The thing that [Sondheim] always sort of stressed was variety, variety, variety, variety, variety.

When you're dealing with a constant rhythm, no matter how great your lyrics are, if you don't switch it up, people's heads are going to start bobbing. And they're going to stop listening to what you're saying, so consistently keep the ear fresh and keep the audience surprised. And, you know, that was his sort of watchword throughout the writing of "Hamilton." I'd send him a batch of songs, and he'd say I'm going to say it again - variety, variety, variety. And so I - that was my mantra during the writing of that show.

 

GROSS: The Sondheim song that's closest to comic rap is, in my opinion, "Not Getting Married" which is done...

 

MIRANDA: Absolutely.

 

GROSS: It's so tricky. It's so fast and the words are so just kind of like dense and funny and rhymy (ph). And so, obviously, you know that song by heart more or less, and have you thought about that song a lot in terms of intricate rhyme schemes and what the human is capable of without totally tripping up?

 

MIRANDA: Honestly, I think about that song more when people ask me how did you think rap was going to work on Broadway? And I'm like, oh, nothing in my show is faster than "Getting Married Today" in "Company."

 

(LAUGHTER)

 

MIRANDA: So I don't know what you're talking about. There's so much precedent for the work in both, quote, unquote, "hip-hop" and not in terms of patter for the stage. But, you know, what's amazing about "Getting Married Today" is it's also in a masterclass in making a lyric easy. There are consonants on which you waste air. H - there's no H's in that because if you say (imitating H sound), you've lost half the air in your lungs. So it's very T's and P's. (Rapping) Thank you all. Is everybody here? Because if everybody's here, I'd like to thank you all for coming to the wedding.

 

It's more about breath control than being - it's not a tongue twister. It's very consciously not a tongue twister. It's about being able to say it in one continuous breath and getting out of the way and choosing words that do not require any extra air or any extra tongue or jaw work. So it's actually not about trying to making it hard. It's about making it easy.

 

GROSS: So did you learn that intuitively or did Sondheim tell you that that was his intention to stay away from as many H's as possible and to keep it to things that could easily be said?

 

MIRANDA: I think I read about that in a conversation he had at some point, but I also knew that intuitively because of the hip-hop artists I liked who rapped fast, you know - they're not trying to make something that's hard for them to perform every night. They're trying to make something that sounds impressive and is a joy to deliver every night. I'm trying to think of, like, a really specific early '90s example. Queen Latifah - (rapping) Snatch ya stature. Your broken looks more like a fracture. Catch that rapper. Latifah will be back to crush ya.

 

That's Queen Latifa in 1992, and it's fast. There's Queen Latifah's "U.N.I.T.Y." She goes (rapping) there's plenty of people out there with triggers ready to pull it. Why you trying to jump in front of the bullet, young lady?

 

No H's. So you learn intuitively that, like, the writer is trying to make something that flows easily off the tongue.

 

GROSS: So did the writer of Alexander Hamilton try to avoid H's in writing the lyrics?

 

(LAUGHTER)

 

MIRANDA: Well, you will observe that Hamilton is not in any of the fast rapping that happens onstage, right? George Washington goes "Hamilton" and then Jefferson is the one who goes (rapping) sir, he knows what to do in a trench, ingenuitive and fluent in French, I mean.

 

So we're not hampering anyone with Hamilton.

Hear the entire interview here. (The above exchange happens at 34:50.