Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Australian victory lap, with Bluey cameo
After flying halfway around the world to see his hip-hop musical Hamilton being performed, Lin-Manuel Miranda found himself time-travelling — and visiting a famed Brisbane animation studio.
After flying halfway around the world to hear the songs of his hip-hop musical Hamilton being performed in Brisbane, Lin-Manuel Miranda found himself time-travelling.
The multi-award-winning playwright, songwriter and actor sat in the Lyric Theatre stalls at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre on Saturday night, watching and listening to the Australian cast he had helped select remotely during the pandemic.
But in his mind, Miranda was flitting between past and present, particularly during Dear Theodosia, a pretty show tune that appears near the end of the first act, which he himself performed in the title role of Alexander Hamilton during the show’s initial run.
Well before the musical’s Broadway debut in 2015, Miranda told The Australian, “I was in the Dominican Republic, and my wife was taking kitesurfing lessons so that I could stay inside and write the song – and I also listen to Dear Theodosia every night, because the Regina Spektor version is what we use to put my five-year-old to sleep.”
“Every time I hear that song, I’m going back in time, and I’m going forward in time,” said Miranda. “In the same way we listen to [hip-hop group] De La Soul and we’re instantly 12 years old again, I hear Dear Theodosia and it means fundamentally different things to me than it did when I was singing it onstage.”
Miranda’s trip to these shores is a pure victory lap whose chief purpose was for him to meet and thank the crew tasked with performing his show across eight shows each week, in a season that will conclude at QPAC on April 23.
With Western Australian actor Jason Arrow in the title role, the local production of the musical – which centres on an American Founding Father whose fascinating life story was little-known until Miranda got ahold of it – has previously played highly successful seasons in Sydney (2021) and Melbourne (2022).
“They have been such excellent stewards of the show for a couple of years now,” said Miranda, 43, of the crew. “Because of the effectiveness with which Australia quarantined, there was a moment where Hamilton Australia was the only production of Hamilton playing anywhere in the world – and at a time when we didn’t know if we’d ever go back to normal, that was our glimmer of hope.”
On Sunday at QPAC, the playwright’s live interview with journalist Leigh Sales was attended by 2000 passionate fans; about 30,000 people had registered in a lottery to attend, and their conversation will be broadcast on ABC TV on March 18.
Besides press engagements and a brief speech of thanks at the curtain call on Saturday night, Miranda’s Queensland trip included a visit to Ludo Studio, the Brisbane animation company that created the hit children’s TV show Bluey.
In a season three episode, Miranda lent his voice to appear as a horse named Major Tom, for a guest voice spot alongside singer-songwriter Megan Washington.
Ludo Studio, he said, is “a charming two-storey house where they make this magic TV show that somehow parents and kids both love.”
“Listen, I’m a parent of two boys: I’ve sat through a lot of shitty kids’ television,” he said with a laugh. “And some of it is great! But the great stuff really stands out when you’ve got the whole family sitting and watching it together. That’s really rare.”
Among the creative brains he met at Ludo was Joff Bush, Bluey’s award-winning composer, for whom Miranda was effusive in his praise.
“When screens are not allowed in our house, we’ll put on the Bluey soundtrack,” he said. “The music in it is part of what makes it so extraordinary, whether it’s a deconstructed version of Old MacDonald Had a Farm, or this insane orchestral music for their dreams, in a dreamscape episode.”
Of Bush, said Miranda, “Your job is to meet the moment – and he meets the moment beautifully.”
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