started Run-DMC and the Beastie Boys. composing in 1999. “Th is is a world where bodies in the street Certain childhood memories sing, sweat and dance. Characters live and rise together.” pop up, like seeing Les Misérables And during these unsettled times, he adds, “Th at theme is on Broadway in 1987, his fi rst actually poignant.” musical. “I remember crying when Fantine died and falling asleep for Like Father, Like Son a spell and waking up to Javert’s Luis, 66, and Lin-Manuel, 41, have always been close, and they suicide,” he says. “I was also jealous still are. Th ey live within walking distance of each other in the that there was a little kid onstage Inwood/Washington Heights neighborhood. Th e elder Mirandas, [the character of Gavroche] and now married for 43 years, still live in that fi rst house and have thinking, Wait, how do you get that no plans to move. “If we did, it would require 10 moving trucks!” job in theater?!” He also vividly Luis exclaims. “We’ve saved everything, including Lin-Manuel’s recalls his mom listening to the letters when he was a little boy.” (Lin-Manuel pipes up: “Can we cast album, always crying during please not call it ‘hoarding’ for Parade magazine?”) Lin-Manuel the ballad “Bring Him Home.” estimates that he and his wife of 11 years—chemist Vanessa Even as a 7-year-old, he says, “Th at Nadal, 38—along with their sons, Sebastian, 6, and Francisco, 3, music was very formative.” stop by every few weeks and on the weekends. Lin-Manuel also regularly saw Beyond geography, father and son spend many of their work- a special fi lm close to his father’s ing hours together in an arrangement that plays to each other’s heart: Th e Unsinkable Molly Brown, strengths. Luis, who spent years as a political consultant for New starring Debbie Reynolds, a 1964 York City mayor Ed Koch and later for the Senate campaigns fi ctionalized musical about the of Hillary Clinton and Charles Schumer, now throws his energy real-life woman who, among other From top: the Mirandas in the into promoting his son’s projects and their social endeavors. In early ’80s; Lin-Manuel and his things, survived the sinking of the 2019, when Puerto Rico was still recovering from 2017’s Hurri- wife, Vanessa Nadal, in 2019 Titanic. As a kid, Luis was so taken cane Maria, Luis helped his son bring Hamilton to the island for by the actress’ grit that he wrote a series of benefi t performances. And in April, they helped open her a fan letter and was giddy when she personally responded. He a COVID vaccination site in New York City’s Times Square quickly adopted that can-do spirit and credits the character for intended to jump-start the local entertainment industry. inspiring him to leave Puerto Rico in 1973 and move to New York “We have very similar instincts,” Lin-Manuel says. “Th ere’s a lot City to pursue his American dream. “We watched that movie so coming at me all the time, and my dad is sort of a natural gatekeeper.” many f---ing times,” Lin-Manuel says with a groan. Some swearing aside, Lin-Manuel admits he was never much ‘Write What You Know’ of a troublemaker (“I watched my sister fi ght my parents, with Th ough Lin-Manuel’s upbringing in the Heights featured music limited success”) and had zero interest in pursuing his father’s cut- constantly booming from cars and the streets, life inside the throat world of politics. Instead, he threw himself into writing and Miranda household was more low-key. He watched NBC composing. At Wesleyan University in Connecticut, he wrote sitcoms like Family Ties with his dad and L.A. Law and NYPD the fi rst draft of In the Heights, and he continued to fi ne-tune it

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: COURTESY LIN MANUEL MIRANDA; SHANNON FINNEY/GETTY IMAGES; DISNEY STUDIOS MOTION PICTURES/EVERETT COLLECTION MAIDMENT/WALT COLLECTION; JAY MICHAEL PARMELEE/FX/EVERETT Blue with his mom. (Th e latter series both starred Jimmy Smits, continued on page 12

Mary Poppins Returns Fosse/Verdon Tick, Tick . . . Boom! (2021) Coming (2018) How (2019) Not only did to Netfl ix this fall, his feature directorial super(califragilisticexpialidocious)! Miranda co-executive produce this debut, based on the semi-autobio- As Jack the lamplighter, he got to acclaimed FX miniseries about Bob graphical musical of the same name sing and tap-dance in a sequel to Fosse and his wife, Gwen Verdon, by Jonathan Larson (Rent), follows a Disney classic. He also acted he appeared as actor Roy the aspirations of a composer alongside his idol, original Pop- Scheider—who starred in All (Andrew Garfi eld) to defi ne him- pins star Dick Van Dyke. “I was That Jazz, a movie directed by self in the NYC theater scene. geeking out!” he says. Fosse and based on his life. JUNE 20, 2021 | 11

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