In Lin-Manuel Miranda's hit musical In the Heights. Miranda became a household name thanks to his hip-hop musical about the historical figure Alexander Hamilton, as the musical reached mega-hit status after its Broadway debut in August 2015, seven years after the Broadway debut of In the Heights. The first musical, however, may have offered inspiration for its successor.
In the Heights is set in the dominantly Dominican neighborhood of Washington Heights in New York City. Three days in the lives of people in the Latino community by, punctuated by songs featuring hip-hop, salsa, merengue, and soul music. The main focus is on Usnavi, a bodega owner who is considering opening a bar in his home country of the Dominican Republic, and that dream becomes a reality when Abuela Claudia, who raised Usnavi after his parents' death, buys a winning lottery ticket at Usnavi's bodega. The build-up to the dream of the lottery is expressed in a song halfway through act one called "96,000," which is the amount of money the winnings would be. The song is unique in its hip-hop flair, which deviates a bit from the Latin sound that the musical is largely known for.
It seems like there is more to "96,000" than meets the eye. Not only is the song a punchy, high-energy hip-hop number similar to the Hamilton soundtrack, but the number — 96,000 — is something to note. In Hamilton, a certain number is repeated three times in the song "Right Hand Man." That number is 32,000, and 32,000 times 3 is 96,000. Miranda has said that the connection is mere coincidence and that he didn't intend for the numbers to align so perfectly, but there seems to have been a hint toward the beginnings of the inspiration of Hamilton, whether conscious or not.
Miranda first had the notion for the historical musical when he was on vacation from performing In the Heights. He read a copy of Alexander Hamilton, a 2004 biography about the American patriot by Ron Chernow. Miranda began imagining Hamilton's life as a musical, and he started a project called The Hamilton Mixtape. In May 2009, he was invited to perform selections from In the Heights at the White House, but he traded it out for a sample from the Mixtape, a song that would later become "Alexander Hamilton."
Whether he meant to reference one musical within another, it's clear both musicals were swimming around in his head simultaneously. Both plays tell familiar stories of ion, goals, and hustling in the make-or-break streets of New York, and both Hamilton and In the Heights come from Miranda's keen and talented mind.
