Post by jo on Aug 18, 2017 18:18:50 GMT -5
An interview with HAMILTON ( the musical) creator, Lin Manuel Miranda --
www.gq.com/story/lin-manuel-miranda-cant-believe-you-think-musicals-are-nerdy
www.gq.com/story/lin-manuel-miranda-cant-believe-you-think-musicals-are-nerdy
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Lin-Manuel Miranda pulled off a feat so difficult not even Alexander Hamilton could accomplish it: making Americans care about Alexander Hamilton. Now, GQ’s Caity Weaver asks the master to harness those powers of persuasion to sell the medium to unbelievers.
GQ: My first question is: Why all the singing?
Lin-Manuel Miranda: Oh, this is really, like, Musicals 101.
We’ve got time.
Why all the singing is because music does things to our brains and our hearts that words alone don’t. When all of the dominoes fall the right way, I don’t think there’s anything more thrilling.
Why is Hugh Jackman so good at musical theater?
Well, Hugh Jackman is six foot a billion, gorgeous, has the voice of an angel, and is an incredible actor. But I think the thing about a really good musical performer is they tell the truth. It’s vulnerable to sing a song and make it feel like you’re singing it for the first time. That’s what makes the legends special.
I think what you’re touching on here is there’s an earnestness to musicals.
Nah.
Okay.
Because Alan Cumming is one of our great musical-theater performers, but you’ll never see a touch of earnestness in any of his performances. He’s drier than your driest Chardonnay, but he’s just compulsively watchable because he’s magnetic. Sure, people may have trouble letting themselves feel feelings. But whether it’s Kill Bill: Vol. 1 or Mame, we turn to the arts to experience something we wouldn’t ordinarily experience.
Were you ever embarrassed to be getting out onstage and doin’ it real big, or were you just born with a song in your heart?
No, I feel like I’m going to throw up every time I go onstage, and I’ve logged a lot of hours onstage. The thing is, you have to treat the theater as rocket fuel. If I use it the wrong way, it’s going to blow up the fucking ship. But if I channel it in the right direction, then I’m going to fly.
Are you easily embarrassed?
I’m more embarrassed in a room full of five people than 1,300. Before I performed on Broadway, I was basically a professional substitute teacher so I lost my embarrassment threshold years ago in some classroom somewhere trying to keep fifth graders entertained or focused on their Spanish homework.
Is your teaching certificate still valid?
I’m still on the list. If they had a real shortage, maybe they’d call me.
Would you do it if you were free?
Yeah, but I’m never free.
Everyone thinks that a rock concert is really cool, but the musicians can go out there and be drunk and forget the words and slouch around on stage. Lots of people do not think musicals are cool, even though the quality of singing and dancing is uniformly more consistent. What happens in the transition from rock concert to musical that suddenly makes the basic act of performing music on stage uncool?
I think musicals are the coolest fucking thing going.
I believe you. But can you make the case that musicals are cooler than concerts for people who don’t think that?
I love concerts. For our anniversary, my wife and I went to see Eminem and Jay Z in concert, and then Eminem brought out Dre, and then when they did “Nuthin’ but a G Thang” Eminem rapped Snoop’s verses, which is still one of the coolest fucking things I’ve ever seen in my life. But you go to a concert because you want to see the performer you love singing songs you already love. The scary thing with the musical is you’re seeing something new and maybe songs you don’t know yet.
But one, you’re going to see shit you would never see in a rock concert, because we just rehearse more. Two, you’re not going to see a million fucking cell phones blocking your view, because we still make you put them away. And three, you never know what’s going to happen. Things can and do go wrong all the time. When you hear an announcement at intermission that a cast member went down and they’ve got a different cast member for Act Two, the audience rallies. They jump to their feet. It’s live theater, man. There’s nothing like it.
Lin-Manuel Miranda pulled off a feat so difficult not even Alexander Hamilton could accomplish it: making Americans care about Alexander Hamilton. Now, GQ’s Caity Weaver asks the master to harness those powers of persuasion to sell the medium to unbelievers.
GQ: My first question is: Why all the singing?
Lin-Manuel Miranda: Oh, this is really, like, Musicals 101.
We’ve got time.
Why all the singing is because music does things to our brains and our hearts that words alone don’t. When all of the dominoes fall the right way, I don’t think there’s anything more thrilling.
Why is Hugh Jackman so good at musical theater?
Well, Hugh Jackman is six foot a billion, gorgeous, has the voice of an angel, and is an incredible actor. But I think the thing about a really good musical performer is they tell the truth. It’s vulnerable to sing a song and make it feel like you’re singing it for the first time. That’s what makes the legends special.
I think what you’re touching on here is there’s an earnestness to musicals.
Nah.
Okay.
Because Alan Cumming is one of our great musical-theater performers, but you’ll never see a touch of earnestness in any of his performances. He’s drier than your driest Chardonnay, but he’s just compulsively watchable because he’s magnetic. Sure, people may have trouble letting themselves feel feelings. But whether it’s Kill Bill: Vol. 1 or Mame, we turn to the arts to experience something we wouldn’t ordinarily experience.
Were you ever embarrassed to be getting out onstage and doin’ it real big, or were you just born with a song in your heart?
No, I feel like I’m going to throw up every time I go onstage, and I’ve logged a lot of hours onstage. The thing is, you have to treat the theater as rocket fuel. If I use it the wrong way, it’s going to blow up the fucking ship. But if I channel it in the right direction, then I’m going to fly.
Are you easily embarrassed?
I’m more embarrassed in a room full of five people than 1,300. Before I performed on Broadway, I was basically a professional substitute teacher so I lost my embarrassment threshold years ago in some classroom somewhere trying to keep fifth graders entertained or focused on their Spanish homework.
Is your teaching certificate still valid?
I’m still on the list. If they had a real shortage, maybe they’d call me.
Would you do it if you were free?
Yeah, but I’m never free.
Everyone thinks that a rock concert is really cool, but the musicians can go out there and be drunk and forget the words and slouch around on stage. Lots of people do not think musicals are cool, even though the quality of singing and dancing is uniformly more consistent. What happens in the transition from rock concert to musical that suddenly makes the basic act of performing music on stage uncool?
I think musicals are the coolest fucking thing going.
I believe you. But can you make the case that musicals are cooler than concerts for people who don’t think that?
I love concerts. For our anniversary, my wife and I went to see Eminem and Jay Z in concert, and then Eminem brought out Dre, and then when they did “Nuthin’ but a G Thang” Eminem rapped Snoop’s verses, which is still one of the coolest fucking things I’ve ever seen in my life. But you go to a concert because you want to see the performer you love singing songs you already love. The scary thing with the musical is you’re seeing something new and maybe songs you don’t know yet.
But one, you’re going to see shit you would never see in a rock concert, because we just rehearse more. Two, you’re not going to see a million fucking cell phones blocking your view, because we still make you put them away. And three, you never know what’s going to happen. Things can and do go wrong all the time. When you hear an announcement at intermission that a cast member went down and they’ve got a different cast member for Act Two, the audience rallies. They jump to their feet. It’s live theater, man. There’s nothing like it.
