One of those shows was Miranda's first, "In the Heights," in 2007. "It was playing in a little theater on the far west side and I went there not expecting much. I'd never heard of any of the people involved in it. But I grew up listening to a lot of hip-hop and loving it and often wondered why theater was not using it more, not using the music to reflect what was going on in society. Hip-hop is a uniquely powerful musical way of telling stories. So there I was and within five minutes I knew. I felt like, 'OK, here it is. This is the guy.'"