Writing Our Own Deliverance: Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Legacy & Impact

Judah Norman

Brian Osborne

History of Musical Theater

3 May 2021

Writing Our Own Deliverance: Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Legacy & Impact

There is no doubt that Lin-Manuel Miranda is one of the most influential songwriters and playwrights of our time. From living in Washington Heights to having Washington on your side, Miranda has completely raised the stakes for musical theater by utilizing musical genres such as rap, R&B, pop, Latin, and others, Miranda has broken glass ceilings for Latinx and BIPOC performers. His creative imagination with music and playwriting is undeniably a marvel and wonder to the extent that his songs not only become smash hits, but also important pieces of American pop culture. Lin-Manuel Miranda’s career has significantly revolutionized the musical theater realm, the push for social change, and the concept of history and legacy. Despite his positive impact on the entertainment industry and trailblazing new paths for performers of minority demographics, the controversy surrounding his work has brought negative criticism toward him as a composer and playwright in addition to fundamental conversations about prejudice and discrimination in both the theater and American society. This especially happened in 2020 when the Disney+ streaming of Hamilton merged with talks about the Black Lives Matter Movement and systemic racism in the U.S. By using shows such as In The Heights, Bring It On!, and Hamilton as key subjects of analysis, this paper will review Miranda’s theatrical craft and social impact, messages in his works about the importance of history and legacy, and how the several public disputes over his musicals have furthered the discussions about race, systemic prejudice, and discrimination in our country. 

Miranda's creation of In the Heights was heavily influenced by his exposure to the show Rent, showing his care for current events, especially those affecting youth and minority groups. He states that Rent was “...the only thing I saw that...gave me permission to write musicals...I went from being a fan of musicals to writing musicals...And it told me you're allowed to write what you know into a show...It’s all about stop sitting on the sidelines and live your life...that's another way “Rent” called me out, like, very specifically” (Gross and Miranda, npr.org). In The Heights is a plot that shows his own experiences growing up in the Latinx community in the inner-city barrios, which is akin to telling the real and raw stories of working-class individuals during the AIDS epidemic in Rent. This was the motivational push that laid the foundation for the kind of shows he would create from that point forward: stories that cause a closer connection between the characters and the audience. 

Miranda’s dedication toward authenticity is also prevalent in the construction of his music, such as how the beginning piano motif of the song “Wait For It” is inspired by the intro of Tick, Tick... BOOM!’s opening instrumental tune in the sense that the pattern keeps changing and is never played the same way twice until the beat drops. The tune then stays constant for the rest of the song. This reflects both the process of songwriting and the idea of Burr’s thoughts. Miranda describes it as “...trying to mimic what it sounds like to work on a song until you find it...it’s Aaron Burr thinking…[and] voicing, like, a new thought that he hasn’t really voiced before” (Hirway, 12:09-12:27). 

Miranda draws so many modern-day subjects of social awareness, conflicts, and the need for diversity into his works, thus, he places a high focus on a heavily interracial cast made mostly of Black and Latinx performers. In The Heights is a show that depicts the experiences of the Latinx community in Washington Heights and Bring It On! is about a White cheerleader transferring from a predominantly White high school to one that is predominantly BIPOC and how they learn to see beyond each other’s differences. With both, he understands the importance of Latinos and other marginalized communities creating their own spaces when no one is willing to offer a seat at the table. In a Univision News interview, Miranda claims that “...the more Latinos can get into positions of power, the better everything is gonna be...we can complain about the lack of roles and the lack of opportunities, but unless we get to write our own roles, we’re always going to be complaining” (Univision News and Miranda, 0:03-0:20). Similarly on NPR, he says, “If I’d settled for being a musical theater actor, I’d be hopefully auditioning for a bus-and-truck of “West Side Story” somewhere. And just like the mortality landed on me early, like, at the end of high school, the realization landed on me early. Like, there's no life for you in musical theater because there are no parts” (Gross and Miranda, npr.org).  

Such spaces are created in Hamilton. Miranda’s concept as he describes in his interview with Cabral was to “...eliminate any distance between the contemporary audience and Hamilton’s story...it’s a story of America then told by America now...and that...old and new mixture is I think what sets our show apart” (Cabral, 1:17-1:59). For instance, the purple design for Thomas Jefferson matches those of the artist Prince and the use of modern and ethnic hairstyles presents a more contemporary energy to a 200-year-old story of the forming of America. In addition to racial diversity, “...the life and times of the first secretary of the US treasury...spoke to Miranda’s personal experiences and Nuyorican historical consciousness...” (McManus, 263) and those of many Hispanics and Latinos immigrating to the states. Most are coming from rough circumstances to gain prosperity here just as Hamilton did in the 1700’s. The show also speaks to the importance of immigrants and how they are part of the very foundation of our country, which is further indicated by the line “Immigrants,/we get the job done,” in the song “Battle of Yorktown.” We as a country are slowly but surely moving away from an era in which the only people represented in the media are White, U.S.-born, cis-straight men. Miranda breaks more glass windows with that by telling the story of the founding fathers using Black and POC actors to play historically White people in addition to Black music genres like Hip-hop and R&B. “Of course, it’s a racially diverse cast...” Miranda says to Cabral “...That’s what Hip-Hop is” (Cabral, 4:22-4:27). The infusion of this music into his musicals can then be viewed as the catalyst for creating these spaces for Black and Latinx performers in this regard, thus, it is no wonder that his shows do not just rise to fame, but also become essential pieces of American culture. In Hamilton, for instance, Alexander Hamilton’s rise to American fame is like that of many Hip-Hop/R&B artists; they start in an inconvenient situation or life setting, set a dream for themselves, and then push through all odds to become famous and create a legacy. In an interview with Diana R. Cabral, Miranda states that “...Hamilton’s story is a hip-hop story...he wrote under a pseudonym like every rapper who ever existed... [George] Washington was the Dr. Dre to his Eminem...” (3:44-3:58). Some other artists Miranda patterned characters after included but are not limited to Notorious Big, Common, Prince, and Lauryn Hill. Besmir Shishko makes an observation from the notorious song “My Shot” stating, “...Hamilton raps for his life...with a die-hard desperation...” like the persistent and enthusiastic tone of songs such as “Lose Yourself” by Eminem (Shishko,72).  

Miranda uses rap and other music genres as a distinct vehicle for characterization. Although In The Heights has a gender disparity in the sense that the men rap and the women sing, the distinctive styles associated with each character help to push their development within the plot. Usnavi raps for most of the show and this is used either as a narration device or a depiction of him as a very articulate person with good business savvy, both of which are seen in “In The Heights.” Benny follows an R&B style with moments of rap mixed in, showing his easygoing but spirited nature, particularly in “Benny’s Dispatch.” For the song “It Won’t Be Long Now,” Vanessa is characterized through upbeat salsa as she dreams of a bright and promising future of eventually leaving the barrio and creating a better lifestyle for herself rather than working at a salon. The music styles of all three characters are especially prominent in “96,000.” While Usnavi plans to save and invest in the money for more of a long-term impact than a brief financial breakthrough, Benny fantasizes about an easy life of luxury and comfort and Vanessa anticipates the possibilities waiting for her if she uses the funds to leave the barrio. The contrasts in each of their potential uses for the lottery money are further characterized by the musical genre they are following. 

For Hamilton, rap is used in higher-stake scenarios whereas more sentimental moments are pushed by pop, poetic, or R&B-styled songs. Alexander Hamilton, Angelica Schuyler, and Aaron Burr are prime examples. Alexander Hamilton tends to rap when he is either stating his goals or pursuing business endeavors, like in “My Shot” and “Non-Stop.” He sings during moments in his personal life or when reflecting on childhood trauma like in “Dear Theodosia” and “Hurricane.” Although she does not rap as much as the male characters, Angelica Schuyler raps in “The Schuyler Sisters” to convey strong female independence and wit. Her singing in “Satisfied” pushes her emotional vulnerability after losing Hamilton’s hand in marriage to Eliza. Aaron Burr’s rap verses are used primarily as a narration device by repeating phrases like “How does a bastard, orphan, son of a whore...” throughout the show and documenting ongoing political scenarios in “Non-Stop” and “The Room Where It Happens.” Songs are used when Burr’s personal intentions and beliefs are revealed and the strongest instance of this is “Wait For It.”  

Every principal character in Hamilton (apart from King George, Peggy, and Maria) raps at least once...except for Eliza. The only time she does anything Hip Hop/Rap related is when she beatboxes for Philip in “Take A Break.” Perhaps, it is because everyone else is in such a rush to tell their stories before they die, while Eliza does not have to rush because she outlives them all and spends her whole life helping everyone else and making sure that none of them are forgotten. Such a conclusion can be drawn from lines like “Eliza, my love, take your time,/I’ll see you on the other side.”  

Miranda also leaves a lasting impact on the box office and longevity of his productions proving that social issues like diversity, systemic racism, and class structure are just as popular as the mega-musicals and nostalgic pieces we see thrive today. Hamilton, for example, is on the same tier as shows like Wicked, Phantom of the Opera, Book of Mormon, and others. In 2016, It had “...the highest average ticket price on Broadway and had a gross of $1.9 million...Because it plays in the relatively small Richard Rodgers Theater, that's not even the highest on Broadway (The Lion King was higher at $2.07 million.)” (Kaplan, ProQuest). Additionally, “The music, story, and production Miranda created for Hamilton are so strong that they can survive any number of cast changes” and does not rely on celebrity performers to keep it afloat, like the show The Producers did on stars like Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick. (Kaplan, ProQuest). The popularity of Miranda's work invariably proves that Americans are thirsty for art that points us in the direction of social change.  

Miranda has allowed us to take another clearer, more critical look at the accepted story of history, and that much of it may have been manipulated or even be blatantly false, thus changing the legacy of American History. This is the subject of most of Miranda’s musicals and he, without a doubt, has left and is still leaving behind his own legacy in the world of American Musical Theater. Historians like Miranda are now starting to challenge written history, disputing previously accepted truths, introducing new information into the narrative, and influencing how new generations reflect on the past.  

Historiographical manipulation is a frequent practice, particularly within the history of colonialism and globalization. One example is the common racist myth that Black Africans were uncivilized savages when they were found by Europeans. The truth is that African people and other races of color already had advanced societies when they first met White people, a prime example being the African Moors. According to Black History Studies and the Centre for Research on Globalization, “During the formation of Europe's first civilization in Greece, it was the Black Africans from the Nile Valley who civilized the Greeks. Later.... [during] the Dark Ages, the Moors came onto the scene and helped restore civilization” (Centre for Research on Globalization) by “...[introducing] new scientific techniques to Europe, such as...Astronomy, Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics, Geography and Philosophy...” (Black History Studies). Information such as this had been buried for centuries by European colonizers to gain control and enslave Black people and people of color.  

Miranda dives deeply into the concept of “story perspective” or showing an alternative way of looking at an event from history that we accept as fact, particularly in Hamilton. One example is when he gives the audience a chance to see two completely different tellings of the winter ball when Eliza and Angelica both meet Alexander. It is important to note, however, that while there is documented evidence that the “winter ball” truly happened, the events of which are up for scrutiny. In “Helpless,” Eliza sings “Laughin’ at my sister as she’s dazzling the room/Then you walked in, and my heart went BOOM!... Grab my sister and whisper ‘Yo, this one’s mine!’” Meanwhile, in the rap verse of “Satisfied,” Angelica is in a delighted daze after meeting Hamilton during “A Winter’s Ball,” which is the reason she is dancing and “dazzling the room.” Angelica then sings “I want to take him far away from this place, then I turn and see my sister’s face and she is helpless...and I realize three fundamental truths at the exact same time.” While the winter ball marks the night that Eliza meets her future husband, it also marks the night Angelica loses the potential love of her life. As Miranda explains to Diana Cabral, the contrast shown here as well as in “The World Was Wide Enough” and “Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story” demonstrates “...a fundamentally different story based on the teller and that has repercussions...for how we view history...” (Cabral, 9:55-10:44) and as George Washington puts it, “You have no control/who lives, who dies, who tells your story.”  

Miranda also explores missing pieces of history. In songs such as “Non-Stop” along with the beginnings of several songs in the show, Burr often opens different numbers by saying “How does a (“bastard, orphan, son of a whore” or “ragtag volunteer army”) somehow (insert action here)?" and in “Non-Stop,” he repeatedly asks “Why do you (“write” or “fight”) like you're running out of time?” Perhaps, these lyrics demonstrate the many ways historians try to fill in the mysterious “blanks” of history. The main inquiries that cause us as humans to study the past are how and why people in previous times made certain choices and did certain things. Furthermore, more accurate information can lead the observer of history to more informed conclusions about history, thus shaping our morality and understanding. We strive and attempt to fill in these “blanks” by asking questions like “How does a ______ somehow ______?” and “Why do you ______ like you’re running out of time?” Some get answered while others are still pondered, but the answers that usually remain unknown are those that do with what was done behind closed doors.  

Moreover, the entire message of “The Room Where It Happens” harps on the fact that one can never know all the details of history, and some important pieces of evidence will always be missing. We only truly know the final definite results of a person’s words or actions. Unless they explicitly write down or record their thoughts and intentions for the world to see, the discussions that happen in secret without honest witnesses will always remain a mystery. As stated by Aaron Burr, “We just assume that it happened,/but no one else was in the room where it happened,” and this opens the door for facts to be fabricated.  

Hamilton depicts how history can be and most likely was manipulated for the needs of whomever was documenting it even though it does not necessarily make the records true. Some people spend their lives doing good and the ones who tell the tale put their image on a pedestal, while others who committed too many misdeeds are scorned for generations. Sometimes, the opposite happens where a decent person’s achievements are undermined with historians only focusing on their flaws and someone who is deceitful and narcissistic is honored for decades and even centuries. In Hamilton, the viewer is encouraged to take accountability and responsibility for their actions and help to actively document history by influencing others for good. Despite this, people ultimately do not have full control over how future generations reflect on the past. Miranda even makes a comment about this in his speech to University of Pennsylvania graduates admitting that “Every story you choose to tell, by necessity, omits others from the larger narrative” (Miranda, 245).  

Additionally, evidence of possible Historical manipulation is shown during the duel between Hamilton and Burr when Hamilton states “If I throw away my shot, is this how you’ll remember me?/What if this bullet is my legacy?” and Burr sings “History obliterates and every picture it paints,/it paints me in all my mistakes...I survived but I paid for it./Now I’m the villain in your history” because “...at the moment when they least act like themselves, when Hamilton is cautious and Burr is reckless, one kills the other, and that's how they're remembered forever.” (Gross and Miranda, npr.org). Because of this, legacy can be perceived differently based on who is telling your story, in which sense, Hamilton also explores the concept of legacy, something that is another prominent theme in Miranda’s works.  

Miranda also further explores historical legacy by foreshadowing Hamilton’s death in the text. For Hamilton to fully secure his legacy, as stated in “The Room Where It Happens,” he would have to die. He scrambled for glory amid the nation’s birth, from obsessing over warfare and having a “head full of fantasies of dying like a martyr” to being more concerned with work than his own family. Some historians speculate that he even fantasized about a tragic death by an arch-adversary, in which case Aaron Burr was painted as such a foe. According to Jeff Wallenfeldt, “Hamilton...had already told confidants and made clear in valedictory letters that he intended to throw away his shot...” (Wallenfeldt, britannica.com).  

Another example of Miranda's look at rewriting the historical legacy in Hamilton is Eliza's gasp at the end of the show. She is trying to make sure everyone else is remembered and honored, hence her question “And when my time is up,/have I done enough?/Will they tell your story.” She, however, did not live in a time when women were as respected as they are now. Will she be remembered? What about her story? The gasp seems to be as if Miranda told her “We did not forget you. Your story will be told, too.” Perhaps, it may be why the show is called Hamilton and not “Alexander” because it also tells Elizabeth Hamilton’s story.  

Miranda contributes to other important conversations about social and racial awareness in American society in In the Heights. The show fills a specific void on Broadway where scenarios about Latino culture are non-existent. The characters face the conflict of losing one’s home and dealing with change. In an interview with WGN News, Miranda credits John Chu for telling him that “There is no reason In The Heights should not be as big as The Greatest Showman, should not be as big as La La Land...these characters dream big and you should honor them in that way...” (WGN News and Miranda, 3:42-4:14). There is a great deal of anticipation for the future in In The Heights. Whether they have dreams of either getting out of the bodega or improving the quality of life within the bodega, everyone in the show wants to leave some sort of legacy for their families. Nina’s parents work themselves into the ground to help her become a first-generation college student, which is conveyed in the song “Inútil” with lines like “I will not be the reason/That my family can’t succeed/I will do what it takes/They’ll have everything they need/Or all my work, all my life/Everything I’ve sacrificed will have been useless. Usnavi gains the pleasure of telling Abuelita Claudia, whose main philosophy is “patience and faith,” that she has won $96,000 in lottery money and can make a potentially better living for herself and her family. When everyone is forced to leave Washington Heights, Graffiti Pete creates a memorial of Abuelita Claudia honoring her “Paciencia y Fe” motif to let future inhabitants know a little about the people who initially resided in the barrios. By the end, the show begs the question: When an era, cultural practice, or the entire existence of your community fades away, what do you leave behind to show for it and how do you continue to leave your mark?  

In another Miranda musical, Bring It On!, he presents the contrast of two vastly different high schools, Truman High being mostly Caucasian, and Jackson High being diverse and multicultural. In the middle is a central character who adjusts to life in both settings. Miranda conveys the dreams, destiny, and legacy shown within the minds of the Truman and Jackson students, particularly in songs like “What I Was Born To Do,” and “Legendary,” for example, with lines like “Now my life is every adolescent's favorite dream,” “We got one shot that we work all year for,” “I hear destiny calling,” and “History in the making.” Even the titles of both songs display the mindset of the Truman Cheerleaders that being an extraordinary squad is the legacy for which they strive. Even when the main character, Campbell, is redistricted to a more “urban” school, she keeps her dreams of forming a cheer team at Jackson High. Moreover, like Nina from In The Heights and Alexander Hamilton, Danielle is a character who dreams of rising out of a rough life by attending college, and when she is falsely led by Campbell to believe that Cheer Nationals will be offering a scholarship, she joins with the hope of not only making a better life for herself after graduation but also help build a legacy for the dance crew at Jackson. Even after finding out it was all a farce, Danielle still suggests they could either “...wait to graduate/And let the year go by/Or finish what we started.” From the music of this show, the audience is presented with the question: Will you abandon all hope when something unexpected happens, or will you finish what you started and make your impact?  

Miranda has expressed his personal views on history and legacy when he said “I feel that ticking clock very acutely, and I think that part of that's just being a New Yorker. I think part of that is an early awareness of mortality, which...I had a pretty...young age” (Gross and Miranda, npr.org). In his graduation speech for the University of Pennsylvania, he states, “Your stories are essential. Don’t believe me? In a year when politicians traffic in anti-immigrant rhetoric, there is also a Broadway musical reminding us that a broke, orphan immigrant from the West Indies built our financial system…[and that ever] since the beginning of the great unfinished symphony that is our American experiment...immigrants get the job done” (Miranda, 247) and as John Chu again has told Miranda, “...you have to swing big because we deserve to take up space too, and your stories matter and they’re valid...” (WGN News and Miranda, 3:42-4:14). Miranda reminds audiences why diversity is important to the very fabric of American society, immigrants in particular. Rarely have the stories of non-White individuals been within the mainstream media feed. By creating shows like In The Heights, Hamilton, and Bring It On!, he forms the space in musical theater where Black people and people of color have been striving for centuries. This has a historic impact on the way society at large views marginalized communities and his legacy as a groundbreaker for such an avenue to exist.  

While Miranda’s achievements have started constructive conversations about systemic prejudice and discrimination in theater and American Society, they were not without controversy. In a time where current demographic, social, and political tensions are at an all-time high, they also sparked negative feedback against flaws in his shows that undermine proper representation of certain groups of people. In a positive aspect, some of his works are controversial because they are either associated with or directly address sensitive social issues, one of which is Hurricane Maria. The importance of Maria’s comparison to the storm that destroyed Alexander Hamilton’s village is made in Lin-Manuel Miranda On ‘Hamilton’ In The US Vs. UK. with Stephen Colbert. When Hamilton wrote about the hurricane that struck his hometown of San Croix, it inspired people to raise enough money for him to leave the Caribbean and get an education in the colonies. Islanders believed that he would eventually return to help enrich their community. Two centuries later, the cast of Hamilton toured Puerto Rico and the Caribbean as a relief effort to raise funds for storm survivors. In an interview with Lucy Feldman, Miranda’s main concern became “...How can we leave the island better than we found it? We’re trying to raise $15 million for arts organizations and artists on the island, and also really prioritize residents of the island seeing it” (Feldman, 100). Miranda describes this act to Colbert as “...closing Hamilton’s loop...” and bringing his legacy full circle (Colbert and Miranda, 4:16-5:25).  

While Miranda addresses the topic of gentrification in Latin communities head-on, there is criticism that In the Heights presents a sentiment of false hope for these people. Sonny’s rap verse in the song “96,000,” is a clear and direct criticism of gentrification, primarily when he chants “...teach ‘em about gentrification/The rent is escalation’/ The rich are penetratin’/...Politicians be hatin’/Racism in this nation’s gone from latent to blatant.” The theme of legacy is also presented within the subject of gentrification in In The Heights through Abuelita Claudia’s “Paciencia y Fe” graffiti mural. According to Gabriela Cázares, murals like these are common in Black and Latino communities as a memorial for the loss of a loved one or a time capsule for a gentrified neighborhood. She states “While all barrio residents do not experience loss in the same way, there is a shared collective experience rooted in violence. The individual loss of life is no longer an isolated incident; it becomes instead part of a shared narrative that commands the audience to bear witness to the stark realities of barrio residents” (Cázares, 94). She goes on to conclude that “Abuela Claudia’s memorial mural exemplifies the importance of preserving the history of barrio residents…[and] reminds the viewing audience of the barrio’s roots. Hardships—due to gentrification or otherwise— will continue, but through figures like Abuela Claudia...the stories of residents live on and enable the reappropriation of the space of the barrio” (Cázares, 104). With that being said, Cázares does note that Abuelita Claudia’s motto alone is not enough to make a stable living despite the phrase being a morale boost. Her death leads to the eventual foreclosure of all the homes and businesses in the barrio proving that “...the play gives a false hope that “Paciencia y Fe” will lead to an economic betterment” (Cázares, 102). This is one of many ways in which Miranda’s work has caused significant negative controversy despite the positive, most of it surrounding Hamilton. 

The four main criticisms of Hamilton include historical inaccuracy, neglect of the Founding Fathers’ role in African American enslavement and the genocide of Indigenous people, and underrepresentation of women’s roles in the American Revolution. From historical accuracy, Angelica Schuyler was married when she first met Hamilton. Historical evidence does not suggest that Hercules Mulligan ever met John Laurens or Marquis de Lafayette. The show also does not elaborate on Hamilton’s probable secret homosexual love affair with both Laurens and Lafayette, although a few close-stage interactions between Hamilton and Laurens slightly hint at the possibility. Moreover, Benjamin L. Carp suggests that Miranda “...focused on elite characters, missing opportunities to show how the Revolution and its conflicts affected—and were affected by—a broader swath of the population” (Carp, 290).

Carp also criticizes the inaccuracy of Hamilton’s beliefs about African-American enslavement and notes that the presentation of his opposition toward it may have been exaggerated. He states that “Miranda relied too heavily on Chernow, who exaggerated Alexander Hamilton’s antislavery credentials and his sympathy with debtors, and deemphasized (or even celebrated) some of his more militaristic, elitist, and antidemocratic inclinations” (Carp, 289). While Hamilton did accomplice John Laurens in recruiting the first all-Black military battalion, he, according to Christopher Klein, had 16 enslaved merchants as trustees during his attendance at King's College and “...frequently swallowed his anti-slavery sentiments as he pushed for acceptance into America’s colonial elite—most of whom enslaved people” (Klein, history.com). Moreover, he was subordinate to George Washington, who enslaved over 100 African Americans on plantations in Mount Vernon.  

Nonetheless, African American enslavement is still somewhat addressed throughout the show and when Eliza sings “I speak out against slavery” in “Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story,” Washington bows his head in regret alluding to his complicity as an owner of enslaved Black people. Miranda tells Terry Gross on NPR “I've always sort of said that slavery is the original sin of this country. It's in the third line of our show. It's a system in which every character in our show is complicit in some way or another...Hamilton...didn't really do much about it...None of them did enough. And we say that, too, in the final moments of the song. So that hits differently now because we are having a...real reckoning - of, how do you uproot an original sin?” (Gross and Miranda, npr.org).  

This, on the other hand, is more than what can be said about Hamilton’s ability, or lack thereof, to even mention the genocide of Indigenous people. Loren Kajikawa mentions that the Schuyler family built their wealth from the stolen land from Native Americans and the show does not in any way allude to the consequences of the near extinction of an entire race of people caused by European colonialism (Kajikawa, 481).  

This also begs the question of how “racially diverse” the show is and if there are roles in which Indigenous Americans could be cast. (Kajikawa, 481) Kajikawa notes that “...the musical’s unconventional casting has been limited mainly to actors who identify as black and/or Latinx, and one could argue that even a musical that casts the descendants of slaves as white Founders might be participating in other forms of exclusion” (Kajikawa, 481).  

Lastly, the music for In The Heights, Bring It On, and Hamilton is presented in the traditional idealistic fashion of men being the main ones to rap instead of the women. “Hamilton...represents an ideal masculinized subject for the dog-eat-dog world of Revolutionary America–cum–entrepreneurial capitalism…[and] mirrors gendered divisions within mainstream rap music” (Kajikawa, 472). Carp even mentions that despite the feminist energy portrayed by Angelica, Eliza, and Peggy Schuyler, the actions of all three female leads are always dependent on the actions of the male leads (Carp, 290). Angelica tends to somewhat break the rules during her rap verses in “The Schuyler Sisters,” “Satisfied,” and the cut song “Congratulations,” showing a bit of strong resolve and independent thinking, but like her younger sisters, she “...eventually retreats to the musical’s ‘separate worlds of love and ritual,’ where men mostly rap and women mostly sing” (Kajikawa, 472). Furthermore, the number of male roles in the show greatly outnumbers the number of female roles.  

Despite whatever backlash Lin-Manuel Miranda has received for his musicals or his abilities as a song and scriptwriter, they have interestingly helped boost the narratives behind his works. The “false hope,” as previously described by Gabriela Cázares, provided by the phrase “Paciencia y Fe” in In The Heights is still a bitter reminder of the fact that dreams of socioeconomic advancement for immigrants are often shattered by crises such as gentrification and deportation. On the other hand, while there are several historical events that Hamilton failed to touch upon, this shortcoming does help the show’s narrative about the neglected parts of history or missing pieces of the puzzle. Carp even credits the musical for “...encourag[ing] audiences to explore historical inquiries further. The show aids those who study and teach the Revolution by opening up questions about how historians analyze and interpret the past, with lines…[that] draw attention to the imperfections of historical interpretation and encourage humility” (Carp, 293). Hamilton has even been integral to present-day conversations about history, systemic prejudice, and faulty politics amid the Black Lives Matter protests and AAPI and Indigenous hate crimes. Miranda himself has expressed enthusiasm for the fact that Americans are beginning to discuss topics that were originally brushed under the rug for so long. Mary Green states Miranda responded to complaints about the show with “all the criticisms are valid...The fact that we are Black and brown performers telling this story—what does that mean now in 2020 versus 2015?... What gives me hope is that in a time when we are talking about systemic racism, the folks out there in those protests are more diverse than they’ve ever been. I think people are dreaming bigger and aiming higher in terms of what we can do” (Green, 61).  

Lin-Manuel Miranda has completely changed the game for musicals and trailblazer several roads for BIPOC performers in musical theater. His works helped start the conversations about systemic prejudice that we as a country have waited far too long to finally have, particularly during the ongoing crises including police brutality and the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020. Miranda states on NPR that “...the world is being remade in a fundamentally different way because of this pandemic and just because of where we are. And artists must give themselves the latitude to, like, acknowledge that” (Gross and Miranda, npr.org). One could conclude that this tumultuous time in our country mirrors the hurricane that wreaked havoc on Hamilton’s hometown. It can even be said that the new generation of American citizens is pulling a “Reynolds Pamphlet” move by exposing the dark truths and secrets about our history with systemic racism, homophobia, xenophobia, sexism, etc. The discussions started by Disney+’s timely release of Hamilton on July 3, 2020, given the height of police protests and COVID-19 infections, could have been the “eye of the hurricane” that could help us “write our way out,” because homes across the country could see the production in their living rooms, Thus, it will be interesting to witness what kinds of art will flourish out of a dark age such as the one that is happening currently. Perhaps, it could influence the beginning of a new legacy for the US in which accountability and compensation for past mistakes will finally be a possibility.  

Miranda’s themes of history and legacy urge people to take a second look at what they are doing with the time they have. He is open about the fact that he witnessed death at an early age and thought to himself “Oh, the clock’s ticking...Hamilton lived three lifetimes in his 49 years on this earth. What am I doing with my life?” (Cabral and Miranda, 7:15-7:27) He makes clear the importance of preserving people’s stories, namely the stories of “the underdog,” and examining history on a more broad, unbiased scale. He is a prominent reminder that to have a chance at making an impact on the world, one must put oneself in a position of power to create the space necessary for their voice to be heard. Above all, he has managed to “write his own deliverance” and create a legacy for himself.

Works Cited

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