Not content with dominating the world of Broadway, scoring a record number of Tony nominations and having the likes of Disney and J.J. Abrams clamoring to work with him, now Hamilton creator/star Lin-Manuel Miranda's previous musical, In The Heights is back on the movie development track.
The show, which had music and lyrics from Miranda and a book by Quiara Alegría Hudes, is set over the course of three days during a sweltering hot summer in New York's Washington Heights district. The characters include bodega owner Usnvavi, who narrates the show and has a big decision to make about whether to close his store and move to the Dominican Republic, Nina, a smart college student who returns home after losing her scholarship and Benny, the cab dispatcher who falls in love with her. Heights hit the Great White Way in 2008 after tryouts elsewhere, was a huge hit and ended up with four Tony wins from 13 nominations.
It was picked up as a potential film by Universal in late 2008 and Kenny Ortega was attached to direct. But it lingered in limbo until 2011 when the studio sent it into turnaround. Rumours circled that it might be headed elsewhere in 2012, but now Harvey Weinstein's company is aboard to produce alongside Miranda and according to the composer/actor, Hudes is writing the current draft of the script. There's no director on board yet, but given the heat around Miranda and his current show, expect this one to move quickly.
And that's not the only piece of Miranda-related news arriving today. Disney has now confirmed that he'll be appearing alongside Emily Blunt in the Mary Poppins sequel, now known as Mary Poppins Returns, which has Rob Marshall directing and composers Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman working up a score and songs for the film, which Miranda is now in the process of learning. And that's while he's still performing in Hamilton. The man is non-stop.
The story is still largely under wraps, though it will draw from Poppins creator P.L. Travers' other books and may focus on Jane and Michael Banks 20 years after the original, with Mary coming to help them in a time of crisis. Miranda is playing a lamplighter named Jack who has echoes (but probably not the accent) of Dick Van Dyke's Bert.
Mary Poppins Returns is now scheduled to arrive on Christmas Day 2018 in the US. Miranda has also been working alongside Opetaia Foa'i and Mark Mancina as a composer on Disney's Moana, which is due in the UK on December 2.