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Lin-Manuel Miranda to Direct Film Adaptation of ‘Tick, Tick … Boom!’
Lin-Manuel Miranda will be making his film directorial debut with an adaptation of a musical he once took part in on stage. No, not “Hamilton.” Not “In The Heights,” either.
It’s “Tick, Tick … Boom!”: a show that ran Off Broadway in 2001 and was written by Jonathan Larson, the playwright and composer behind “Rent.” The musical, loosely based on Larson’s life, opened five years after he died in 1996. Mr. Miranda took part in a 2014 production Off Broadway at New York City Center.
His directing experience is limited. In 1996, Mr. Miranda wrote and directed an hourlong independent film called “Clayton’s Friends,” according to the Internet Movie Database — when he was a teenager. He has not directed a show on Broadway.
According to Deadline, Ron Howard and Brian Grazer will co-produce the film, in addition to Mr. Miranda. Steven Levenson, who wrote the book for “Dear Evan Hansen,” the Broadway musical that won six Tony Awards last year, is attached to write the film.
“Tick, Tick … Boom!” is set in the SoHo neighborhood of New York City in 1990, and is centered on a songwriter named Jonathan who is struggling to write the next great American musical.
“‘Tick, Tick … Boom!’ first entered my life in college when I was lucky enough to snag a seat at the Jane Street Theater in 2001,” Mr. Miranda said in a statement, referring to the Off Broadway production, according to Deadline. “Jonathan Larson’s captivating storytelling in ‘Rent’ first taught me that musicals could be contemporary, true to life, and depict your own experiences.”
This isn’t the only one of Mr. Miranda’s projects in development. Jon Chu (“Crazy Rich Asians”) is attached to direct a film adaptation of “In the Heights,” the Broadway show that began Mr. Miranda’s rise to fame, for Warner Bros. with a scheduled release in 2020, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
An earlier version of this article misstated when “Tick, Tick ... Boom!” opened. It opened Off Broadway (not on Broadway) in 2001, five — not seven — years after the playwright Jonathan Larson’s death.
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