In the Heights

The Broadway musical sensation Hamilton claimed a Grammy Feb. 15 for Best Musical Theater album, and the show’s creator and star, Lin-Manuel Miranda ’02, rapped his acceptance speech. Miranda and the cast of Hamilton (directed by Thomas Kail ’99) also performed for the 58th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony live via satellite from the show’s home at the Richard Rodgers Theater in New York. In addition to Miranda and Kail, the show’s Wesleyan connections include album co-producer Bill Sherman ’02 and Atlantic Records’ head of A&R Peter Ganbarg ’88, who helped sign the album to the label. “This has been an amazing…

Wesleyan will honor three remarkable leaders in their fields with honorary degrees at the university’s 183rd Commencement on May 24, 2015. Lin-Manuel Miranda ’02, an award-winning composer, lyricist, writer and actor, will present the Commencement Address. Wesleyan also will award honorary degrees to Beverly Daniel Tatum ’75, president of Spelman College and an expert in race relations and higher education, and Michael Price, the longtime executive director of Goodspeed Musicals. Lin-Manuel Miranda ’02 Lin-Manuel Miranda is the Tony and Grammy-winning composer-lyricist of Broadway's In the Heights, which received four 2008 Tony Awards, with Miranda receiving a Tony Award for Best…

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This year’s Tony Awards ceremony televised on CBS on June 12 ended with a comedic rap number, performed by host Neal Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother), which summarized the show’s events in less than three minutes. The rap number was written by Lin-Manuel Miranda ’02 , the Tony Award-winning composer of musical In the Heights, and Thomas Kail ’99, the Tony Award-nominated director of that show. The duo came up with the rhymes while watching the show in the basement of Manhattan’s Beacon Theater, where the ceremony was held. Miranda called the closing number the “Tony speed-through.” To…

The nationwide tour of the Tony award-winning Broadway musical In the Heights ended its run with a Wesleyan flourish. Andy Peretz ’84, inspired by the Wesleyan on Broadway alumni events, began organizing an event in Miami to celebrate with the local Wesleyan community at the Arsht Center Theater. In The Heights, created and composed by Lin-Manuel Miranda ’02, was directed by Thomas Kail ’99, who agreed to conduct a talk for the alumni at a special reception at the Miami performance on April 2. “What an amazingly articulate guy, so full of life,” says Peretz of Kail, who also directed…

Thomas Kail ’99 who received a Tony Award nomination for his direction for the musical hit "In the Heights" (2008 Tony Award for best musical) on Broadway will stage the Encores! Summer Stars production of "The Wiz" this summer at City Center in New York City for a three-week run, June 12 to July 3. Kail will re-team with choreographer Andy Blankenbuehler who won a Tony for his work on "In the Heights." "The Wiz," a retelling of L. Frank Baum’s Wonderful Wizard of Oz with an African-American cast, won seven Tony Awards, including best musical, in 1975. The show…

In the Heights, the Tony Award winner for Best Musical 2008, is one of five recordings nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best Musical Show Album category. Lin-Manuel Miranda ’02 wrote the music and lyrics for the show. The other Grammy-nominees include the soundtracks for Gypsy, The Little Mermaid, South Pacific and Young Frankenstein. The nominees for the In the Heights album, released by Razor & Tie Entertainment/Ghostlight Records, include Kurt Deutsch, Alex Lacamoire, Andrés Levin, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Joel Moss and Bill Sherman ’02, producers, as well as Miranda as composer/lyricist. The nominations for the 51st annual Grammy Awards…

Hamilton Wins Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album

Miranda ’02, Tatum ’75, Price to be Honorary Degree Recipients at Wesleyan’s 183rd Commencement

Miranda ’02 Speaks on the Origins of In the Heights at CFA

Miranda ’02, Kail ’99 Write Closing Rap for Tonys

Peretz ’84 Hosts Kail ’99, Miranda ’02 Reception in Miami

Kail ’99 to Direct “The Wiz” in New York City

Album with Score by Miranda ’02 Receives Grammy Nomination