If you didn’t have a chance to see Lin-Manuel Miranda play the starring role during Hamilton’s Broadway run—and chances are, you did not—mark your calendar now. Miranda has announced that he will once again step into the spotlight as the “10-dollar founding father without a father” for a three-week run of Hamilton at San Juan’s Teatro UPR in January 2019.
Miranda, who is of Puerto Rican descent, said in a statement that he has dreamed of bringing Hamilton to the island since 2015 and that plans for him to star in a production there had been in the works since before Hurricane Maria. However, in light of the storm, Miranda revealed his involvement earlier than planned: “In the aftermath of Maria we decided to expedite the announcement of the project to send a bold message that Puerto Rico will recover and be back in business, stronger than ever.”
Miranda has been actively fundraising for Puerto Rico over the past several weeks and, in a rare moment of nonpositivity, told the president he would be “going straight to hell” over his comments about San Juan’s mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz. Miranda also released a charity single in October with the proceeds going toward disaster relief.
The Puerto Rican run of Hamilton will mark the first time Miranda has reprised the role of Alexander Hamilton since he left the Broadway production in July 2016. “I have a year and a bit to remember the words,” he wrote on Twitter.
