Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Celebspiration- Lin-Manuel Miranda

 Who inspires you? 
It's a tough question, and it takes me back to answering essays for college the past two years (senior year, and transferring.)
I always find it interesting to hear which celebrities inspire people. I know we're all inspired by people in our everyday lives, but which celebrities inspire you? I was going to make this one post but I realized I had so much to say about this next person that I'm going to have to make this a mini blog feature.

Lin-Manuel Miranda might be my greatest inspiration. Although I will be entering the teaching profession after college, I aspire to write at some point. Lin-Manuel Miranda is the genius behind one of my favorite musicals, In the Heights, which combines hip-hop with all sorts of latino styles of music. Spanish and English collide in this incredibly sweet and touching musical that I constantly listen to.  If you follow my tumblr, you've probably noticed my obsession with him. He wrote the incredible music for the show and then went on to STAR in it. He also happens to tweet some of the most hilarious things. He just wrapped up work on Bring It On The Musical (yes, it's based on those cheerleading movies!) and is working on a hip-hop album based on American history figure Alexander Hamilton. What I love about Lin-Manuel Miranda is that he's versatile and not afraid to be passionate and interested in everything from Buffy The Vampire Slayer to American History. As a writer and musician he is brilliant and a huge inspiration to me.  He's also hilarious. His marriage to his wife Vanessa is absolutely precious. You have to watch this video of him surprising his wife on their wedding day with a song from Fiddler on the Roof with her father and the wedding party. SO CUTE!


I mentioned previously that he's working on a hip-hop album about Alexander Hamilton. He got to perform some of that at the White House.
The last video I'll leave you with is the Tony Awards performance by the In The Heights Original Broadway Cast. I love this show so much and really encourage you to listen to it.  It won Best Musical and 3 other Tonys that year. I listen to it constantly and this performance will blow your mind.


If you're a musical nerd like me you definitely should follow Lin-Manuel Miranda on twitter. He loves to talk to fans. Once, he had everyone send in "musical theater moments." Mine got retweeted!!
By the way, the song mentioned is from Spring Awakening. I normally wouldn't swear on my blog, sorry! It's a true story, haha.

I could probably go on and on for another few days about Lin-Manuel Miranda. He's a great guy, with a lot of talent. Check out In the Heights, and look for The Hamilton Tapes and Bring it On in the next year or so.

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