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VIDEO FLASHBACK: Happy Birthday, Lin-Manuel Miranda! Celebrate from 'HEIGHTS' to HAMILTON

By: Jan. 16, 2016
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"7 years"
Cut Heights Song
"Bet on it"
"96000"
Acceptance speech
Hamilton at the White House
"In the Heights"
2011 Tonys Closer
BRING IT ON at the Tonys
Hamilton highlights
Lin with Jimmy Fallon
60 Minutes


He brought us a Tony-winning rap musical, IN THE HEIGHTS. He showed us another side of the founding fathers and landed Broadway squarely in the popular spotlight with Hamilton. He's just an Oscar away from an EGOT. And he's 36 today.

In honor of his birthday, we're celebrating composer/lyricist/book-writer/actor/genius Lin-Manuel Miranda by taking a look back at video highlights- some obscure- from his Broadway journey so far.


In anticipation of IN THE HEIGHTS opening Off-Broadway, Lin-Manuel Miranda performed an original new rap, "7 Years."

An early version of IN THE HEIGHTS featured an entirely different Act 2 opener, performed by Miranda and Alex Lacamoire here.

Then there was that time Miranda parodied "Bet on It" from HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL, with special appearances from Karen Olivo and Jonathan Groff (aka, "Groffsauce").

Miranda's first Tony Awards visit was with the IN THE HEIGHTS cast, performing part of the opening song and "96,000" in 2008.

And when he won the Tony Award for Best Score, of course he rapped his acceptance speech.

We first got a glimpse at Hamilton from Miranda's performance of "Alexander Hamilton" with Alex Lacamoire at the White House.

At 5-minute call for the last Saturday performance of IN THE HEIGHTS, Miranda sang the title song from an early incarnation of IN THE HEIGHTS (bonus points if you can spot Javier Munoz).

Alongside IN THE HEIGHTS and Hamilton director Thomas Kail, Miranda penned Neil Patrick Harris' closing rap at the 2011 Tony Awards.

He took his next show, BRING IT ON the musical, to the 2013 Tony Awards, featured in this performance led by Adrienne Warren.

And then of course, Hamilton debuted on Broadway last summer after a successful run at the Public Theater.

The rest of the world got to enjoy Miranda's freestyle rap skills on national television. Meanwhile, the entire Broadway community beamed with pride.

In November, Miranda gave us valuable insight into his process on 60 MINUTES. Highlights include him rocking out to "Guenevere" from CAMELOT, plus interviews with his parents, Hamilton castmates, and more!

Lin-Manuel Miranda is the Tony-winning composer-lyricist of Broadway's In the Heights. In the Heights received four 2008 Tony Awards (including Best Orchestrations, Best Choreography and Best Musical), with Lin-Manuel receiving a Tony Award for Best Score, as well as a nomination for Best Leading Actor in a Musical. Off-Broadway, In the Heights received 9 Drama Desk Nominations (including Best Music, Best Lyrics) and an award for Outstanding Ensemble Performance. In the Heights also won the Lucille Lortel Award and Outer Critic's Circle Award for Best Musical. Additionally, Lin-Manuel received an Obie Award for Outstanding Music and Lyrics for the show. In the Heights also took home a 2009 Grammy Award for its Original Broadway Cast Album and was recognized as a Finalist for the 2009 Pulitzer Prize in Drama.

Lin-Manuel is the co-composer (with Tom Kitt), and co-lyricist (with Amanda Green) of Broadway's Bring it On: The Musical (2013 Tony Nom., Best Musical, 2013 Drama Desk Nom., Best Lyrics in a Musical). The original Broadway cast recording was released by Sh-K-Boom Records in 2012. Bring It On completed its 2nd National/International Tour in July 2014.

Lin-Manuel's musical, Hamilton, (book, music and lyrics by Mr. Miranda, in addition to playing the title role) had its World Debut at The Public Theater in NYC in January 2015. Material from the show was previewed in Lincoln Center Theater's 2012 American Songbook Series and at New York Stage and Film's 2013 Powerhouse Theatre Season at Vassar College. The Public Theater production received a record-breaking 10 Lortel Awards, 3 Outer Critic Circle Awards, 8 Drama Desk Awards, the 2015 New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best New Musical and the 2015 OBIE Award for Best New American Play. Hamilton will transfer to Broadway at the Richard Rodgers Theatre, with previews beginning July 13th, 2015 and Opening Night on August 6, 2015.

As an actor, Lin-Manuel received a 2007 Theater World Award for Outstanding Debut Performance, and the 2007 Clarence Derwent Award for Most Promising Male Performance courtesy of Actor's Equity Foundation for In The Heights. Lin-Manuel also received the ASCAP Foundation's Richard Rodgers New Horizons Award. He is a National Arts Club Medal of Honor recipient. In May of 2009, Lin-Manuel received the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa, from Yeshiva University, the youngest recipient of such an honor in the University's 123-year history. Lin-Manuel was named as a 2015 Fellow of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. He is a Council Member of The Dramatists Guild, serves on the board of Young Playwrights Inc. and was appointed by Mayor Bill de Blasio to New York City's Theater Subdistrict Council in 2015.

Lin-Manuel appeared as Charley Kringas in the 2012 City Center Encores! production of Merrily We Roll Along directed by James Lapine, and can be heard on the 2012 Cast Recording released by PS Classics. He also appeared in the 2014 City Center Encores! Off-Center production of tick, tick... BOOM! in the role of Jonathan.

Lin-Manuel is a co-founder and member of Freestyle Love Supreme, a popular hip-hop improv group that performs regularly in New York City. The group has toured the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, as well as the Aspen, Melbourne and Montreal Comedy Festivals. The group's eponymous television series premiered on Pivot TV in 2014.

Lin-Manuel has contributed new songs to the revival of Stephen Schwartz's Working and worked with Arthur Laurents and Stephen Sondheim on Spanish translations for the 2009 Broadway Revival of West Side Story. He performed for President Obama and the First Family at the White House during its first-ever Evening of Poetry & Spoken Word. In 2014, Mr. Miranda received an Emmy Award with Tom Kitt for their song, "Bigger" from the 67th Annual Tony Awards telecast.

Lin-Manuel has lent his voice to the audiobook recordings of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz and Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saen. He also provided the voice of Zak in Coca Cola's 2013 Polar Bears animated short film. His TV and film credits include The Electric Company, Sesame Street, The Sopranos, House, Modern Family, Do No Harm, Smash, How I Met Your Mother, The Sex and the City Movie, The Odd Life of Timothy Green and 200 Cartas. He received his B.A. from Wesleyan University in 2002. He lives in NYC with his wife and son and dog.





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