February 28 • 2019 33
jn
raphy, Alexander Hamilton, while on
vacation and approached Chernow
about turning his book into a hip-hop
musical. Chernow agreed. Miranda
wrote the lyrics and music, and the rest
is history.
In addition to Seller, who had previ-
ously produced Miranda’
s Tony Award-
winning In the Heights,
Jewish members of
Hamilton’
s creative team
include director Thomas
Kail, set designer David
Korins, associate cho-
reographer Stephanie
Crain Klemons and
sound designer Nevin Steinberg.
MIRANDA’
S JEWISH TIES
Seller says the New York-born and
-raised Miranda (his parents emi-
grated to the U.S. from Puerto Rico)
has been profoundly affected by the
strength of his family
and his regular visits
to Puerto Rico in the
summers, where he
stayed with his grand-
parents.
But he has been sur-
rounded by Jews most
of his life.
“Lin grew up in the Washington
Heights area of New York City, which
had a lot of Jews living there [as
well as a sizable Hispanic communi-
ty],” says the New York City-based
Seller. “He went to Hunter College
elementary and high schools, which
also had many Jews attending, so he
nurtured very close friendships with
a lot of Jewish kids.”
At Wesleyan University, where
he met Hamilton director Thomas
Kail, Miranda, a 2002 grad, joined a
Jewish a cappella group, the Mazel
Tones. His performance of the
old-school Israeli song “Hinei Ba
HaShalom” has gone viral, thanks to
one of the members of that group.
Miranda has said that he performed
at bar mitzvahs to help pay the rent.
In 2009, New York’
s Yeshiva
University awarded Miranda an hon-
orary degree. He later tweeted, “The
day I became a Jewish doctor!”
When Miranda married Vanessa
Nadel in 2010 in New York, he
arranged a surprise performance
of Fiddler on the Roof’
s “To Life”
at the reception. The production
included Miranda’
s father-in-law,
father, groomsmen and bridesmaids.
(Google “To Life: Vanessa’
s Wedding
Surprise” to see it on YouTube.)
Seller and his children attended
the wedding.
“Lin is a cherished and close col-
league and friend with whom I talk
on a regular basis,” Seller says. “We
do a lot together, including recently
purchasing the Drama Bookshop in
New York City,” along with Thomas
Kail and Detroit-born theater-owner
James L. Nederlander, president of
the Nederlander Organization.
Seller shares that Miranda wrote
some of the songs for Hamilton while
visiting him on Long Island.
“He would spend time at our
house in the Hamptons on a reg-
ular basis, and he wrote a little
bit of the music at the house,”
Seller recalls. “He wrote one of
the show’
s most iconic songs, ‘
The
Room Where It Happens,’
on my
front porch. I have a piano, and he
brought his keyboard.”
As of today, there are five compa-
nies of Hamilton: one each in New
York, Chicago and London, and two
touring productions. Seller wants the
Detroit audience to know the touring
company is every bit as good as the
Broadway production.
“When you see the set design of
Hamilton outside of Broadway, it
looks exactly the same. Every single
piece of staging, the lighting design,
every costume is exactly the same.
“That is our commitment to the
general public. When you see the show
in Detroit, you are getting the exact
same thing people get in New York.
” ■
“When you see the show in Detroit, you
are getting the exact same thing people
get in New York. Th
at is our commit-
ment to the general public.”
— JEFFREY SELLER, PRODUCER
Lin-Manuel
Miranda
MATTHEW MURPHY
Tommy Kail
STEPHANIE KLEMONS
details
Hamilton runs March 12-April 21 at
Detroit’
s Fisher Theater. Tickets are
available at BroadwayInDetroit.com or
ticketmaster.com.
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