Lin-Manuel Miranda‘s father is recounting the time he told his son not to perform a song from Hamilton at the White House.
Luis A. Miranda Jr. recently told People magazine that he initially encouraged the Tony winner to perform something “we know works,” specifically a song from his Broadway musical In the Heights, at the White House Evening of Poetry, Music and the Spoken Word in 2009.
“He was invited to the White House. He was asked to sing something from In the Heights, and he told me, ‘Dad, you know that I’ve been working on Hamilton. Do you think that I could play the only song I have?’” Luis recalled Lin-Manuel asking him.
“I’m like, ‘No. No, why don’t you go with what we know works, which is In the Heights,’” he continued, noting that his son ultimately went against his advice, but that the gamble clearly paid off. “But he presented it to the White House. They loved it, and the rest is history,” Luis added.
Lin-Manuel performed “The Hamilton Mixtape” at the White House event at the beginning of Barack Obama’s presidency. The track was an early version of the song that became the opening number of the musical Hamilton, titled “Alexander Hamilton.” The musical began as a mixtape album before it was developed for the stage and opened on Broadway in 2015.
Before Hamilton, the multi-hyphenate made his Broadway debut in 2008 with In the Heights, playing Usnavi. The musical won four Tonys, including best original score (music and/or lyrics) written for the theatre for Lin-Manuel.
Once Hamilton premiered, it became a smash hit, winning 11 Tony Awards, including best book of a musical and best original score (music and/or lyrics) written for the theatre for Lin-Manuel. A movie of the original Broadway production was later released in 2020.
“We expect greatness to continue because this is such an incredible work of art,” Luis also told People, celebrating the 10th anniversary of the musical. “Now it’s the big screen, and for us it’s even more significant because we couldn’t go to Broadway. We didn’t have money to go to Broadway, but we went to the movies all the time. So I know there are lots of families out there who can now experience Hamilton on the big screen.” The movie is currently playing in select theaters in honor of the milestone anniversary.
