Following a performance of Hamilton in Puerto Rico, Lin-Manuel tweeted that he’d been forced to make some changes to the lyrics of one of the show’s songs on the fly.
Turns out an audience member was filming the performance, and in order to get her attention, Miranda changed the lyrics to “My Shot”. The song, which details the story of Alexander Hamilton’s first meeting with John Laurens, Hercules Mulligan and the Marquis de Lafayette, is the third song in the musical.
Miranda changed the song’s lyrics to:
“I’m a get a scholarship to King’s College,
I probly shouldn’t brag, but dag, I amaze & astonish,
LADY FILMING IN THE 4th ROW, PLEASE STOP IT,
I gotta holler just to be heard…”
Hamilthought, Show #7, 1/16/19
2nd "rewrite":
"I'm a get a scholarship to King's College
I probly shouldn't brag, but dag, I amaze & astonish,
LADY FILMING IN THE 4th ROW, PLEASE STOP IT,
I gotta holler just to be heard…"Please don't make me do that shit again.
— Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel) January 16, 2019
The original lyrics are: “I’m a get a scholarship to King’s College / I probably shouldn’t brag, but dag, I amaze and astonish / The problem is, I got a lot of brains but no polish / I gotta holler just to be heard”.
His co-stars were understandably taken aback by the improvisation.
Then I turned back to the Sons of Liberty, who were like…@rubenjcarbajal
Anyway, having to think that fast within My Shot takes a year off my life, please just enjoy the show.
Otherwise you were the best crowd we ever had! pic.twitter.com/DV51Y998ZV— Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel) January 16, 2019
Even better, Miranda posted a screenshot of an email he received after the show, containing an apology from the woman who had been filming.
In a million years, I never…
Gracias. Thanks for your apology and thanks for coming to the show. Y saludos a mami. pic.twitter.com/sBY4lYjORv— Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel) January 17, 2019
(The Spanish at the end of the tweet means “and greetings to mom”, who was presumably sitting with her in the fourth row.)
Miranda has previously had people removed for recording Hamilton, and has expressed his frustration with bootleggers several times, explaining that he feels bootlegs misrepresent his work.
Caught and kicked someone out for audio recording last night, BTW.
— Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel) May 4, 2015
Tagging me with bootleg footage from my show is like showing Patti LuPone the video you took of her during Gypsy. Ya dig?
— Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel) February 27, 2014
An apology from the culprit is a pretty good outcome, though, and hopefully other would-be bootleggers (or just people who want to film it for their own collection) take note: Lin-Manuel Miranda WILL call you out via song. Be warned.