I always had an eye toward the stage for the story of Hamilton's life, but I began with the idea of a concept album, the way Andrew Lloyd Webber's 'Evita' and 'Jesus Christ Superstar' were albums before they were musicals.
Lin-Manuel MirandaRead
Making words rhyme for a living is one of the great joys of my life... That's a superpower I've been very conscious of developing. I started at the same level as everybody else, and then I just listened to more music and talked to myself until it was an actual superpower I could pull out on special occasions.
Interpretation
Emphasizes the joy and effort involved in honing one's creative talents.
In this quote, Lin-Manuel Miranda reflects on his journey as a wordsmith, highlighting the joy he finds in rhyming and the conscious effort he put into developing his craft. He suggests that by actively listening to music and engaging in self-dialogue, he transformed what began as a common ability into a remarkable skill, akin to a superpower. This underscores the importance of dedication and passion in the pursuit of artistic endeavors.
In practice
In a speech about the importance of creativity in education, you could quote Miranda to inspire students.
I always had an eye toward the stage for the story of Hamilton's life, but I began with the idea of a concept album, the way Andrew Lloyd Webber's 'Evita' and 'Jesus Christ Superstar' were albums before they were musicals.
You know what's a great way of tricking people into thinking you're a genius? Write a show about geniuses!
I think I'm always subconsciously trying to write the ideal school play. Lots of parts for everybody, great parts for women - don't forget, more girls try out than boys in the school play; everyone gets to be in the school play.
Anytime you write something, you go through so many phases. You go through the 'I'm a Fraud' phase. You go through the 'I'll Never Finish' phase. And every once in a while you think, 'What if I actually have created what I set out to create, and it's received as such?'
Everything we know about Hamilton, we knew when he was alive, because he told us.
In the best works of fiction, there's no mustache-twirling villain. I try to write shows where even the bad guy's got his reasons.
I just hate to be in one corner. I hate to be put as only a guitar player, or either only as a songwriter, or only as a tap dancer. I like to move around.
I knew from the age of five what I wanted to do. The one thing I could do was draw. I couldn't draw that much better than some of the other kids, but I cared more and I wanted it badly.
If you want to write you should learn the alphabet. You write and write and in the end you hava a beautiful, perfect alphabet. But it isn’t the alphabed that is important. The important thing is what you are writing, what you are expressing. The same thing goes for photography. Photographs can be technically perfect and even beautiful, but they have no expression.
Novel-writing is, for the novelist, a game of let's pretend.
It is a funny thing, but when I am making music, all the answers I seek for in life seem to be there, in the music. Or rather, I should say, when I am making music, there are no questions and no need for answers.
To keep beauty in its place is to make all things beautiful.
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