Lin-Manuel Miranda: Composer, lyricist, actor, author… bookshop owner?

Lin-Manuel Miranda has dipped his hat in many rings over the years, composer, lyricist and star of his shows, “Hamilton” and “In The Heights”, star of the silver screen in new film “Mary Poppins Returns” and author of bestselling “G’morning, G’night” based on his hit Twitter threads. Now he is set to take on a new role: Business owner.

Image: Luke Harold, via Flickr

Miranda has embarked on a new venture, teaming up with friends Thomas Kail, director of Hamilton, Jeffrey Seller, the lead producer of Hamilton, and James L.Nederlander, president of the Nederlander organization which operate the Richard Rodgers Theatre, where Hamilton on Broadway is staged: in order to save the Drama Book Shop, a century-old bookshop in the New York theatre district which specialises in scripts, sheet music and other reading material related to the stage.

Drama Book Shop update: we’re into it for a long-term solution, but in the meantime I had 15 minutes today and signed all this, so go by the store/go buy the store ☺️ https://t.co/3zeyU0uuJM

- Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel) 12 November 2018

The shop was previously owned by the Seelen family, but in recent years, with high rents and a burst water pipe causing damage in 2016, the shop has struggled financially and was on the verge of closure. Owner Rozanne Seelen will remain on as a consultant after the shop’s move.

Miranda, Kail, Seller and Nederlander are working with the city to find a new, more affordable location for the struggling bookshop in Midtown. The shop will close in its current location, on West 40th St. on 20th January and is set to reopen in its new, yet to be announced location this autumn.

Miranda and Kail have both frequented the shop at various points in their careers, the two actually met at the shop after college, and Miranda wrote much of his hit show “In The Heights” in the shop’s basement. Kail also ran his theatre company, Back House Productions out of the store for five years.

Of the announcement, Miranda tweeted:

As a teen, I went to the @dramabookshop on 47th. Spent hours reading plays. Felt made for me, a place to go.
In 2002, I met with Tommy Kail in the Drama Book Shop. It gave us a place to go.
Proud to be part of this next chapter.
A place for you to go. https://t.co/LuRJjVM72K

- Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel) 8 January 2019

Miranda described the shop, as “like family to us” and said that the team began to come up with a plan to save it as soon as they heard the rent was to rise to crippling levels. Just when you thought you couldn’t love Lin-Manuel Miranda more…..

Originally published at https://www.thenationalstudent.com.