While attending Wesleyan University Miranda wrote the draft of what would become his first hit Broadway musical, In The Heights. The play, about a Latino neighborhood in New York, premiered on Broadway in 2008 and was nominated for 13 Tony Awards, winning four: Best Musical and Best Original Score and a Best Actor Tony Award for Miranda, and a  Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album.

The world-renowned musical Hamilton about President Alexander Hamilton was Miranda’s next Broadway hit.  The idea for the play started with a rap about Hamilton which he wrote and performed for the White House Evening of Poetry, Music and the Spoken Word in 2009.  

On the first night of the Hamilton previews (prior to opening), over 700 people were lined up for tickets. The play opened on Broadway in 2015 to rave reviews and sold-out houses.

Hamilton won the Tony Award for Best Musical; Miranda won the Tony Awards for Best Original Score and Best Book of a Musical and received a nomination for Best Actor in a Musical. Miranda won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the musical, and the Hamilton cast album won the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. 

While these two groundbreaking musicals launched his career, they do not uniquely define the artistic genius of Miranda.  He has had numerous musical collaborations, appeared in TV shows, and was in the film Mary Poppins Returns.  In 2021 Miranda makes his directorial debut with the musical drama film tick tock, BOOM based on a musical by Jonathan Larson. 

Featured Photo: Grammy Awards

— Latin Heat News Service

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