Stars on Sondheim: Lin-Manuel Miranda on the Sondheim Email He Framed

March 22 marks Stephen Sondheim's 90th birthday. It's impossible to state the great contribution and influences this titan of the stage has made to musical theater, but we're taking a stab at it by reaching out to some stars who have appeared in his many shows to share their personal experiences.

When Lin-Manuel Miranda won his first Tony Award in 2008 for the In the Heights score, one of the people he thanked in his acceptance speech was his mentor, Stephen Sondheim: "Mr. Sondheim / Look, I made a hat! / Where there never was a hat! / It’s a Latin hat at that!” Sondheim then brought Miranda on to the creative team of the 2009 revival of West Side Story, where the young songwriter was asked to translate some lyrics into Spanish. It was also around that time that Miranda let Sondheim know about his new musical project about the life of Alexander Hamilton. (Sondheim loved the idea.) Miranda also starred in a 2012 New York City Center concert production of Sondheim and George Furth's Merrily We Roll Along. We asked the three-time Tony winner about the first time he met the man whom he considers to be "musical theater's greatest lyricist."

Describe your first meeting with Sondheim.
I first met Sondheim in high school. We were lucky enough to contact him through his collaborator John Weidman, whose daughter was a classmate. I was directing West Side Story my senior year, so he came to speak to our cast during a lunch period. During those 45 minutes, he told anecdotes about the writing of West Side Story: the challenges of the opening number—he even sang us some discarded lyrics, the different versions of “America,” glimpses of the writing process. It was my first exposure to the process of making a musical—not just the finished product. I can never repay him for that gift. It's as responsible for me being here as anything else.

What’s your desert island Sondheim cast recording?
Sweeney Todd, original cast recording.

Which Sondheim role would you love to tackle, whether you’re appropriate or not?
I think Sweeney Todd and George Seurat [from Sunday in the Park with George] are the greatest male Sondheim roles in the canon. I did have a chance to do my version of Sweeney for a Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS fundraiser one year.

Which Sondheim production do you wish you had seen?
Gypsy with Ethel Merman.

What was the first Sondheim show you ever saw? 
A friend in elementary school taped Into the Woods off PBS for me when I was 10. I must have watched the first act a thousand times, always turning it off at intermission, when PBS kicked in with the pledge drive: “We're so grateful you're watching this Great Performances...” Five or so years later, someone referenced “Children Will Listen” from Into The Woods in conversation at school. I responded, “What are you talking about? There's no song in Into The Woods called ‘Children Will Listen.’" "Yes, in Act Two." Me: "THERE'S AN ACT TWO?!" I ran home and fast forwarded through the PBS pledge drive, and enjoyed Act Two of Into the Woods, five years later.

Tell us about a note you received from Sondheim that you’ll never forget.
This one's easy, because it is an email I have framed in my home. He sent an email regarding a rhyme I wrote for Neil Patrick Harris' [2011] Tony closing number. It said simply, “Landed it/Candidate! You deserve a medal!” To please him with an unexpected rhyme tops anything else in my career.