Hamilton creator and star (and freshly minted Pulitzer Prize winner) Lin-Manuel Miranda went on John Oliver's Last Week Tonight April 24 to plead for Congressional help in dealing with the island commonwealth's $70 billion in debt.
With music director Alex Lacamoire at the piano, Miranda performed a rap imploring Congress, not for a bailout, but for the ability to restructure the island's debt. Miranda renewed his offer to get members of Congress tickets to Hamilton if they will help.
Oliver marveled, “I’m amazed he can even get tickets. It is easier for a meerkat to get into Harvard Law School than it is to get into that show.”
Miranda's parents were born in Puerto Rico, which is not a foreign country, but a territory of the U.S., something many people seem unaware of. As Stephen Sondheim pointed out in West Side Story, “Nobody knows in America/Puerto Rico's in America.”
