Surprise! Lin-Manuel Miranda Shows Up At Las Vegas Academy
Without question, Hamilton is one of the most influential musicals of our time. The mind behind that musical, Lin Manuel Miranda, surprised students at the Las Vegas Academy of the Arts today.
Miranda has quite rightfully become a hero of young, budding stage performers after the outrageous success of Hamilton. He spent seven years putting pen to paper, composing the musical which would become a Broadway – and international – smash hit. The production premiered off-Broadway in 2015, and has since became one of the most critically acclaimed musicals in history.
So… no pressure on the next production, right?
The legend is the creator of a new show over at The Venetian Resort called Freestyle Love Supreme. The production, which launched three years ago in New York, is no Hamilton. FLS is quite literally a freestyle, never know what you’re gonna get production. Freestyle rapping, improv and more make it an experience worthy of a Tony (and it got one!)
Lin-Manuel was a part of the first two shows at The Venetian, and joined the rest of the cast for a special talk with the best and brightest future performers at Las Vegas Academy of the Arts unannounced, taking the stage to a thunderous applause.
Lin-Manuel was once a student just like them
It wasn’t long ago when Miranda was the student himself. Coming up on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, his first musical in high school was directed by a fellow classmate. Of all people, it was MSNBC host Chris Hayes.
He later went to Wesleyan University and began writing musicals including his first broadway musical, In The Heights.
Now, it’s his chance to be the inspiration to countless young and budding actors, actresses and directors and the fact he took out some time to do so is pretty awesome.
While you missed out on the chance to see Lin-Manuel perform in Freestyle Love Supreme (he joined the cast for special performances on November 16th and 17th), there is still plenty of time to see the production. It is expected to run at The Venetian through at least April.
