Lin-Manuel Miranda: The Education of an Artist

In this comprehensive debut biography, Portland State University theater professor Pollack-Pelzner pulls back the curtain on songwriter, filmmaker, and composer Lin-Manuel Miranda’s star-studded career. The author traces Miranda’s musical roots to his childhood in Upper Manhattan’s Inwood neighborhood, where he took piano lessons (though he “didn’t like to practice”) and was influenced by such Broadway musicals as Rent. Miranda began writing musicals in high school and started working on what would become In the Heights in college. Alongside director Tommy Kail, Miranda began producing the show in the basement of Manhattan’s Drama Book Shop, playing the role of the narrator, Usnavi; the show opened off-Broadway in 2005 and went on to win several Tony awards. Pollack-Pelzner also recaps the origins of Miranda’s most famous project, Hamilton, which was inspired by Ron Chernow’s biography of Alexander Hamilton. When Miranda read it, he drew parallels to “a hip-hop narrative,” since Hamilton “wrote his way into feuds” and was “gunned down in his prime.” The play took shape with the help of musical director Alex Lacamoire, opened in 2015 on Broadway, and became a cultural phenomenon. Drawing on extensive conversations with Miranda’s friends, collaborators, and peers, the author depicts his subject as less a “born genius” than an artist driven by an “insatiable” need to create, “limitless curiosity,” and a “childlike” desire to entertain (“I think a part of my brain is always just trying to make the best school play,” Miranda once said). This affectionate portrait brings the house down. (Sept.)