One of EW’s Entertainers of the Year talks departing ‘Hamilton’ and starting new adventures – and hashtags.
Im a fing mess right now.
But ultimately, hes just happy thatyourehappy.
Credit: (L-R) Comedy Central; Rick Diamond/Getty Images; David Livingston/Getty Images; Joan Marcus; Disney
Chalk that up to being the precocious comic relief in a nuclear family.
It would be easy to get lost in the accolades, but thats not Mirandas M.O.
Whats your reaction right now?
LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA:Im so thrilled.
And so I feel like the audience has been experiencing it the way we experienced putting it together.
And this caps the end of an insane year, and Im out!
Im out ofHamiltonthings to give you!
There was the mixtape!
There was a book!
Theres the show itself!
It just feels like such a gift.
The resolution of the year was to survive it.
[Laughs] And I have.
And Im grateful for it!
This has been such a remarkable year in my life.
Its been really crazy.
The fact that Im even talking to you from London is a sign of how crazy it is.
I dont even have words for it.
I cant remember what my resolution was.
Ive had a lifetimes worth of memories just this year alone.
What kind of Lin are you right now?
Are you in a writing headspace?
A holiday decorating one?
A how do I dance again?
I am in a gleefully grateful but exhausted headspace.
Im very much not in a writing headspace, actually.
Im really in a performer one.
Thats the opposing muscle group to writing.
So I am really not writing right now.
What was the lastHamilton-related dream you had?
Its been a minute.
Its a little like Hogwarts and the staircases dont get you where you want to go.
Which word almost caused you to blow it all?
The thing about the freestyle headspace [is] its very short-term memory.
So I have very few memories of actually being in the moment freestyling.
Its like when you ask athletes, How did it feel when you put away that winning shot!?
I relied on my training and it just happened!
You train and train so that when those moments happen, you just go, and youre not thinking.
We formed a mutual fandom so quickly when we met.
That was just a really fun conversation that got caught on camera.
And I predicted it would result in a million GIFs of her beatboxing, and I was right!
So that one was worth it for me.
What was your emotional hangover fromHamiltonlike after you left in July?
I used to sit on my bed and read the casts signed messages on the posters.
It was a delayed hangover because I immediately went into the studio with J.
Lo and was on theToday Showthe following Monday.
We had that charge to raise money right away for the Orlando victims as soon as possible.
And then once that was done, I really went away and just floated.
And now thats my favorite part of my day, every day.
What was your favorite piece of pop culture you got to show your son this year?
Whats your snapshot memory ofMoana?
The first memory I think of is that first weekend in New Zealand when I got the job.
But thats Opes song.
All of us jumping in and Mark coming in with chords, it was really a group effort.
We were in this studio at the edge of New Zealand it felt likeLord of the Ringsfor real.
(8b.Ron Clements and John Musker saidyou won a random dance contest while you were there?)
(That was the same day!
Thats not JUST the Pacific Islands.
The Caribbean Islands lay some claim to that skill as well.)
Where do you keep your Grammy?
You know, I still dont have myHamiltonGrammy?
Grammys got to get on that.
Maybe mine got lost in the mail.
I can tell you all the rest of the stuff is on a shelf in New York.
I think its at my parents house?
What was your last text to Javier Munoz?
My last text to Javi was You got hacked!
No, wait, you know what?
Theres one more recent than that.
Oh, I texted him happy birthday!
What was your favorite day on Twitter this year?
But I also really like the silly days.
Its nice to be that oasis on the Internet for people.
Besides Twitter, which app on your phone did you almost straight-up break this year from using too much?
As soon as [Hamiltonsound designer] Nevin Steinberg turned me on to it, the backgammon app.
Thats like my wife and Is sport of choice.
What was the most surprisingHamiltonmeme this year?
I was surprised by Find someone who looks at you the way Lin-Manuel looks at literally everyone.
I dont normally look like that, but I love that.
That made me laugh really hard.
Name one piece of criticism about you that you LOVED this year.
I get it every day, which is, stop blowing up my phone with notifications.
You know, musicals take a long time.
So here are some retweets in the meantime.
The criticism I get that I laugh at is that I tweet too much.
I have a lot of thoughts.
The most valid criticism is just Shut the f up!
which Im now used to that it doesnt even affect me.
What will Lin-Manuel absolutelynotbe doing in 2017?
I get offers to do that, and I think thats a slightly different skillset than what I have.
Im in awe of people like Neil Patrick Harris and Hugh Jackman who are themselves and perfectly at ease.
Im much more comfortable as a character or behind the scenes.
Im just trying to make new sh.
How did you reconcile the inherently political nature ofHamiltonwith a very volatile political year?
Essentially, this is my vague Mike Pence question.
You know whats interesting?
I dont think of myself as inherently political.
We get our senses of reality from different sources.
Its easy to curate your own reality.
And in a theater, its 1,300 people in a room watching the same thing, and thats powerful.
And so, theres the Pence of it all but also the Obama of it all.
And so those are sort of the two big political moments, but theyre about the same things.
Theyre about yo include all of us.
This country, we are inheritors of it.
And thats sort of about as political as I think I get.
What were the last three words you wrote from whatever project youre working on?
I just wrote a letter of recommendation for a kid I know very well for college.
When was the last time you listened toBring It On: The Musical?
Oh, fairly recently!
It was after seeing [Joshua] Henrys incandescent performance in Chicago.
He wasnt inBring It On: The Musicalbut its his vocals on the last song that Jackson sings.
How hasMoanainfiltrated your home life?
My son cannot stop with the Maui doll.
It says like seven things, a little bit from each line essentially, and hell say Maui?
and then he will sing the section of Youre Welcome to me.
Probably the most we sing is from the Maui dolls stomach.
Tell me aboutMary Poppins Returns.
Have you made a connection Dick van Dyke yet?
And whats it been like rehearsing with Emily Blunt?
That connection has not been made yet.
I hope to make it in the coming year.
My brain is certainly in a W.W.D.V.D.D.
mode right now as I am high-kicking.
So far its been me and Emily and [director] Rob Marshall.
There isnt anyone who has an unkind word to say about her.
BONUS QUESTION: 21.
Will you have a resolution for next year?
I guess my resolution is to continue to create space for myself and for my family.
Without that nothing else goes.
The secret is, Im going to write some big old fing flops!
Im going to write some things that really dont work.
I work on a movie, I know it can open and close and disappear.
Ive had enough to it to just know that you cant control the outcome of something.
you’re able to only control the thing you make.
