Manuel Miranda: Last News

Katie Reul editor “Encanto” swept the 37th annual Imagen Awards, which was held Sunday at Downtown Los Angeles’ La Plaza de Cultura y Artes, but the Disney musical movie was closely matched by several wins from Hulu’s “Love, Victor.” Overall, “Encanto” creators took home the most awards of any nominated project and were recognized for Best Feature Film, Best Music Composition for Film or Television, Best Music Supervision for Film or Television and Best Director – Feature Film, which co-director Charise Castro Smith was not expecting. “I’m pretty sure my mom is never going to live down the fact that I won a best director award when nominated against Stephen Spielberg,” Castro Smith, who is also known for producing “The Haunting of Hill House,” joked with the audience during her acceptance speech. “That’s serious bragging rights for her Zumba class.”

Lin Manuel Miranda couldn’t be more excited over “The Little Mermaid.” The live-action adaptation of the Disney classic will be released next year, starring a talented cast led by Halle Bailey. In conversation with Variety, Miranda talked about how great the movie is and praised Bailey’s performance, all the while calling out the racist trolls that have targeted her after she was cast as Ariel. Lin Manuel Miranda working on musical project for the Queen’s Platinum JubileeLin-Manuel Miranda misses the Oscars because his wife has COVID-19A post shared by Lin-Manuel Miranda (@lin_manuel)Miranda spoke with the publication via Zoom, from San Diego, where he was speaking at L’Attitude, a conference that highlights Latino small businesses.

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle Editor Welcome to this week’s “Just for Variety.” Lin-Manuel Miranda has a message to the trolls who have targeted their hate at Halle Bailey, star of the live-action adaptation of “The Little Mermaid” — watch Brandy in “Cinderella.” “I’m old enough to remember that being a game changer for my generation,” Miranda told me during a Zoom chat from the L’Attitude conference in San Diego, where he was making an appearance with American Express to support Latino small business owners. “And Rob Marshall was the choreographer on that and is now the director of the movie. I’m really thrilled by that symmetry.” Besides, Miranda thinks the positivity and excitement around the new film far outweigh the negativity. Just take a look at the sneak peek of Bailey singing a snippet of “Part of Your World,” which racked up 104 million global views within days of its debut at the D23 Expo. “I’m not interested in giving them any oxygen because I know the lives that are going to be changed. Halle is perfect for the part,” said the Tony winner, who wrote four songs for the movie with composer Alan Menken. “She is going to blow them away. If that’s the thing that makes you mad, then stay mad. But examine your choices.”

EXCLUSIVE: Tony Award-winner and five-time Tony nominee Laura Benanti will be starring opposite Jennifer Lawrence in the Sony R-rated comedy No Hard Feelings from director Gene Stupnitsky.

The Little Mermaid has been unveiled.The teaser was premiered at Disney’s D23 Expo, which is currently taking place in Anaheim, California today (September 9).The Little Mermaid will see singer Halle Bailey of duo Chloe X Halle take on the lead role of Ariel. The one-minute-23-second-long teaser gives a first look at her in the part, featuring the actor swimming through the ocean with a shiny blue tail.Bailey also can be heard singing a part of ‘Part Of Your World’ in the teaser.

Wilson Chapman editor Get ready for Halle Bailey to be part of your world. The first footage of the highly anticipated “Little Mermaid” live-action remake has been unveiled at Disney’s D23 expo, revealing the acclaimed R&B star and actor in the iconic role of mermaid princess Ariel. Director Rob Marshall, of “Chicago” fame, celebrated the fact that this was a live action musical. Bringing up his Oscar-winning movie from the past “When we started this journey it was very important to honor the original” but also reimagine and “bring some depth” to the new film Marshall explained. The director also asked “Little Mermaid” longtime Disney alum and Alan Menken to link up with the award-winning Lin-Manuel Miranda to come up with four new songs. “They’d never collaborated together before, and it’s magical…. We still retain the beauty of the original score by the late great Howard Ashman.”

K.J. Yossman Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II has died, ending a historic 70-year reign. She was 96. The Queen died at Balmoral, her beloved palace in the Scottish Highlands, which was purchased by her great-great-grandfather Prince Albert for Queen Victoria in 1852. She was surrounded by her children and grand-children. Prince Charles, her eldest son, succeeds her. The Queen’s death comes just under 18 months and after that of her husband, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who died on April 9, 2021. 

EXCLUSIVE: Start spreading the news! A new musical loosely based on Martin Scorsese’s 1977 film New York, New York will begin performances on Broadway, theater to be announced, in March 2023. Opening night will be in April, with Tony and Olivier Award winner Susan Stroman on board to direct and choreograph.

refuted. The Texas house of worship that produced an unauthorized and highly religious version of the Broadway sensation “Hamilton” was ordered to pay an undisclosed amount in damages Tuesday after receiving a cease-and-desist letter.Pastor Roman Gutierrez also issued an apology, admitting that the Door McAllen Church did not receive permission from the producers or creators of the show to put on “Hamilton” — nor did they get Lin-Manuel Miranda’s blessing to alter the text, Entertainment Weekly reported.

Producers of the global theatrical hit Hamilton say they will donate all damages paid by Texas’ Door McAllen Church for two unlicensed and lyrically altered performances to the South Texas Equality Project, a coalition of LGBTQIA+ organizations.

The Texas church that staged two performances of a highly altered and “Christianized” version of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical Hamilton has apologized for the unauthorized productions and will pay unspecified damages.

Hamilton might be well-known as a retelling of a famous figure’s life, but a Texas church has introduced another figure — Jesus Christ — to the mix, performing illegally incorporated Christian-centric rhetoric in an unauthorized production of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s hit 2015 musical.The Tony-winning musical, still playing on Broadway and in the midst of a North American national tour, is unavailable for licensing by other theater groups.But that didn’t stop The Door Christian Fellowship Ministries of McAllen from performing their own illegal adaptation, with altered text, on August 5 and 6.Located in southern Texas, The Door uses popular media, altered to spread a conservative Christian message, as part of its programming. Hamilton is not their first target: past titles have included Beauty and the Beast and Toy Story, both of which can be found on an archived version of the church’s website.The Door’s production of Hamilton incorporated Christian messaging, and one performance was accompanied with a sermon by Senior Pastor Ramon Gutierrez that compared homosexuality to addiction.“Maybe you struggle with alcohol, with drugs, with homosexuality,” Gutierrez said.

Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda has now spoken out publicly against the Texas church that performed an unauthorized version of his hit Broadway musical.The Door Christian Fellowship Ministries in McAllen, Texas, hosted two showings of the adapted production last weekend that added references from the Bible that were never in the original script.In a statement posted on his Twitter and Instagram pages, Miranda shared his gratitude for Hamilton supporters, along with a declaration that he now has his legal team on the matter. Lin-Manuel Miranda, 42, is speaking out publicly for the first time against the Texas church that performed two unauthorized performances of hit hit musical Hamilton'Grateful to all of you who reached out about this illegal, unauthorized production.

Miranda tweeted. “Now lawyers do their work.”The staging of “Hamilton” performed at the Door Christian Fellowship church in McAllen, Texas, was tweaked to include biblical themes and a sermon at the end that compared homosexuality to addiction, the Dallas Morning News reported.Broadway veteran Miranda is known for his pro-LGBT stance.The paper obtained video of the Aug. 5 performance, which ran for about two hours, and the 15-minute sermon that followed.

Lin-Manuel Miranda is speaking out after it was discovered that a church in Texas was performing an unauthorized version of his musical Hamilton, which used revised lyrics and text.

“Stop running from God, Alexander…His word says if we confess our sins, he is faithful and [wants] just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us.”

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media ReporterLin-Manuel Miranda is praising lawyers who get the job done after a Texas church staged an “illegal, unauthorized” production of “Hamilton.”Producers of the hit Broadway musical have taken issue with The Door Christian Fellowship Ministries in McAllen, Tex., which staged the show on Aug. 5 and 6 without a license and changed lyrics and added text to include Biblical references and anti-LGBTQ rhetoric without permission.“Grateful to all of you who reached out about this illegal, unauthorized production.

after The Post broke the story Tuesday that the mostly completed DC film wouldn’t hit theaters or stream on HBO Max. Nobody will ever see this movie.The Post has reached out to Warner Bros. for comment.“They had no idea the movie was being shelved,” a film industry source said of the blindsided workers.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music CriticThere aren’t many Tony-winning productions in which one of the veteran creator-performers can announce that he’s retiring, right in the middle of a performance… and do it in song form… and have it be part of the natural flow of the evening. But that’s what happened at the opening night of “Freestyle Love Supreme” at the Pasadena Playhouse Thursday night, as the high-profile musical revue reached the final stop of an 11-city tour.

EXCLUSIVE: S. Epatha Merkerson and Judith Light have been tapped to star in an episode of Peacock’s Poker Face, a mystery drama series from Rian Johnson, his T-Street banner and MRC Television.

Jon Burlingame editorThe number and range of superstars vying for Emmys this year – everyone from Kanye West and 50 Cent to Mick Jagger and Imagine Dragons – is staggering.More than 600 entries in the seven Emmy music categories were unveiled today as voting began for the nominations round. Nominations will be announced by the Television Academy on July 12.The most star-studded category is that of best song (technically, “original music and lyrics”).