Theatre News

Lin-Manuel Miranda: 'One song in Hamilton features a love letter to Andrew Lloyd Webber'

Watch the full video of the ”Hamilton” writer in a question and answer session at The Other Palace with Andrew Lloyd Webber

Lin-Manuel Miranda has explained how one of his songs has a tribute to the songs of Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Lloyd Webber joined Miranda onstage at The Other Palace for an exclusive one-night only question and answer session on Sunday evening.

"I have one song in Hamilton which is just my little secret love letter to Andrew Lloyd Webber," Miranda said, "It's the only rap in 7/8 time signature and it's right after the first duel. Suddenly we're in seven for just a second."

The two legends of musical theatre took to the stage together to talk about their careers, hosted by producer and artistic director of The Other Palace Paul Taylor Mills.

When asked whether he will ever write outside of hip hop, Miranda said: "Oh yeah, I think this was a story that hip hop was uniquly suited to tell. Because every major event in Hamilton's life was marked by writing and my favourite MCs are the ones who write incredibly and write narratives about their own lives. And I thought: 'Hamilton created himself through his own writing'."

Ahead of the question and answer session, Lloyd Webber revealed that the only other 'in conversation' event he had done was with Vladimir Putin.

When asked by Lloyd Webber how he got into musical theatre, Miranda said: "I was lucky to go to an elementary school where the sixth graders would do a musical every year. I remember seeing musicals as a part of school.

"I played a son in Fiddler, I played Captain Hook. I saw Phantom in sixth grade and realised it was about a composer who needed music to get girls to like him, this is about me!"

The two composers agreed that experiencing theatre in school is vital.

Miranda spoke about how originally he envisaged Hamilton as a concept album but, he said: "I had to write the show in order to write the album."

Lloyd Webber commented that for him and Tim Rice it was the other way around: "We were forced to do a concept album because nobody thought a musical about Jesus was a good idea."

Hamilton will open at the Victoria Palace Theatre from 21 November and is booking until 30 June 2018.

Featured In This Story