Review: Most Definitely 'Satisfied' by LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA + FRIENDS: AN EVENING OF CONVERSATION AND SONG at Tilles Center

Middle school. Two words that usually send chills down your spine. For many, middle school is usually considered the worst three years (6th-8th grade) of their life. For some like Lin-Manuel Miranda, it can be considered a source of inspiration. Miranda attended Hunter College School, a public elementary and high school for gifted students. It was here where Miranda was under the inspiring tutelage of music teacher Barbara Ames and English teacher Rembert Herbert. Ames directed the 6th grade play, a production Lin eagerly anticipated being a part of. The year Lin entered 6th grade, the school decided to perform twenty-minute versions of the previous six years shows; a literal Broadway variety show that lasted four hours long! Miranda played a farmer in Oklahoma!, Captain Hook in Peter Pan, Bernardo in West Side Story, Addaperle’s back-up vocalist in The Wiz, a son in Fiddler on the Roof, and Conrad Birdie in Bye Bye Birdie. By being a part of this musical marathon, the performing bug bit Miranda. Lin finally put pen to paper when he was given an assignment by his English teacher Dr. Herbert. Lin’s English class was broken into groups and given the assignment to teach three chapters of Chaim Potok’s The Chosen. Miranda decided to musicalize his group’s chapters. He wrote a song for each chapter and recorded all the vocal tracks, so all the other kids in his group could lip-sync along. In addition to Miranda’s family, it’s because of Ames and Herbert that we have the genius that is Lin-Manuel Miranda.

On September 27, 2023, LIU Post’s Tilles Center opened its 2023-2024 season with Lin-Manuel Miranda + Friends: An Evening of Conversation and Song. The show was very much like watching an episode of Inside the Actor’s Studio. Stage left, Lin sat down for an interview moderated by Jeremy McCarter. McCarter is Miranda’s co-author of two New York Times best-sellers, Hamilton: The Revolution and In the Heights: Finding Home (also with Quiara Alegria Hudes). McCarter asked a lot of interesting questions spanning Miranda’s theatrical career. The interview was interspersed with musical performances by the brilliant Mandy Gonzalez and Javier Munoz. Each performance perfectly accentuated Miranda and McCarter’s conversation. Both Gonzalez and Munoz were in strong voice and backed by a fantastic band led by Dan Lipton on piano and included Jacinta Clusellas (guitar), Emma Ford (percussion) and Irio O’Farrill (bass).

Like his music, Miranda was infectious during his interview. A highlight for me was hearing Miranda talk about collaboration. Miranda once stated in Smithsonian Magazine, “The fun for me in collaboration is, one, working with other people just makes you smarter, that’s proven…We elevate each other. And two, it’s enormously gratifying because you can build things so much bigger than yourself.” It was fascinating hearing him talk about collaboration. He first discussed working with Stephen Schwartz on Working. After In the Heights opened, Schwartz asked Miranda if he’d like to collaborate and work on some new songs for a revival. Miranda spoke about how it felt strange when the writing stopped for In the Heights, especially since it was all he wrote for five years; Schwartz gave him an opportunity to keep the juices flowing. For Working, in addition to drawing upon his own experience working as a delivery boy for McDonalds, Lin also chronicled the life of a caregiver, an often over-looked and underpaid profession. I think” A Very Good Day” is one of the greatest songs Miranda ever wrote and is quite haunting. In addition to speaking about his frequent collaborators (Thomas Kail and Alex Lacamoire), Lin also spoke about having amazing experiences working with Tom Kitt & Amanda Green on Bring It On and with John Kander on New York, New York. Kander and Miranda wrote a song for “Hamildrops” called “Cheering for Me Now”; which would later be used in New York, New York. Lin said, “I’ve never written as fast as I do with John”; they wrote this song in 90 minutes. Did I mention this song also became the theme song for the Empire State Building in 2019?

It was especially exciting and elating to hear about Miranda’s work with the late Stephen Sondheim. Miranda worked with Sondheim by writing the Spanish translations of the lyrics for the 2009 revival of West Side Story. Miranda stated that Sondheim was his mentor; Sondheim would always mentor as many artists as he possibly could (check out @sondheimletters on Instagram). After hearing some early drafts of Hamilton, Sondheim told Miranda, “Variety, variety, variety. With rap music, the beat distracts us from the lyrics. Hit us with everything you’ve got.” When asked to comment on Sondheim’s passing, Miranda said, “Our encourager in chief is gone.” Like Sondheim, Miranda freely mentors as many aspiring artists as he can.

Another highlight of the evening was seeing the Central Islip High School Concert Choir grace the stage for the final three numbers of the night. It’s no easy feat singing behind vocal talents like Mandy Gonzalez or Javier Munoz; this group held their own and did a phenomenal job. It was also nice that proceeds from the evening went to the Miranda Family Fund which provides opportunities for artists of color, hurricane relief, inclusive voting practices, COVID-19 relief and more.

Some other Q & A highlights included (note: these are not direct quotes):

JM: What was the first Broadway show you saw?

LMM: Les Misérables

JM: Who are your musical inspirations?

LMM: Big Pun, Weird Al Yankovic and Jonathan Larson

JM: What do you find musically inspiring now?

LMM: Lil Wayne and deep cuts from Sondheim (Evening Primrose, Assassins)

JM: Are you Nina from In the Heights?

LMM: There are certain aspects, sure. I would definitely long for my aspirations on my fire escape in Washington Heights. I also felt Nina’s s sense of pressure with the high expectations set upon her by her family when she went to college. When I went to college, I worked really hard especially because I knew how hard my parents worked to get me there. We both wanted to make our parents proud.

JMM: Who hears your stuff first?

LMM: My wife always. She helped me come up with “Helpless” in Hamilton. Originally, the song was called “This One’s Mine.” When she heard me play “This One’s Mine”, she said, “You’re not done with this yet. It’s not a love song.” She knew what I had in me and that feedback helped bring out the song currently in the show.

JMM: Why is Hamilton so prevalent? Could it open on Broadway today?

LMM: It’s its reverberating themes which we are still facing today. Are we a country of 50 states or a 1 state country? When should we get involved with foreign affairs? The effect of gun violence on our country; all of the characters that die in Hamilton are killed by guns. The role of slavery in the show; slavery is the original sin of this country. These are fights that were being fought at our country’s foundation and are still being fought today.

My only critique for the evening was I wish it was longer because I didn’t want it to end. Unfortunately, because of the SAG-AFTRA strike, Lin could not discuss any of his film and television work including: his massive collaboration with Disney (Moana, Encanto, Mary Poppins Returns, The Little Mermaid, Star Wars, etc..), adapting his shows for the big screen, his amazing work in HBO’s His Dark Materials, or fulfilling his life-long dream of directing movies (Netflix’s tick…tick…boom!). Attention Tilles Center, “don’t throw away your shot”. Once the strike is over, please bring Lin back for a Part II. If it’s anything like the first night, it sure to be a highly entertaining evening.

Performance Setlist:

• Louder than Words (from tick…tick…boom!) – Javier Munoz
• Another Day (from Rent) – Mandy Gonzalez & Javier Munoz
• Fire Escape (cut song from In the Heights/ Breathe (from In the Heights) – Mandy and Javier
• A Very Good Day (from Working) – Javier and Mandy
• Cheering for Me Now (from New York, New York) – Javier
• One Perfect Moment (from Bring It On) – Mandy
• My Shot (from Hamilton) – Javier & Central Islip High School Concert Choir
• Fearless (original song written for Mandy Gonzalez) – Mandy & Central Islip High School Concert Choir
• Finale (from In the Heights) – Javier, Mandy & Central Islip High School Concert Choir

You can see all upcoming events and purchase tickets for the Tilles Center's 2023-2024 season here: 

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