-Our first guest tonight is an Emmy, Grammy and Tony
award-winning composer, playwright, and the creator
of hit Broadway shows "Hamilton" and "In the Heights."
His feature directorial debut, "tick, tick...BOOM!"
is now on Netflix.
And you can hear his new music in Disney's "Encanto,"
which is in theaters everywhere tomorrow.
Let's take a look.
-♪ Welcome to the Family Madrigal ♪
♪ The home of the Family Madrigal ♪
-♪ We're on our way ♪
-♪ Where all the people are fantastical and magical ♪
♪ I'm part of the Family Madrigal ♪
-Oh, my gosh, it's them! What are the gifts?
-I can't remember all the gifts! -But I don't know who is who!
-Alright, alright, relax!
-It is physically impossible to relax!
-Tell us everything! What are your powers?
-Just tell us what everyone can do!
-And that's why coffee's for grown-ups.
[ Laughter ] -Please welcome
back to the show, our friend, Lin-Manuel Miranda.
[ Cheers and applause ]
♪♪
Welcome back! -Thank you.
Thank you for having me. -A lot a lot has happened.
-A lot has happened. [ Cheers and applause continue ]
Whoa, thank you. You're so kind. Thank you.
[ Laughs ]
Well.
-So, one thing I want to ask about, you know,
doing a Disney film like this, a lot of pressure
insofar as, "How are kids going to like it?"
You were saying backstage that you did "Moana,"
that was the first movie your oldest ever saw.
-Yes, I found out I got the job on "Moana" --
I Interviewed for it, and I found out I got the job
the same day we found out we were going to be parents.
So it's all mixed up. Like, "Moana" is, weirdly,
my oldest son's sibling. -I would imagine,
when he saw "Moana" and liked it, that's great.
But he also hadn't seen anything else, right?
-Yeah, he had nothing to compare it to.
-So he might've just been like, "Look,
I just like the idea of movies."
-Yes. Yes, this concept of -- of
images on a screen is -- -So, now he's a little older.
I'm assuming, between this and "Encanto,"
he's seen some other movies. -He has serious sophistication.
-Yeah, he might have some standards now.
So you must -- Were you more stressful
when you showed him this one? -100%.
Well, you have to understand, also,
I wrote this during the pandemic,
so they had to hear every phase of "Encanto"
as I was writing the songs, as Daddy is talking to himself
in the corner, singing...
♪ Welcome to the Family Madrigal ♪
But I also have -- I mean, I have --
I have a 3-year-old and a 7-year-old.
They are the greatest beta testers in the world.
There were moments in early drafts
that were too scary for them.
My 3-year-old has the immortal quote.
At one point, he grabs me and he goes, "Daddy,
can we watch a kids' movie?" [ Laughter ]
And I went back to the director. I was like,
"Okay, that seems too scary. [ Laughter ]
We got to go back to the drawing board."
But, yeah, it was great. -Stephanie Beatriz.
Stephanie Beatriz is a voice in this.
-Mirabel is our Disney hero.
-And so I know we are both
huge fans of "Brooklyn Nine-Nine."
-Yes. -And it must've been so great
to work with her on this. I know you worked with her
on "In the Heights" as well. -Absolutely.
Well, I think one of the great cosmic jokes is
that Stephanie became famous on a show
where her voice is two octaves down
and in a monotone. -Yes.
-And Detective Rosa Diaz. When you actually meet her,
she's like, "Hi!" [ Laughter ]
And she has, like, one of the bubbliest,
most musical voices you'll ever hear.
So I knew that Stephanie. I met Stephanie
in our early 20s, mid 20s, when she was doing
Quiara's play, like, very experimental,
off- off-, off- off-Broadway play.
So it's been a joy to -- It was amazing
when she had her sort of nationwide prominence
on "Brooklyn Nine-Nine." And then, you know,
to work with her on this,
like, where I'm writing Disney songs
and she's the Disney, like, hero,
I'm like, "She's in a club with, like, Jodi Benson
and Anika Noni Rose and Lea Salonga
and all these, like, Disney heroines."
So, we would text each other
while we were recording her songs,
like, "Can you believe this? Can you believe this?"
[ Laughter ] It was great.
-So, at this point, it must be cool to have,
like, a good working relationship
with something as iconic as Disney,
which it introduces so many children
to musical theater, I feel. -Yeah, 100%.
I think a lot about Howard Ashman,
who was Alan Menken's great lyricist and partner
and really, I think, is responsible
for ushering in that, like, second golden age of Disney.
He wrote the lyrics for "Little Mermaid"
and "Beauty and the Beast,"
and really just, sort of
brought musical theater into animation.
It was like, "This is how it works, guys."
And just was -- I was really inspired by that.
And so, you know, when I started working on "Encanto,"
I just said, "I want to be there from the beginning,"
so that the songs and the scenes can kind of
go as seamlessly into each other as possible."
And you know, it's been -- I'm really proud
of "Encanto" and the work we did together.
-And I'm sure, when you work
on a musical on a Broadway stage,
you see it at every level.
There's no moment where you're, you know, blown away
by what happened between the night before
and you know, the morning after. -Right.
-With animation, it must be so thrilling
the first time you see, like, a song you wrote.
-Yeah. This is the movie
I've seen the least that I have worked on.
Also, because I think -- because we were working from home,
Disney security was even more intense.
So I would be like, "Can I just get minutes 45 to 48?
'Cause I have a write a song for that?
Can I see it, please?"
And -- But it was also -- what's so thrilling
about writing for animation is
that they can move at the speed of thought.
So, there's a song in the movie called "Surface Pressure,"
where, you know, this character is singing
about how she feels nervous and what's under the surface.
So, again, I cut to my kids worried about me,
and me in the corner, being like...
"Nervous," "surface," "how big the iceberg is."
[ Laughter ] "Cerberus?"
And just as many "nervous" rhymes as I can get,
and I write the song. And then, when it comes back,
the animation goes there. It can show you Cerberus.
It can show how big the iceberg is.
And it can move at the speed of thought,
which is just thrilling when you're a lyricist.
-That's really exciting. I want to --
I'm very excited to talk to you about your directorial debut.
We're going to be right back
with more from Lin-Manuel Miranda.