-Welcome back, everybody. I'm here with Lin-Manuel Miranda!
Now, his -- [ Cheers and applause ]
Let's talk about "In The Heights."
This is the movie adaptation
of your Tony-winning Broadway musical.
You started writing this when you were in college.
You were 19 when you were writing this.
And what did you envision
when you were -- when you were writing this?
-Yeah, I was not much older than "The King of Wishful Thinking"
-Exactly. -...that you saw.
But I -- I honestly --
I just -- I knew I wanted a life in musicals.
I directed "West Side Story" my senior year of high school,
and I knew that was kind of it for Puerto Rican guys
in musical theater. That's all that existed.
-Yeah. -I love that show.
-That's interesting. -But it was a long time ago.
And -- And I just kind of was writing what was missing.
And I wanted to, you know,
I wanted to write musicals starring Latinos,
telling different stories and --
[ Cheers and applause ]
Like, and here we are 20 years later, right?
And now I'm on "The Tonight Show" talking to you.
Like, that's crazy!
-[ Laughing ] Yeah, that's --
It shows how much work goes into all of this stuff.
-Yeah. -Lightning in a --
I mean, come on. -Yeah.
-And don't stop. And you never stopped.
And you just go, "We're just gonna keep doing this.
I'm going to write this."
And it is brilliantly done.
The choreography, the singing.
Anthony Ramos.
-What a superstar.
Superstar! [ Cheers and applause ]
-It's just -- It's colorful.
It moves. It's hopeful. It's a beautiful story.
And, yeah, it just gives you
everything you want to see in a movie.
I loved it. I needed it.
Like, I need a film --
I love "Godzilla vs. Kong." That's all good.
I need this, though. I needed this. And I was like, "Oh."
And then, there's a scene where it's like,
"Oof, this is going to get sad. You're not going to do it."
And yeah, it does. It gets you, and you go, "Oh."
It's so great.
But I just -- I freaked out.
But when I talked to you, when Jon was doing the movie, you go,
"Yeah, and I think I might -- I might do something in the movie.
You were not going to be in it. -I was not going to be in it.
I was -- I was never planning to be in it.
I had my Broadway experience,
which was a miraculous experience.
I went from substitute teacher to Broadway composer.
I will never make a leap that big again in my life.
And, so, I was very content
to let Anthony Ramos and this incredible cast
kind of have their own experience.
And Quiara, my co-writer, and Jon Chu, kept dropping hints,
like, "We haven't cast Piragua Guy yet.
We haven't cast Piragua Guy yet."
And I was like, "That's cool. That's cool."
And then Quiara said two things --
She wrote the screenplay, and she's a genius.
But she also said, "I think that we might have to cut Piragua,
because it doesn't really move the plot along.
But I thought of a way not to cut it."
And I went, "What is the way? I love that song."
And she said, "If you play Piragua Guy,
they won't cut Piragua Guy." -You can't cut Piragua Guy!
-Yeah. -He's my favorite.
Dude, the song is so good.
-Yeah. -It pays off.
-Yeah. And she also said, like, "If you hadn't written this,
you'd be begging to be in this movie.
This is what you always dreamed of."
And, like, that kind of got through to me.
And I'm so glad I was a part of it, because it's just --
I'm so proud of what Jon made.
And there's a moment where I sing with Anthony,
and he played my old part, and I get to duet with him.
And I'm on a fire escape, and he's a floor below me,
and I'm singing a new harmony, and he's singing my old harmony.
And there's all these, like, full-circle moments.
It was really -- It was like a dream come true.
Every day was a dream come true. [ Cheers and applause ]
-It's so well written. It's so good.
And you go, yeah, at the end, you're clapping,
even though I was watching at home,
and I was just, like, clapping by -- I was like, "Oh, my God."
I want to show everyone a clip.
Here's Lin-Manuel Miranda in "In The Heights."
Take a look.
[ Cheers and applause ]
[ Singing in Spanish ]
♪♪
-[ Singing in Spanish ]
♪♪
[ Cheers and applause ]
-It's that -- It's how you feel it.
It's so well done.
I also want to say, the --
Tomorrow night, it opens the Tribeca Film Festival,
which means a lot to New York City,
but also to everyone in the business,
I mean, what they've done with that festival.
But you're opening the film festival.
You're going to be in Washington Heights
showing this to a theater.
-We premiere this movie on 175th Street, y'all.
Like, it's in Washington Heights.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-The best --
That -- Talk about emotional. That's like --
It is a love letter to Washington Heights, really,
and New York City.
And I think that's going to be another special moment.
-It's going to be insane.
-Buddy, I love you so much.
Thank you so much for coming on the show.
We love you. Lin-Manuel Miranda.
"In The Heights" is in theaters and on HBO Max this Thursday.