Lin-Manuel Miranda And Ben Platt Sing Hamilton And Dear Evan Hansen Mash-Up For Parkland Teens
March 19, 2018
What do you get when you take two of Broadway's biggest dynamos — and two of its most celebrated shows — and bring them together for one glorious song? You get Lin-Manuel Miranda's latest #Hamildrop, "Found/Tonight."
Miranda joined forces with Tony-winner Ben Platt for an effusive mash-up of two standout tracks from Hamilton and Dear Evan Hansen
to benefit March For Our Lives, the initiative spearheaded by Emma Gonzalez, Cameron Kasky, and the students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in the wake of the fatal school shooting last month that's turned the gun control debate on its head.
The new arrangement of Hamilton’s "Story of Tonight" and Dear Evan Hansen’s "You Will Be Found" — from musical director Alex Lacamoire, who worked on both shows — blends the two affecting anthems beautifully. It also features a few key lyrical changes to reflect the student-driven gun control movement: "We may not yet have reached our glory / But I will gladly join the fight / And when our children tell their story / They'll tell the story of tonight."
In a series of tweets, Miranda thanked Dear Evan Hansen creators Benj Pasek and Justin Paul for their "immediate YES and moving mountains to be there." He also thanked actor and Broadway vet Josh Gad for reaching out directly to him in the aftermath of the Parkland shooting to ask what they could do to help. (Gad knew one of the young victims.) "This is for him, and for the kids," Miranda tweeted.
The mash-up was not only emotional for Miranda, Platt, Lacamoire and those involved in its production but also for the students of MSD, who've taken to social media to share their visceral reactions to "Found/Tonight."
Miranda's #Hamildrop series will offer new Hamilton-inspired content every month through December. Last month, Weird Al Yankovic released "The Hamilton Polka," and Miranda has confirmed that "Found/Tonight" is the official Hamildrop for March.
The track is available through iTunes, Apple Music, and Spotify here. A portion of the proceeds from downloads will go to March for Our Lives.