DAVID BIANCULLI, MODERATOR:
That's FRESH AIR. I'm David Bianculli, editor of the TV Worth Watching website, replacing Terry Gross. We typically spend this time of the season reviewing some of our employee interview picks for the year. But since it's 2019, we're expanding the scope and highlighting some of the employee picks throughout the decade. Today the focus is on Broadway musicals. And our guests are some of the artists behind some of the biggest hits of the decade. Later, we hear from the creators of the TV series South Park, Matt Stone and Trey Parker, whose musical The Book Of Mormon opened on Broadway in 2011 and became a huge hit.
The biggest hit of the decade was written by our first guest, Lin-Manuel Miranda, whose musical Hamilton won 11 Tony Awards and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Miranda wrote the music, lyrics, book and performed with the original cast. Nearly five years after its 2015 debut, "Hamilton" remains Broadway's most popular ticket. Miranda's first Broadway show, In The Heights, was a musical set in a Latino New York City neighborhood similar to where she grew up. In 2008, this show also won the Tony for Best Musical. Terry Gross spoke to Lin-Manuel Miranda in 2017 after leaving his lead role as Alexander Hamilton. But his hip-hop musical about the Founding Fathers remains a cultural phenomenon.
(SOUNDBITE DE NPR BROADCAST ARCHIVADO)
TERRY GROSS, BYLINE: Okay, I want to talk to you about Hamilton. So let's start with "My Shot".
LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA: Sure.
BIG: And this is Alexander Hamilton making his big statement about how he got to America. He will make it. And he doesn't miss the chance. You know, and first it will be in the Revolutionary War and then in the new American government. So let's hear some of that and then we'll talk. This is Lin-Manuel Miranda from the cast recording of Hamilton.
(SOUNDBITE VON SONG, "MY SHOT")
MIRANDA: (knocks) I don't shoot. I don't throw away my chance. Hey, I'm like my country, I'm young, rudimentary and hungry, and I'm not going to miss my chance. I win a scholarship to King's College. I probably shouldn't be bragging, but damn, awe and awe. Trouble is, I have a lot of brains but no polish. I have to scream just to be heard. With every word I overthrow knowledge. I'm a diamond in the rough, a shining piece of coal trying to reach my goal. My word power, impeccable. Only 19, but my mind is older. These New York streets are getting colder. I carry every burden. Every drawback I learned to deal with. I don't have a gun to swing. I walk these streets hungry. The plan is to turn that spark into a flame, but damn it's getting dark so let me spell the name out. I am the A-L-E-X-A-N-D-E-R. We are to be an independently functioning colony...
BIG: This is Lin Manuel-Miranda from your cast recording of Hamilton. So you're so amazing at those intricate rhymes you do on this show. How do you string all these intricately placed rhymes together?
MIRANDA: For me, the fun thing about writing My Shot was Hamilton's declaration of intent. And he wanted to show his intellect and ambition not just in what he said, but in how he said it. So before he comes in and sings "My Shot", the other guys in this bar, right? - Laurens, Mulligan and Lafayette - rhymes at the end of the line. Yeah (raps) I'm John Laurens in the right place. Two pints of Sam Adams, but I'm working on three.
We rhyme at the end of the line. And then comes Hamilton. And all of a sudden you get a lot of internal consonance and a lot of internal rhyming and you're not content to just rhyme at the end of the line, but you know you have these big letters and puns, you know? (rap) I know the action on the street is exciting, but God, between all the bleeding and fighting, I've been reading and writing.
Therefore, they are closely related. And when you consider that Hamilton delivers that in real time, you suddenly think: Wow, this is the best freestyler that ever lived (laughs). And that was the fun of building it. And it took many days and months of work to make his lyrics much more complex than everyone else's.
GROSS: Because he was so smart and articulate...
MIRANDA: I.
BRUTTO: Yeah, so you're using a tool like a rhyming dictionary? Do you catalog words? Do you have word lists that you jotted down while researching keywords that you thought would work well in writing so you have some kind of storage box of words or phrases to work with? with?
MIRANDA: I'd like to tell you that I did just that.
BRUTUS: (laughs).
MIRANDA: I seem to have taken good care of myself. But honestly, I throw out the kitchen sink in every situation I find myself in at the time of writing. I remember walking into the Lafayette department and thinking, wow, I don't even know French. So, you're thinking, how do you say [expletive] you in French? How do you say - how do you count to 10 in French? He knew none of these basic things and only did research to make Lafayette feel outcast: a mixture of French and English while learning English in the original colonies.
And that was, you know, the amount of time I put into those two lines, and also kind of a love letter to Lancelot in Camelot, my mother's favorite notes. Then have him finish his line with "C'est Moi", that's Lancelot's big tune: that's my little love letter to Lerner and Loewe, that's all he says. So the answer is no, I stop and examine every situation I'm in. Other than that, I had Ron Chernow's book as a guide.
BIG: Do you do anything to capture speed without tripping over the tongue? Does it get harder or easier over time if you're doing the same thing every night, you know, rap? And again, it's really fast and tricky lyrics, and you have to keep time and do it without stumbling.
MIRANDA: Being a performer helps me tremendously as a lyricist. I wouldn't give an artist anything I couldn't deliver myself, with the occasional exception of Daveed Diggs, who is so extraordinarily articulate and capable of articulating at high speed that I give him a few jabs that I probably couldn't. deliver in the same way. I walk at that speed But I try not to do something hard to do every night. You must move at this character's speed of thought, because that's the only way to act. But you know, it's interesting. I think it was a big challenge to do this show every night. And yet, who is to blame if not myself?
BRUTUS: (laughs).
MIRANDA: I wrote the part. And it was also the most thrilling rollercoaster ever night. you know i need to fall in love i got a war to win. I have to write words that inspired a nation.
GROSS: So "Hamilton" has such an interesting connection to the White House for two reasons. The show essentially comes from the White House. You started thinking of Hamilton as a concept album about Alexander Hamilton, and the first time you played one of the songs, the opening song of the show, was at the White House. What was that, an American music night or something that Michelle...
MIRANDA: Yes, it was night...
GROSS: ...Did you introduce Obama?
MIRANDA: ...of poetry and the spoken word. Yeah, and that was around May 2009. You know, new management, and she was thrilled to be asked.
GROSS: Let's hear a little bit about the 2009 White House appearance: This is Lin-Manuel Miranda.
(ARCHIVED RECORDING SOUNDBITE)
MIRANDA: I'm glad the White House called me tonight because I'm working on a hip hop album. It's a concept album about the life of someone who I think embodies hip-hop, Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton.
(RISA)
MIRANDA: You're laughing. But it's true. Born out of wedlock as a penniless orphan in St. Croix, he became George Washington's right-hand man, became Secretary of the Treasury, had feuds with all the other founding fathers, and everything revolved around his writing. I think it embodies the ability of the word to make a difference. So I'm going to do the first song tonight. I will be joined by Tony and Grammy winner Alex Lacamoire.
(Applause)
MIRANDA: All you need to know: I'm playing Vice President Aaron Burr. And skip if you want.
(rap) How is a bastard, orphan, son of a bitch and jock thrown into the middle of a providentially forgotten corner of the Caribbean, impoverished, destitute, growing up to be a hero and a scholar? The Fatherless $10 Founding Father went way beyond that by working a lot harder, being a lot smarter, and being an entrepreneur. At age 14 he was put in charge of a commercial charter. And every day, while the slaves were butchered and carried by the waves, our Hamilton kept his vigil. Inside, I yearned for something to be a part of. The brother...
BIG: This is Lin-Manuel Miranda performing the opening number of "Hamilton" at the White House with Michelle and Barack Obama in the audience. So, let's get started: When Vice President-elect Mike Pence appeared in "Hamilton" and was applauded, he was booed while he was there. And then, when the show ended, Brandon Victor Dixon, who now plays Aaron Burr, came out and read a little speech to Mike Pence. And I'm going to read something to our listeners who might not have heard this.
He said that. (Read More) Vice President Elect Pence, welcome and sincere thanks for joining us here on Hamilton: An American Musical. We really do. We, sir, are the many United States concerned and concerned that your new administration will not protect or defend us, our planet, our children, our parents and uphold our inalienable rights, sir. But we really hope this show has inspired you to stand up for our American values and work for all of us, all of us. Thank you for watching this show, this wonderful American story told by a diverse group of men and women of all different races, creeds and orientations.
So you wrote it down. This is my understanding. You co-wrote with the director and producer. Am I right?
MIRANDA: Yes, with Tommy and Jeffrey. We received the message that he would come in the afternoon and we prepared before his arrival.
GROSS: Okay, how did the conversation go between you and everyone else involved about whether you should say something or not?
MIRANDA: Well, the conversation was that this was an incredibly divisive election, with a lot of hurt feelings, disappointment and anger on both sides. And the kind of overwhelming message in that statement is that we really hope it guides us all. We are a piece that tells the story of our founders with a very diversified company that we believe reflects what our country is like today. And then it was really conceived as an olive branch. You know, please guide us all. And I was... what I was really grateful for was that Sunday, Mike Pence was very grateful for it and I think he feels he should be. He said I wasn't offended. I assure you that we will try to guide you all. And so I appreciated what he said and that he stopped to listen. You know, he didn't have to do it, but he did. And I thought it felt like a civilized dialogue between us.
BIANCULLI: Lin-Manuel Miranda, the composer and lyricist of the Broadway musical Hamilton, in conversation with Terry Gross in 2017. More after a break. That's FRESH AIR.
(TO MISS THE SOUNDBITE OF "TACOBEL CANON")
BIANCULLI: That's FRESH AIR. Going back to Terry's 2017 interview with Lin-Manuel Miranda, the composer, lyricist and original star of the musical Hamilton. It's one of our staff's favorite interviews of the decade.
(SOUNDBITE DE NPR BROADCAST ARCHIVADO)
GROSS: So Hamilton is partly a story about an immigrant and about immigrants, and of course that ties into the family history. His father came to New York from Puerto Rico to attend college. And his mother ...
MIRANDA: He's not technically an immigrant because Puerto Rico is a Commonwealth, but the Spanish to English and expulsion experience is very similar.
BIG: Right. I agree. And her mother, I believe, moved to the United States from Puerto Rico when she was a child.
MIRANDA: Right.
GROSS: And you grew up in a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood. They went to Hunter College primary and secondary school. Am I right?
MIRANDA: That's right.
BRUTO: Yeah, so you talked about that gap in the past between who you were at home and in your Latin neighborhood and who you were with your friends at school. What was the difference between these two you?
MIRANDA: Oh man. I feel like we just got into Code Switch because I did it. I think this is interesting. I mean, I think if you're going to develop a recipe for making a writer, make him feel a little out of place everywhere, make him an observer all the time, and that's a great way to make a writer. I won the lottery when I came to Hunter. Getting a great free public school education saved my family, and I knew it. He knew he was in a school with very smart kids.
And he also had friends in the neighborhood who went to the local school. And I remember feeling the drift happen. You know, when you date someone all day, your closest friends become the ones you go to school with. And yet I still stayed at my neighborhood friends' houses, I made movies with my neighborhood friends. And you know, the corner I lived in was something like this little Latin American country. It's the one where the nanny who lived with us and raised us, who also raised my dad in Puerto Rico, never had to learn English. All the business people in and around our block spoke Spanish.
And yet, I would go to school and be with my friends on the Upper East Side and the Upper West Side, and I would be the one translating for the Spanish-speaking nanny. So it's interesting to be a Latino cultural ambassador at age 7, you know? (laughs) Well, I had that experience too. So, you know, we change depending on the room we're in. I lower my voice because I'm talking to Terry Gross.
GROSS: (laughs) You obviously love rap and hip-hop. What were the first recordings that impressed you, the first rap recordings that impressed you?
MIRANDA: I have several. I remember my sister bringing the Fat Boys home when I was very young and also taking me to early hip hop movies. I remember watching "Beat Street" and "Breakin'" being dragged around by my older sister as a kid. My sister is responsible, above all, for my good taste in music. I remember stealing her copy of "A Wolf In Sheep's Clothing" by Black Sheep and learning (crash) the locomotive, locomotive #9 on the New York Transit Line.
I think this is probably the first rap song I memorized a lot in sixth grade. But also Naughty By Nature and Queen Latifah - the music you loved as a teenager will always be more important to you. And I think it's about Hamilton's score. The quotes are Biggie quotes. They're a great play on words, and they're all '90s New York East Coast rappers, and that was when I was a teenager.
GROSS: So I'm going to put you in your place and ask you to write one of the first rhymes you remember writing today.
MIRANDA: (knocks) Well, hello, my name is Lin. But if you're dyslexic, call me Nile. My rhymes are going to kill so I suggest you write your will and leave me your [expletive]. I'm the epitome of cool, can't get rid of me because I'm hitting the mic tonight.
BRUTUS: (laughs).
MIRANDA: Notice my voice has gone up about two octaves. That's because I wasn't listening to anything but Pharcyde at the time. And my favorite rapper in Pharcyde had this (rapping loudly) well there she goes again, the coolest Ethiopian, and now the world around me: it was that rhythm and I think my rap voice is still affected by Pharmacy . But yeah, these lines were a rhyme I wrote in ninth grade and showed to my friends. And they said, okay, keep your job (laughs).
BRUTUS: Oh come on. That was very good. That was fun (laughs).
MIRANDA: I.
GROSS: So your father has or had a political consultancy. He worked with New York City Mayor Ed Koch.
MIRANDA: Yes.
BIG: He still has and advises him on Latino issues. And apparently, when you were a kid, you wrote jingles for a political consulting firm your dad owns. How old were you when you started writing them? And please sing one for us.
MIRANDA: Well, the jingles are tricky because they sound like I'm waiting to wake up in the morning. It's not - they're not like "I like Ike". You - is background music for commercials. It was basically cheap labor for my father. He would say I need 30 seconds of jazz for a Sharpton commercial that will be shown on WBLS. Or I need a shiny sauce for a Fernando Ferrer commercial. You know, I wrote music for Eliot Spitzer before we knew what we knew...
BRUTUS: (laughs).
MIRANDA: ...when he was running for governor. And whatever Democratic candidate my dad was working with, I wrote the song for the campaign. I liked writing the negative ads more than those - because they're more of a minor chord. They just hit the synth (imitates a synth). Politician X voted against da da da (ph) and then ends with a brilliant salsa - (imitate salsa music). Vote for politician Y
GROSS: So you know how you talked about your separate self, the you that you were when you were at home and in your Latino neighborhood and the you that you were in school when your friends knew and weren't Latino, and that you learned, after all, to put it all together, those pieces? Did the same kind of isolation happen to you musically? You loved Broadway shows and you loved hip hop.
MIRANDA: That's a fantastic question.
GROSS: And maybe it's hard to find people who love both when they're teenagers.
MIRANDA: Yes, I mean absolutely. And, frankly, what a fantastic question, because theater has really started to fill that gap for me. My senior year of high school, I was the director of the school musical, and I chose West Side Story because I was painfully aware that there weren't enough Latino kids to call all the sharks West Side Story Hunter or to at least audition. . And so it actually became a weird way of bringing my culture into the school. I remember being amazed when I first saw the movie in sixth grade that there is actually a musical number in canon about whether you should stay in Puerto Rico and live in the US.
BRUTUS: Oh, yes.
MIRANDA: You know, it's amazing when you're 12, growing up in New York, and your whole family is from that other island, to have that conversation in front of you in a legendary musical. And then I had my great white sharks and my Asian sharks. And I brought my dad and he did dialect training. You know, while they're singing "America," I want the things they're screaming as they're rooting for each other to be on point. I want the accents to be accurate.
BIANCULLI: Our guest is Lin-Manuel Miranda, the original star of the Broadway musical "Hamilton", who wrote the music, lyrics and book for the show. He spoke to Terry Gross in 2017. And after a break we continued the conversation. We'll also hear another selection of interviews from our Employee of the Decade as we review Terry's 2011 interview with Trey Parker and Matt Stone, creators of The Book of Mormon. I'm David Bianculli and this is FRESH AIR.
(SOUNDBITE AUS DEM SONG „YORKTOWN (THE WORLD UPWARDS)“)
DAVEED DIGGS: (Als Lafayette, cantor) Monsieur Hamilton...
MIRANDA: (singing as Hamilton) Monsieur Lafayette...
DIGGS: (as Lafayette, singing) Rule where you belong.
MIRANDA: (as Hamilton, singing) How do you say don't worry? We are finally on the field. We had quite a race.
DIGGS: (As Lafayette) Immigrants.
LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA AND DAVEED DIGGS: (As Hamilton and Lafayette) We do the work.
MIRANDA: (as Hamilton) What if we win?
DIGGS: (As Lafayette, singing) I'm going back to France. I bring freedom to my people when I have the chance.
MIRANDA: (as Hamilton) We'll be with you if you do.
DIGGS: (as Lafayette) Wow. Guide your men.
MIRANDA: (as Hamilton, singing) See you on the other side.
DIGGS: (as Lafayette, singing) Till we meet again. Go.
UNKNOWN ACTORS: (As characters, singing) I won't waste my chance. I don't throw away my chance. Hey me, I'm like my country. I am young, rowdy and hungry. And I won't waste my chance. I don't throw away my chance.
MIRANDA: (as Hamilton, singing) Till the world turns upside down.
UNKNOWN CAST: (As characters) Until the world is turned upside down.
MIRANDA: (rapping like Hamilton) I imagine death so much it feels more like a memory. Here he catches me: standing, the enemy in front of me. If this is my end, at least I'll have a friend with me, a gun in my hand, a commander and my men with me. Then I remember that my Eliza was waiting for me. Not only that, my Eliza is pregnant. We have to go, we have to do the work...
BIANCULLI: That's FRESH AIR. This is David Bianculli back in the Terry Gross shoes with more from Terry's 2017 interview with Lin-Manuel Miranda, the creator of "Hamilton". The Broadway hip-hop musical about the Founding Fathers won 11 Tony Awards and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. This interview is one of our employees' favorites for the interview of the decade.
GROSS: I have to ask you about Stephen Sondheim because you have a very interesting history with him. First, when you were directing West Side Story in high school, he got into your class because he was friends with the father of one of the cast members and...
MIRANDA: Yes, it's war...
GROSS: ... I talked to you. So did you...
MIRANDA: Yes, he is - the daughter of John Weidman...
GROSS: Oh.
MIRANDA: ...He studied at our school.
GROSS: You wrote the book Assassins and Pacific Overtures.
MIRANDA: "Pacific Overtures", eu.
BRUTUS: Yes, there it is. So you meet him in high school and then you write the Spanish lyrics for the Spanish production of West Side Story.
MIRANDA: Right.
GROSS: And then you have to be in a production of "Merrily We Roll Along," a great Sondheim musical that needs to be revived because the original Broadway run was so short. So that was Downtown, an encore of Downtown New York City! Production. I actually want to play with you a little bit about what...
MIRANDA: Oh toll.
BIG: Bis! He was kind enough - I saw you in that production. So you play a lyricist working with a composer, but the composer is out of breath. And you know, he only does commercial work, and the lyricist now thinks of the songwriter, instead of just being his friend and collaborator Franklin Shepard, he now sees him as Franklin Shepard, Inc., because he is. ..
MIRANDA: Right.
BIG: ...So much about business and making money. In this scene, you are being interviewed on TV. You're a little bitter about this whole collaboration with this composer.
(ARCHIVED RECORDING SOUNDBITE)
UNKNOWN ACTOR #1: (as character) Well, how do you guys work together?
COLIN DONNELL: (as Frank Shepard) Oh, we're working...
MIRANDA: (as Charley) Oh, may I answer?
UNKNOWN ACTOR #1: (As character) Please.
MIRANDA: (as Charley) How do we work together? Naturally. He goes...
(MUSIC SOUND SYNCHRONIZATION)
MIRANDA: (as Charley) And I'll...
(MUSIC SOUND SYNCHRONIZATION)
MIRANDA: (as Charley, singing) And then we're humming along, and that's called writing a song. Then he goes...
(MUSIC SOUND SYNCHRONIZATION)
MIRANDA: (singing as Charley) And I will...
(MUSIC SOUND SYNCHRONIZATION)
MIRANDA: (as Charley) And the phone goes d-d-d-d-ring (ph). And he goes, mumbling, mumbling, mumbling, mumbling. Yes, Jerome. I mutter - no, Jerome. Mumbling, mumbling, mumbling, mumbling, this is his lawyer, Jerome. Marble, Marble, Marble, Marble, Marble, do it, Jerome, click. I'm very sorry
(MUSIC SOUND SYNCHRONIZATION)
MIRANDA: (singing as Charley) Then I'll...
(MUSIC SOUND SYNCHRONIZATION)
MIRANDA: (singing as Charley) And it goes...
(MUSIC SOUND SYNCHRONIZATION)
MIRANDA: (singing as Charley) And I will...
(MUSIC SOUND SYNCHRONIZATION)
MIRANDA: (as Charley, singing) And then we're going to knock.
(SUMMER BITE)
MIRANDA: (as Charley) I'm sorry, Charley.
(SUMMER BITE)
MIRANDA: (as Charley) It's the secretary...
(SUMMER BITE)
MIRANDA: (as Charley) ...On the intercom. Yes Miss Bzzz? It's a messenger. Thank you Mrs. Bzzz. Are you going to tell him to wait? you order the car do you call the bank? Will you connect the coast? Do you want - d-d-d-d-ring (ph). I'm Sorry Gossip, gossip, gossip, gossip - sell the stock. Mother - buys the rights. Whisper, Whisper, Whisper, Whisper, Whisper...
(SUMMER BITE)
MIRANDA: (as Charley) Let me put you on hold.
(SUMMER BITE)
MIRANDA: (as Charley) Yes Miss Bzzz? It's the interview. Thank you, Miss Bzzz. Are you going to tell him to wait? you're going to start the car Are you asking about the coast? Do you send it to the bank?
(singing) And the phones are flashing and the stocks are selling. And the rest of us are kept on hold. And he likes to make movies, and now he's a company, right? So I play at home with my wife and kids and wait for movie offers. And I have a little sailboat and I like meditation, right? Fly to California. I'm talking to my shrink about it. This is the story of how Franklin Shepard, Inc. and I work.
(laughs) It amazes me how much I like it.
GROSSO: Okay. This is my guest Lin-Manuel Miranda. You're having so much fun and I really think doing hip-hop rhymes is great preparation for this text.
MIRANDA: It certainly is.
GROSS: For singing it, yes. And Sondheim has written so many, he is simply the most brilliant lyricist. But what are some of the things you learned from talking with Sondheim? Because I know he also gave his opinion on "Hamilton" before you directed it. So what did you learn from talking to him or just knowing his work intimately?
MIRANDA: What he always emphasized was variety, variety, variety, variety, variety. When you're dealing with a constant beat, it doesn't matter how good your lyrics are, if you don't change it, people's heads will turn and they'll stop listening to you. So always keep a cool ear and let the audience marvel. And, you know, that was his motto when writing Hamilton.
GROSS: The Sondheim song that comes closest to comedic rap, in my opinion, is "Not Getting Married," which is done...
MIRANDA: Is everyone here? Because if you're all here, I want to thank you all for coming to the wedding.
GROSS: Yes, do more. do more
MIRANDA: I would appreciate it even more if you would leave. I mean, you must have much better things to do. And not a word about it to Paul. Do you remember Paul, the man I'm going to marry? But I'm not because I would never ruin someone as wonderful as he is. Thank you all for the gifts and flowers. Thanks everyone for the map and the showers. Don't tell Paul, but I'm not getting married today.
GROSS: Anyone who knows this song has an amazing tongue (laughs).
MIRANDA: Absolutely.
GROSS: It's so complicated. it's so fast and the words are so thick and fun and rhyming (ph). And so, have you heard about this song in terms of the complicated rhyme schemes and what...
MIRANDA: Well, I'm thinking of...
GROSS: ...can the human voice do that without completely stumbling?
MIRANDA: Honestly, this is the song I think of the most when people ask me, how do you think rap would work on Broadway? And I say nothing on my show tops "Get Married Today" on Company.
GROSS: Yes.
MIRANDA: Then I don't know what you're talking about. There are also many precedents for unquoted "hip-hop" work and standards for the stage. But you know, what's amazing about Getting Married Today is that it's also a master class in how to write simple lyrics. There are consonants that waste air. H - there's no H because if you say huh (ph) you've lost half the air in your lungs. So it's a lot of T's and P's.
Thank you all. Is everyone there yet? Because if you're all here, I want to thank you all for coming to the wedding.
It's more about breath control than being, it's not a tongue twister. He knows it's not a tongue twister. It's about being able to say it with a steady breath and getting out of the way and choosing words that don't require extra breath, tongue or jaw. So it's not really about making it difficult. It's about making it easy.
GROSS: So did you learn this intuitively, or did Sondheim tell you that this was his intention: to stay away from as many Hs as possible and stick to things that are easy to say?
MIRANDA: I think I read it in a conversation he had at one point, but he also knew intuitively of hip-hop artists that he liked and rapped fast. You know, they don't try to do something every night that's difficult for them. They're trying to make something that sounds impressive and is fun to deliver. I'm trying to think of a really concrete example from the early '90s: Queen Latifah. (Rapping) Rip your size. You're broken, it feels more like a break. Get that rapper. Latifah will be back to destroy you.
This is Queen Latifah in 1992, and it's fast. There's "U.N.I.T.Y" by Queen Latifah. She says (knocks) that she has a lot of people ready to pull the trigger. Why are you trying to jump in front of the ball, young lady?
Without H, then you intuitively learn that the author is trying to make something that flows easily from the language.
GROSS: So the author of "Alexander Hamilton" (ph) tried to avoid the Hs when writing the lyrics? (Laughter).
MIRANDA: Well, you'll notice that "Hamilton" doesn't appear in any of the fast raps onstage, right? It's - George Washington goes, Hamilton, and then Jefferson's the one who goes, so he knows his way around in an overcoat, funny (ph) and he's fluent in French, I mean - so let's not bother anybody with Hamilton.
GROSS: (laughs) Well, Lin-Manuel Miranda, it was wonderful talking to you. I really liked it. Thanks.
MIRANDA: That's right. joy is mine.
BIG: Lin-Manuel Miranda is the creator and original star of the hit musical 'Hamilton'. He was interviewed by Terry Gross in 2017. We then hear from the authors of "The Book Of Mormon", another hit musical of the decade, as our team picks their favorite interviews from the decade. That's FRESH AIR.
(MUSIC SOUNDBITE) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.