These lyrics from the musical, In the Heights describe its playwright and leading man, Lin-Manuel Miranda, well. “People come through for a few cold waters and a lottery ticket, just a part of the routine everybody’s got a job, and everybody’s got a dream.” He takes inspiration from his childhood neighborhood in New York City, which was full of diverse culture. His Broadway journey began when his first musical, In the Heights, opened at the Richard Rodgers Theatre. Spectators were surprised to see that Miranda did not write traditional musical numbers like other …show more content…
"Miranda had some lean years as he struggled to develop a creative career in the performing arts while supporting himself. He and friends formed Freestyle Love Supreme, a hip-hop improvisation act, but he also worked as a bar mitzvah entertainer-for-hire" ("Lin-Manuel Miranda." Newsmakers). Miranda worked numerous jobs but followed through his struggles in order to support himself and focus on his artistic career. After In the Heights had opened, Miranda was known for his artistry: "In an interview with Broadway.com, Miranda said 'I barely slept, I barely ate; I just wrote. I put in all the things I'd always wanted to see onstage: propulsive freestyle rap scenes outside of bodegas, salsa numbers that also revealed character and story. I tried to write the kind of show I'd want to be in'" ("Lin-Manuel Miranda."