I read this on Twitter and actually gasped. I'm SO excited to see him.
When I see the phrase "the ____ estate", I imagine a vast mansion in the country full of monocled men and high-collared women receiving letters about productions across the country and doing spit-takes at whatever they contain.
-Kad
This seems like bizarre casting to me. Was really hoping for Raul. And I'm pretty disappointed in this one... I'll give him a shot, but if he starts rapping "Franklin Shepard, Inc" I am OUTTA there.
"I know now that theatre saved my life." - Susan Stroman
Definitely a very interesting choice for the role. Though I do wonder how he will sound on some of the number, like Good Thing Going, I have no doubt that his Franklin Shepard, Inc. will be brilliant. And I am so glad they did not get Esparza- not only would he look too old, given the rest of the cast, but I don't think he's that good as Charley. His Franklin Shepard, Inc. is annoyingly overacted.
I am a firm believer in serendipity- all the random pieces coming together in one wonderful moment, when suddenly you see what their purpose was all along.
The thought of him "singing" GOOD THING GOING, one of my fav Sondheim's is very disapointing. Raul was never considered for this production. (Thank god).
You're not the only one, Baritone. I've always found his unflagging self-promotion to be obnoxious and cocky, so of course he felt the need to boast that "Steve" (his idol!) asked him to step in "as a favor."
Surely we should all sing the praises of humble Lin-Manuel, who's only lending a helping hand to theatre's greatest living composer and his #1 BFF, right?
Here's hoping he doesn't turn Franklin Shepard Inc into one of his raps.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
It's incredible how butthurt some people on these boards can be. Lin is an incredible talent who's clearly earned the respect of Stephen Sondheim - I don't blame him in the least for being proud of that fact.
Butthurt? I'm bitter and cynical but not butthurt :) It's one thing to be proud, it's another to brag. And if you're going to brag, then brag. A little bragging once in a while is okay. But don't disguise it with false humility.
And really, Sondheim should never ask ANYONE to play one of the roles he's written "as a favor." He did US a LIFETIME of favors by writing some of the greatest musicals ever written. For him to have stooped to Miranda in this way was sad, for Miranda to have put this information in his official statement was gross.
You hit the nail on the head. Every interview I've ever read with him reeks of false humility. I remember him being similarly humble about his involvement with Laurents and Sondheim on the WSS revival.