Rags to Riches
The story of rags to riches comes from eons ago. Cinderella was helped by her Fairy Godmother
to turn her torn up dress into a sparkly ball gown, and her pumpkin and animal friends into a
carriage ride to the ball. Chris Pratt was waiting tables where he was cast for the television
series, “Parks and Recreation,” now moving on to star in box office hits. Patti Smith experienced
this monumental shift from being a struggling artist to a punk goddess, which is evident in her
memoir Just Kids. The old tale of rags to riches is the case for many. Not only does this positive
change usually occur very quickly in the person or character’s life, it often brings about some
unexpected challenges. For Lin-Manuel Miranda, creator and star of the hit musical Hamilton, he
has reached a new kind of fame not yet discovered and leaves fans wondering how he stays
grounded and continues to get work done when he has had such a great impact in the world of
live performance.
Lin-Manuel Miranda started writing his first Broadway musical when he was just a
sophomore in college. In The Heights grew to win four Tony Awards with thirteen nominations
overall , which didn’t lead to much of a fanbase surrounding the show or Lin-Manuel. He grew
most of his followers from his Twitter account, tweeting puns about musicals and little jokes
about the Tony Awards as he wrote the closing number live. Hamilton, a work of theatre that he
had started writing during his run of In The Heights, has grown to inconceivable ranks, not just
in the world of theatre or art, but in the world of human existence. There are jokes on the many,
many late night shows he has attended about how difficult it is to obtain tickets to this
masterpiece. Not only has Hamilton brought about a mass of new theatre fans while keeping the
old ones hooked on this art of live performance,...
