Lin-Manuel Miranda.
You may have heard his name before. He is the creator behind Hamilton: An American Musical and Into the Heights. He is the brilliant man who not only wrote the music and the story but also starred in his own musical! However, you might need six more reasons to believe that Lin Manuel Miranda is literally everything we could ever want in life.
First, let’s be honest with each other. He is such a cute little cinnamon roll. He is a HUGE nerd, and a total Harry Potter fan through and through. He is such a gentleman in real life too. He’s just perfect all around! I mean, how could you say no to that face?
Two: Hamilton: An American Musical took seven years to write. It took the first year to write the first song and another year to write the second song. He dedicated so much of his life to bringing Hamilton to the stage and it paid off big time. Many of the songs from the soundtrack relate to key points in Lin’s life. One song, Dear Theodosia, is about Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr’s thoughts as they begin their life into fatherhood and details how they are going to raise their kids better than their fathers did. However, while many might think Lin wrote this for his son, Sebastian, he actually didn’t. Lin wrote this song the week they adopted their dog. Lin wrote King George’s song, You’ll Be Back, while on his honeymoon without a piano. Wow.
Three: He writes beautifully. On his twitter page, he is constantly writing heart-warming good morning and goodnight tweets. Some are really random but most are astoundingly inspiring. They tell the reader to get up and get going and enjoy the world. They bring joy to my life when I read them and they truly do inspire me to get out of bed and enjoy life.
Four: He is literally a freaking genius. Lin has joined the MacArthur Fellows Program, which doesn’t accept just anyone. Only geniuses allowed in there. It definitely took a genius to write a musical about a Founding Father, wouldn’t you agree?
Five: Let’s tally up his awards. He has won an Emmy, a Grammy, a Pulitzer nomination, a ton of Tonys, and it’s basically guaranteed that his latest work, Moana, will get an Oscar. During the Tony Awards earlier this year, when accepting one of his many awards of the night, he pulled out a piece of paper and read a sonnet that he had written for his wife. Be still my heart. That is definitely the kind of person you want in a relationship, am I right?
Six: Lin loves being on television shows and recently hosted Saturday Night Live on October 7th and brought down the house (figuratively). He joined numerous sketches, all seemingly music-related. The best one of the night had to be Crucible Cast Party, in which he played the teenager who was the lead in every high school musical production. Lin also delivered an amazing opening number, which you really should watch (if you have not done so already!). He sang to the tune of “My Shot” from Hamilton, comparing Hamilton to the political scene today. He even managed to almost bash Donald Trump during his number, stating that, “Tonight I’m finally earning my spot,/ On this wall, in this hall,/ and I’m gettin’ a piece of it/ Like Miley, Schumer, Tracy Morgan and this piece of -” (looking at a picture of Donald Trump.) He then proceeds to sing one particular line from The Reynolds Pamphlet in Hamilton that describes the state of the nation’s politics: “Well he’s never gonna be president now, never gonna be president now.” Lin has always been very open about his beliefs, so it’s no wonder that this emerged in his opening number.
When reading or watching something that Lin Manuel Miranda has created, I often find myself saying “How?” or “Why?”, referencing his absolute brilliance. I am so honored to be able to say that I lived during his lifetime and that I was able to be in the “{world} where it happened. Click Boom.”