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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