Honoree Lin Manuel Miranda arrives at the 2018 Kennedy Center Honors. But Miranda never let anyone's opinion discourage him, and it ultimately made its debut at the Public Theater in 2015. He has said that he worked on the songs 'Alexander Hamilton' and 'My Shot' for an entire year each. Miranda worked on 'Hamilton'- a project people, including his mentor and famed lyricist Stephen Sondheim, told him would never work - for years. Miranda has said that Hamilton reminded him of rapper Tupac Shakur, which is how he came up with the idea for a diverse hip-hop musical about Hamilton's life. 'It was, he thought, a hip-hop story, an immigrant's story.' He 'saw Hamilton's relentlessness, brilliance, linguistic dexterity, and self-destructive stubbornness through his own idiosyncratic lens,' wrote The New Yorker in 2015. He was inspired to write a hip-hop musical about founding father Alexander Hamilton after reading the 2004 biography 'Alexander Hamilton' by historian Ron Chernow. Miranda began working on 'Hamilton' in 2009. By then, Miranda was already two years into his work on his biggest hit to date, 'Hamilton.' 'In the Heights' was nominated for 13 Tony Awards and won four, including Best Musical and Best Original Score, and the show ended its run in 2011. The show received mostly positive reviews, with many critics noting Miranda's emotional lyrics as its strength. After a run in Connecticut in 2005, 'In the Heights' made its premiere on Broadway in February 2008, when Miranda was 28 years old. The lively musical combines hip-hop with salsa and Latin sounds, and is set in the Manhattan neighborhood of Washington Heights, a Hispanic-American neighborhood close to where Miranda grew up.Īfter the show's debut, Miranda was approached about expanding the show into a Broadway production. The show was added to Wesleyan's student theater company, Second Stage, and played in April 2000. He wrote an early draft of his first musical, 'In the Heights,' when he was a sophomore in 1999. Miranda's non-stop work ethic started in college at Wesleyan University. Miranda celebrating after his win for Best Musical for 'In the Heights.' He's just an 'O' away from earning an EGOT - one of the most impressive feats in show business.Īs he turns 41 on January 16, we've profiled the rise of Miranda's booming career, to see how he did it and how he continues to aim higher every day.Ĭarrie Wittmer contributed to a previous version of this article. In just over a decade, he has won the MacArthur Genius Grant, a Pulitzer Prize, an Emmy, three Tonys, and three Grammys. He also wrote and starred in 'In the Heights,' a musical combining hip-hop and salsa that he started to work on while he was in college, which also has a theatrical version all lined up for 2021. Tickets were still hundreds of dollars (or thousands on resale websites), and had to be purchased months in advance.īut 'Hamilton' wasn't Miranda's first big hit. It easily ranks among modern classics like 'The Phantom of the Opera,' 'The Lion King,' and 'Wicked.'īefore Broadway shut down in March 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, 'Hamilton' was still one of the most popular shows on Broadway. 'Hamilton,' which he wrote and starred in, made its off-Broadway debut in 2015, and it quickly became one of the most popular and most profitable musicals of all time. After creating 'Hamilton,' he became a household name, and his career has skyrocketed in the years since. Lin-Manuel Miranda seemingly came out of nowhere. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.The success of 'Hamilton' has led to a promising career writing music for movies like 'Moana' and 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens,' and his upcoming directorial debut, 'Tick, Tick.Miranda's unconventional blend of musical theater and hip-hop, as well as a passion for diverse representation in the entertainment industry, has transformed musical theater.

Lin-Manuel Miranda rose to fame for his Broadway musical, 'Hamilton' - he worked on the show for years, and it became one of the biggest musicals of all time.

Hamilton take a break