Wild Card

 Lin Manuel-Miranda 

I come from a family who loves broadway shows. I have grown up listening to major broadway hits and seeing shows whenever they travel to Little Rock. When I visited New York in 2016, the broadway musical Hamilton, written by Lin Manuel-Miranda, was advertised everywhere. Of course, I heard of the musical and heard terrific reviews, but we did not get to see it in New York. In 2020, I finally got to watch Hamilton when it was put on Disney Plus. After watching it for the first time, my entire family immediately fell in love with it. Since then, we have closely followed Lin Manuel-Miranda's work. I have also taken notice of his genius marketing strategies, not only for his work but for himself. 

Hamilton's Success

When Hamilton first became a success, I had never heard so many people, who were not familiar with theater, talk so much about a musical. Music from the cast album went viral on Tiktok, and people talked about it all over social media. Hamilton was a quick success due to Lin's phenomenal writing, but how did marketing come into play? 

First of all, Lin created an entirely new type of musical. Almost the entire musical is done in hip hop and rap, with very little dialogue between songs. Second, diverse casting is what made the musical noticeable. The characters are based on our founding fathers; however, Lin did not typecast the characters. This played a significant role in marketing the musical. People were interested to see these historical figures played by a diverse cast. 

Lin and other Hamilton creators backed a curriculum that allowed thousands of high school students from California, New York, Chicago, and other parts of the U.S. to watch the production for free. They also wrote their own raps, plays, and songs to perform on the Hamilton stage before the show. The program is called EduHam and began when Ron Chernow, author of Alexander Hamilton (the book that inspired Lin to create the musical) and Lin approached the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History about creating a companion program to the Hamilton story. 

Hamilton also became popular due to its celebrity fanbase. "The Hamilton Mixtape" was released in 2016 which featured artists such as Kelly Clarkson, Jimmy Fallon, Sia, John Legend, and more. When attending the production, celebrities were also sure to post Hamilton on their social media.

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Can't sleep. I should be sleeping. But thanks to @HamiltonMusical I keep rapping in my sleep. Sheep!

— Kristin Chenoweth (@KChenoweth) October 3, 2015

Ultimately, adding Hamilton to Disney Plus skyrocketed the musical to another level. It also helped Disney Plus' plummeting ratings. Because Hamilton was added to Disney Plus during the pandemic, it raised awareness for struggling Broadway stars out of work.

    

Lin's Success 

Lin is an expert at marketing himself, along with his work. In his first Broadway hit, In the Heights, Lin cast himself as the main character; he did this again during Hamilton's production. After all, who knows the characters and music better than the one who wrote them? 

Lin in Hamilton.

Lin in In the Heights.

Lin includes himself in a cameo if he is not front and center. For example, when In the Heights was adapted into a movie, Lin put himself in a small role in the film; he also included his friend and Hamilton costar, Christopher Jackson. He made his directing debut in his most recent project Tik Tik Boom!. In the film, he made a cameo as a cook during one of the diner scenes. He included two of his other Hamilton costars in the same scene, Renée Elise Goldsberry and Phillipa Soo. 

Lin and Christopher Jackon in In the Heights (film). 
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Lin in Tick Tick Boom!

Lin has been heavily involved in philanthropy throughout his career. When the film version of In the Heights was released, Lin announced a series of donations to organizations that serve immigrants. The Miranda Family Fund awarded a total of $225,000 in grants to immigrant rights groups and policy reform advocates all around the United States. These groups include Arizona's Pima County Justice for All, California's Coalition for Human Rights Los Angeles, Colorado Immigration Rights Coalition, Michigan's Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services, Texas' Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, Utah Refugee Connection, Asian Americans Advancing Justice in Washington, and both Alianza for Progress and Orlando Center for Justice in Florida.

Lin also has a significant presence on Twitter, where he posts about upcoming projects. Currently, he is promoting Tik Tik Boom! and Encanto, a new Disney film for which he has written songs. 

Lin Manuel-Miranda is a talented writer, director, and performer. He has made incredible contributions to theater and film in only the last few years. There are very few people who would not recognize Lin or the title of one of his projects. He has an excellent marketing strategy that promotes his work and himself. I believe Lin will be remembered for his contributions for many years, and I cannot wait to see what he works on in the future. A line from Hamilton says, "man, the man is non-stop," and in Lin-Manuel-Miranda's case, the statement is very much true.