Inteview: Everything I Know: Mandy Gonzalez Sings Lin-Manuel Miranda

I had an opportunity to sit down with Mandy Gonzalez to discuss the upcoming Philadelphia performance of her Carnegie Hall show, Everything I Know: Mandy Gonzalez Sings Lin-Manuel Miranda, her life leading up to it., and the importance of community.

For one Saturday afternoon in April, Mandy Gonzalez is bringing the works of Lin-Manuel Miranda to the Philadelphia stage, in a style typically reserved for composers of the Broadway classics, like Stephen Sondheim or Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Combining musical theatre, a full symphony, and The Philly Pops with her Carnegie Hall show, Mandy aims to reach new audiences with her message of acceptance, community, strength, and knowing you have a place where you always belong. Sharing her personal story of survival, finding her inner strength, accepting help, and rising above life’s challenges to achieve her dreams is just part of the experience.

Mandy did not fully understand the powerful role community played in her life until her battle with breast cancer. While starring in Hamilton, she received the news of a stage 1 cancer diagnosis. With an attitude emphasising “the show must go on”, she faced treatment, chemotherapy, and 8 performances per week, until the COVID-19 pandemic shut down The Great White Way.

Through the creation of the Fearless Squad, her friends, family, and the support she received, she was inspired her to bring her diagnoses to the public eye. She had one hope in mind - to connect with others, raise awareness of cancer screenings, and help others either stay healthy or get through treatment.

As theatres began to open back up, and she took the stage again, it became apparent how much her journey, her performances, and the songs written by Lin-Manuel Miranda connected to others. Show after show, fans told Mandy their personal connections to both her work and her life.

That’s when she had a dawning realisation - she wasn’t just helping others, they were helping her too.

Now with a full grasp on how helpful the feeling of support, belonging, and community truly is, she approached Lin-Manuel Miranda to ask if she could put together a new show, using his songs; which truthfully have defined a generation. After receiving his approval and successfully performing the show at Carnegie Hall, Mandy is bringing Everything I Know: Mandy Gonzalez Sings Lin-Manuel Miranda on tour.

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