- (Interviewer) Let's keep that eye line nice and tight.
- Can I be drinking the coffee while we do this interview?
- (Interviewer) It doesn't have Starbucks on it.
- It does not, it's just generic bodega coffee.
- [In Spanish] The press!
- [In Spanish] How are you?
- [In Spanish] I want to buy this.
- [In Spanish] Thank you.
- [In Spanish] Thank you, boss.
- (Interviewer) OK, so let's start, actually,
if you don't mind just telling us,
kind of succinctly, your name and everything that you do
for 'In the Heights.'
- My god, what don't I do?
Hi, my name is Lin-Manuel Miranda,
and I am the composer/lyricist
of 'In the Heights.'
I started writing 'In The Heights' when I was 19
years old, and I just turned 28
a few months ago.
So, I have spent eight years writing the show,
and I also play Usnavi, the bodega owner
at the heart of the story.
- (Interviewer) Can you tell me little
about what 'In the Heights' is about?
- Sure, 'In the Heights' is basically three days
in the life of this block
in Washington Heights, New York
on the brink of transition.
It's getting more expensive,
rents are going up everywhere,
and we see these three businesses,
and we meet about 12 characters,
and how they experience this change.
I play Usnavi who is the bodega owner,
so all of the stories sort of pass through his store.
Everyone gets their coffee, their newspaper,
their donuts, their lotto ticket from Usnavi.
So through him we get to meet the whole neighborhood.
- (Interviewer) Would you say one of the many things
that's fascinating about the show
is the music that's in it?
- Yeah.
- (Interviewer) It's a bit different than you'd find
in any of the theaters up and down
that same street.
So I'm kind of curious how you would describe
the music that's in this show.
- The music is really a mix - a potpourri, if you will -
of all the music you'd hear in Washington Heights.
I mean, even just filming this, it's hard to get people
to turn down their radios.
That's what it's like in Washington Heights,
there's salsa blasting out of stereos,
there's hip-hop and reggaeton coming out of people's cars,
and we really try to use the music of this neighborhood -
salsa, merengue, reggaeton, hip-hop, which I grew up with -
and use it to tell a story.
A sort of old fashioned story.
It surprises me that no one has put hip-hop and Latin music
into a Broadway musical before me.
I'm surprised that I beat everyone to the finish line
because I think the potential for this music
is unlimited, and fascinating.
So, I am surprised I got here first
because I've been writing this since 1999.
But we're thrilled to be here, and thrilled to -
what's really exciting is we get 80-year-old grandmas
who say, "I hate rap music, but I love this!"
And we get, you know, we get kids who just
are like, "This is real."
Our best show, or my favorite show, we had about 400
kids from Washington Heights,
and when they - the screams they let out when they saw
the Dominican flag up on that stage,
it's an incredibly validating experience.
So it's been really great to see kids relate to the show.
- (Interviewer) Obviously, studies are saying
there's a whole new mix of people that are coming
to the theater, which is a great thing.
Do you think that perhaps it will even see
more into the mainstream?
- Well, you know, my main argument is that
I think musical theater has never gone away
because most anyone who goes to high school
has had some sort of school play,
or school musical.
That's why 'High School Musical' is this international
phenomenon, is everyone can relate to that.
That's most people's way into musical theater.
Most people can't afford Broadway tickets,
but they do know what a musical is
because it's come to their town
or it's come to their city
or it's come to their school.
So, it's always been bubbling under the surface.
If we create shows that people will come to New York
to see I think there's a lot of potential for that.
Because it's already in there, it's in our DNA
as a country.
Musical theater is a part of our history.
- (Female Interviewer) So, walk and talk?
- (Interviewer) Yeah, let's walk and talk
‘cause, you know, hit these stores, then we’ll turn the corner.
- (Female Interviewer) You didn't exactly grow up
in Washington Heights -
you were just over the border, right?
- I did, I grew up 10 blocks from here,
if you walk down that hill you'll hit my house.
My parents still live there,
but, you know my dad was a community organizer
in Washington Heights.
I took piano lessons 10 blocks this way,
on 181st and Cabrini [streets], and frankly, going to Hunter [College]
on the Upper East Side on Manhattan,
anything North of 125th Street was the Bronx
in their eyes.
So, I always was sort of conscious of growing up
in northern Manhattan.
And then the other thing was, one of the first songs
I wrote for the show I started singing to myself:
"In Washington Heights"
Inwood just doesn't sing like that.
They say brilliant people borrow from the greats,
and geniuses steal from them, outright.
You know, there's a lot of 'West Side Story' influence in this show,
there's a lot of 'Rent' influence in this show.
Because, you know, I saw 'Rent' for my 17th birthday
and it was a watershed moment for me.
It was the first time I had seen a contemporary musical
in my life, I was like "Oh, you're allowed to write
about what you know in a musical?
You're allowed to write about the East Village now,
and artists struggling whether to eat or pay their rent."
I related to that immensely because I knew
I was going into the arts, and I knew I was gonna be broke
for a really long time.
So, it was really important for me
and it gave me permission to start writing about
the things I knew.
I didn't have to write about a phantom in an opera house,
or cats.
I tell people that basically the characters of the show
are basically a funhouse mirror of Quiara [Alegría Hudes],
who wrote the book, and my life.
Her parents ran a restaurant,
and had various businesses growing up.
So, she understands that viewpoint really well.
I had a lady who was my babysitter,
she actually babysat my dad,
and lived with us and babysat me
who played the lotto every day.
She was a compulsive gambler
and we'd go and I would pull the arm on the slot machines
for her.
I think the most autobiographical aspect of the show
really is Usnavi's inability to talk to girls.
That was certainly me when I started writing the show
and now even today.
Getting tongue-tied around attractive women
is something I'm especially good at.
I make sure that made it to the stage intact.
OK, here we go.
Bodegas.
Let's go to the drink aisle because I can show you
fun stuff here.
Dalé.
(Speaking Spanish)
Bodega, Washington Heights, don't be afraid.
This is our bodega, these are your mainstream drinks.
But here we have the drinks you won’t get anywhere else.
You have your Coco Ricos, you have you Cola Champagne
which makes you feel very fancy
when you're a little kid.
What else do we have?
Vitamin Waters, that’s 50 Cent’s drink.
This is the good stuff, this is the real deal.
- (Male Interviewer) Are you ready for your own drink?
Are they gonna put your face on the (crosstalk)?
- (laughing) Yeah, right. It's gonna be called Fabuloso.
The only problem is this is laundry detergent.
What else we got? Here, this is stuff
you will not find on 45th and Park.
Guarapiña. That is a non-alcoholic drink
involving pineapples and some other stuff.
It's sort of an energy drink,
but it looks like beer.
(speaking Spanish) And this is the stuff,
we have this in our play.
Country Club, merengue flavor.
Do you know what merengue flavor is?
I don't either, but it's effing good.
- (Male Interviewer) Can I get a close up real quick?
- Yeah.
- (Male Interviewer) That's great. I think you're good
so we can just walk out.
- All right. Great. Walk it out? Let's do it.
Oh, wait: Let me tell you something else, too.
These ATMs at these bodegas, they're great because
they distribute $10 bills.
So if you have $17 in your bank account,
you can still get money.