Lin-Manuel Miranda To Appear In Chicago’s ‘Hamilton’ In August, Says Oscar Lopez Rivera

By WBEZ Staff
Show creator Lin-Manuel Miranda performs as America’s first treasury secretary, Alexander Hamilton, in the hip-hop musical Hamilton.
Show creator Lin-Manuel Miranda performs as America's first treasury secretary, Alexander Hamilton, in the hip-hop musical Hamilton.
Show creator Lin-Manuel Miranda performs as America’s first treasury secretary, Alexander Hamilton, in the hip-hop musical Hamilton.
Show creator Lin-Manuel Miranda performs as America's first treasury secretary, Alexander Hamilton, in the hip-hop musical Hamilton.

Lin-Manuel Miranda To Appear In Chicago’s ‘Hamilton’ In August, Says Oscar Lopez Rivera

By WBEZ Staff
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In May, Puerto Rican nationalist Oscar Lopez Rivera returned to his hometown of Chicago after more than 30 years in prison. In August, he will see Lin-Manuel Miranda reprise his role in the hit musical Hamilton for a special performance in his honor, according to Lopez Rivera.

Shortly after an interview on WBEZ’s Worldview, Rivera told WBEZ that he’ll be in the audience at the PrivateBank Theatre in the last week of August to see Miranda perform with the Chicago cast.

A spokeswoman for the Chicago production of Hamilton said she has “no confirmation” of Miranda’s performance in late August. A spokesman for Miranda said he has no knowledge of the Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winner performing in Chicago.

When President Barack Obama commuted Rivera’s sentence in January, Miranda tweeted he was “sobbing with gratitude” and that it would be his “honor to play Hamilton the night [Rivera] goes.”

Rivera was a leader of the Armed Forces of National Liberation, or FALN, which claimed responsibility for more than 100 bombings in U.S. cities in the 1970s and ’80s in a fight for independence for Puerto Rico. In 1981, Rivera was convicted for seditious conspiracy and other charges. 

His commutation was cheered by many, including Miranda and Sen. Bernie Sanders, but he remains a controversial figure to others for his role in FALN’s violent protests.