Vanity Fair Cover Story: “Supercalifragilistic” Miranda ’02

In a cover story for Vanity Fair, titled “The Supercalifragilistic Lin-Manuel Miranda,”  writer Bruce Handy explores both the upcoming movie, Mary Poppins Returns, as a sequel to Walt Disney’s 1964 adaption of the children’s books by P. L. Travers, and one of its stars, Lin-Manuel Miranda ’02, Hon. ’15. In the 1964 movie, the chimney-sweep companion to Mary Poppins (Julie Andrews) was Bert, played by Dick Van Dyke. This 2018 Mary Poppins (Emma Blunt) has chimney sweep Jack (supposedly a former protégé of the late Bert), played by Miranda, as her sidekick and friend.

Hardy offers biographical background, along with personal insights on Miranda from Wesleyan Visiting Scholar in Theater Quiara Alegria Hudes (who wrote the book for the musical In the Heights), Thomas Kail ’99, and Sam Wasson ’03, exploring the creative genius of Miranda, as expressed in his work. Additionally, Vanity Fair offers photographs by Andres Kudacki documenting Miranda’s June visit to D.C., in a feature titled, “Hamilton’s Lin-Manuel Miranda Visits the Founding Fathers’ Stomping Grounds.”

From the article by Handy:

Not a jaded bone in his body. Sam Wasson, a friend of Miranda’s from their undergraduate days at Wesleyan, said much the same thing when he described Miranda as “a human gumdrop.” At Wesleyan, Wasson and Miranda worked on shows together, including an improv group that Miranda played music for. “He was game for anything,” Wasson said. “He had a little Mickey-and-Judy feeling in him. ‘Let’s go! Let’s do it!’ It’d be impossible to think of Lin as depressed in any way, which makes me hate him. You want to think, ‘Oh, genius comes with darkness,’ and I’m sure it’s there, but I haven’t seen it.”