Admittedly, Lin-Manuel Miranda hasn’t spent that much time in Vegas — only a handful of adventures — but all his trips to the Strip bear special recall.
“I’ve been here once in college, once as an adult. The first was spring break senior year with three friends. Not a lot of time and even less money. I was the guy who held everyone’s debit cards. I’ll be by the bar, making sure we don’t spend our money, we need to get back home,” he laughs. “My second trip was with my late abuela, who was the inspiration for abuela Claudia in In The Heights. She loved a slot machine. I brought her here for three days. And we had a wonderful, lovely, cherished memory.”
Visits three and four?
In November, Miranda performed with the cast of his show Freestyle Love Supreme at the Summit Showroom in the Venetian. This week, he’s returned for three performances through Jan. 14. It’s a bittersweet curtain call, as it was announced last week that Freestyle will close Jan. 29.
Before Miranda’s hit shows Hamilton and In the Heights, there was Freestyle Love Supreme, conceived by Anthony Veneziale and created by Miranda, Thomas Kail, and Veneziale 20 years ago. The improv masterpiece has received a Special Tony Award, played two Broadway engagements, completed a national tour, had a documentary made about it, was nominated for a Grammy Award and completed one season of a television show.
Miranda tells The Hollywood Reporter that the creative exploration that happens during improv performances works hand in hand with his writing process.
“This is the opposing muscle group to my writing,” he says. “While I was working on those shows that you like, the thing that in my early days was paying me when the writing wasn’t, was going up in front of people and improvising and making up the songs with my friends. We don’t know what we’re doing. It’s weirdly the most relaxing part of my life because my only job is to be present. The only job is to hear what has been offered. There’s no getting good at it.”
A Freestyle Love Supreme performance on Nov. 16, 2022 with Lin-Manuel Miranda (second from left) and cast members Kaila Mullady, Jay C. Ellis, Gable Johnson III, Simone Acosta, Dizzy Senze, Richard Baskin, Jr., Andrew Bancroft, Morgan Reilly, and Manny Houston.
Denise Truscello/Getty Images for The Venetian Resort Las Vegas
Miranda continues, “Being in that mindset regularly helps me write when I’m back at my table. It helps me write characters that feel like they’re living in the present tense. It’s that simple. It’s that complicated. [Improv] fuels my writing in a very real way, because I’m continually putting myself in this situation where I have to break into song.”
Performances of Freestyle Love Supreme involve beatboxing, hip-hop, improvisational comedy, creating humorous bits, instantaneous songs and riffs, and fully realized musical numbers from audience suggestions, ensuring no two shows are ever the same.
“It’s very rare to find someone in Vegas who doesn’t have an interesting story. Everyone comes from all over the world. It’s also a place where people have permission to be not the people they are at home. That’s the stuff we make gold out of. We ask for your regrets. We ask for your joys and failures,” Miranda says.
“I’ve done this show so many times — and there’s a reptilian part of my brain that is unbelievably anxious. It really is the nightmare of, you going out on stage in front of people. You don’t know your lines. That’s a common anxiety dream and that’s actually what we do,” he says. “I found early on when I was nervous about doing this, I would try to pre-plan. Everything out of [my mouth] would be garbage. I have to not try to plan anything. I found it was most effective when I just stayed open and present. That’s a good life lesson.”
When Miranda celebrated the opening of Freestyle in the fall, he surprised more than 200 theater students at the Las Vegas Academy of the Arts for a master class, joining the show’s cast and fellow co-creator Anthony Veneziale.
The takeaway they left for the students: Perseverance, practice and following your passions. That advice would serve a universal purpose a few weeks later when The Venetian issued a statement that Freestyle Love Supreme would end its run Jan. 29, three months ahead of its originally scheduled April 23 closing.
While no reason was directly given, it said, “The cast of Freestyle Love Supreme has delighted audiences since November with its witty and light-hearted improv comedy and will conclude its current run on January 29. In the last few months, they’ve quickly stolen our hearts and become part of The Venetian family.”
This announcement came days after another stage show, Bat Out of Hell at Paris Las Vegas, based on the music of Meatloaf, took its final bow after only three months. With the growing popularity of A-lister engagements on the Strip from the likes of Kevin Hart, Adele, Katy Perry and Garth Brooks, shows without marquee talent on a nightly basis have a tougher time competing; and with ticket prices skyrocketing, consumers often have to choose just one.
