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Creator of hit ‘Hamilton’ visits Puerto Rico

By DANICA COTO, Associated Press
Published: July 30, 2016, 6:00am

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Lin-Manuel Miranda jokingly compared himself to a hard-to-catch Pokemon as fans pursued him with cellphones on Wednesday during a visit to his parents’ native Puerto Rico after the end of his run on the Broadway hit “Hamilton.”

Cheers broke out as Miranda promised to bring the show that won 11 Tony Awards to the U.S. territory, adding that he would like to turn it into a movie.

“I will be your Hamilton!” he said with a smile as he arrived in the north coastal town of Vega Alta, where he spent his childhood summers selling ice cream, eating avocados and enlisting neighbors to star in skits.

Miranda credited his Puerto Rico roots for making him a writer, one whose most recent Broadway production earned a Pulitzer Prize for drama, a Grammy and the Edward M. Kennedy Prize for Drama Inspired by American History.

“When you’re born in the United States but your parents are from here, you always live a double life,” he said in Spanish. “And that’s a good way to be a writer. You’re always observing the differences between Puerto Rico and New York.”

As an artist, Miranda said it is also his responsibility to create empathy. He recently spoke out about Puerto Rico’s dire economic crisis, calling it a “life or death issue” for his family.

He said he was allergic to politics, but praised a rescue package that President Barack Obama signed into law to help the U.S. territory emerge from a decade-long economic crisis.

After meeting with the press, Miranda went on a tour of childhood spots, including the home of Margot Rodriguez, who was his grandfather’s neighbor.

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