

“Lin is an elemental force who doesn’t seem to need to sleep, who has this gleeful urgency when it comes to something he loves and who genuinely believes that anything is possible. “We felt like we were all in really great hands, which isn’t hard to feel because he is who he is,” said Garfield of Miranda. Two more were held before filming began, which allowed Garfield and the other actors to establish a trust in the material, in each other and in Miranda. “Two hours in, I’m having the time of my life in what was essentially a healing musical theater sound bath,” recalled Garfield, who, with Miranda’s gentle guidance, was starting to sing by the end of the weeklong workshop. Reluctantly, Garfield agreed to participate, and sat down with a handful of Miranda’s actor friends in a back office at the United Palace in New York’s Washington Heights. We’ll just read through it together and see how it goes.” “You don’t have to sing if you’re too tired or nervous. “Perfect, so that means you’re available,” Miranda excitedly told Garfield. But it was scheduled for the day after Garfield closed Broadway’s “Angels in America,” in which he played the tormented lead, and the role left him desperate to rest and recover. It had been weeks since Lin-Manuel Miranda pitched him on starring in a musical and invited him to a workshop of the still-being-written script - an unconventional step for any screen project but a highly informative tool for theatermakers like Miranda.
