welcome to the "journal," coming to you from dw-tv in berlin. the tunisian prime minister takes over for the president, who has fled the country following amount of violent street protests. and floods devastate entire towns and brazil, leaving people dead. and the vatican confirms that st. code is closer than ever for the late pope john paul ii. -- the vatican confirms that sainthood is closer than ever for the late pope john paul ii. the president of tunisia has fled the country following another day of anti-government

demonstrations. it barely leaves the nation after 23 years of authoritarian rule. the prime minister is taking over, but it remains unclear who was in control of the country and what role the army is playing in these unprecedented events in north africa. ben ali's departure came after anti-government protests threaten to spiral out of control in recent days. >> the protests grew in size and ferocity. demonstrators pressed for an end to the president ben ali's 23 years in power. then the prime minister appeared on state television to announce that he would take over as interim president until early elections are held. he said that president ben ali was temporarily unable to exercise his duties.

having stepped aside, the tunisian leader reportedly left the country. earlier in the day, security forces used tear gas on protesters in an attempt to break up the demonstrations, but more to nations took to the streets. what started as protests about living standards became a challenge to the president's role. even before the announcement, some predicted that change was coming. >> we hope this is the beginning of democracy. we hope for someone from inside, not outside. we want him out. just get out. >> of violent protests have left dozens of people dead. the government declared a state of emergency and imposed a curfew to quell the unrest. it remains to be seen whether a

change in role will call on the protesters. >> just a short while ago, we spoke with a professor and to be shipped and what asked whether the prime minister would be able to restore order -- in tunisia. >> the prime minister has some good reputations. he is a technocrat, but on the other hand he has been very close to the president, so for sure he is not an option for secession. it is only to manage the interim period after the president has left the country. >> some say the former prime minister is the interim president and he enjoys the support of the military and

other security services. >> one has the impression that maybe the army was involved in the takeover of the power. then this announcement came out. so he is a man of ben ali's system. he has been prime minister quite a long time. it is for sure a good relationship generally between the armed forces and him, but on the other hand, this is an absolute exceptional situation, so it is not sure how things will turn out and if the prime minister will succeed in handling this particular situation. >> thank you very much.

soaring prices for fuel and food it sparked demonstrations in the jordanian capital today. protesters included trade unionists and leftist political activists calling the prime minister a coward and demanded his resignation. while the government has announced price controls and measures to create jobs. i italian prosecutors have confirmed they are investigating possible abuse of power charges against prime minister silvio berlusconi. the case centers around his dealings with a 17-year-old moroccan nightclub dancer who attended parties at his home. the investigation includes allegations of under age prostitution. prosecutors are examining whether berlusconi intervened to have the girl released from police custody when she was detained over theft allegations. the prime minister denies any wrongdoing. military police and brazil

have been deployed to stop looting in flooded areas and rescue workers are covered more victims. brazil's worst natural disaster in four decades has claimed 500 lives. 10,000 people are seeking shelter and aid. the extent of the damage has exposed major flaws in the country's emergency plan. >> relatives waited anxiously outside of the hospitals for news of their loved ones. coffins are brought out one after the other. only now many learned that friends and family are among the victims. the police stations and churches have been turned into makeshift morgues. >> i lost my mother, daughter, and granddaughter. i don't know what to do now. there is no future, no hope left in life. >> in a first effort to help

survivors, the brazilian president has released the equivalent of 350 million euros of emergency aid and she has urged authorities to approve disaster management. >> there are always going to be landslides because of the heavy rains. we just have to make sure that people are not going to get killed because of it. >> emergency teams have not reached many remote areas and authorities expect the death toll to rise. forecasters warn of more rainfall over the weekend, which could hamper rescue efforts. the specter rough inflation is stalking the growing number of economists predict that ecb has hinted we could have a future rate hike, but they have been kept on hold. at china has taken steps to curb lending, its central bank raising the amount of money that

lenders have to keep in reserve. it south korea is trying to palm prices by increasing import tariffs ou. it is something the european central bank is closely monitoring, and it is no different in germany. >> the cost of living in germany rose last year with sharp increases in the month of december. according to the country's federal statistics office, consumers had to dig deeper into their pockets to pay for some items, for example vegetables. the price of tomatoes soared almost 50% from a year earlier. heating oil jumped almost 30%, as did potatoes, and there was more bad news for motorists. fuel prices climbed 12%. the higher cost of diesel fuel and gasoline knocked out a fact, with prices for other goods and services increasing as well. the overall inflation rate in

germany was 1.9% in december, compared with a year earlier. that puts europe's largest economy below the eurozone average of 2.2%. greece and estonia had the highest rate at more than 5%, but ireland bucked the trend. it is still not clear how the ecb would react to a continued rise in eurozone inflation. normally, it would try to keep prices in check by hiking interest rates, the output and additional strain on an already troubled economic situation. the jitters have the markets confused. european stocks closed mixed. there is optimism. >> the earnings season is gaining momentum. technology companies have showed with a record high results that company in general start to spend money for themselves, and this of course is something that

investors like because it shows optimism and the company's. intel report results, sap and intel have record high profits and sales, setting a good mood on the frankfurt floor, keeping the dax above 7000. later in the day, new economic data from the u.s., and they have not been too bad. honing in on the numbers, the german benchmark dax index finished pretty much unchanged. the euro stoxx 50 finished slightly higher. the doubt is opt out on currency markets. -- the dow jones is up slightly. things are looking good for the second biggest lender and the u.s., j.p. morgan chase, its

shares rising after reporting a 47% jump in fourth quarter earnings. they beat analyst expectations, posting profits of $4.8 billion in the final three months of last year. the banks' revenues rose thanks to the increasing demand for loans from corporate and consumer clients. jpmorgan is widely seen as a barometer for the help of the u.s. economy. the number of new car registrations in europe has slumped by about 5.5%. the decline came after most government incentives expired for car owners to upgrade aging models carry the decrease affected most big manufacturers, with toyota, honda out, and fiat taking the biggest hit. iluxury brands but the trend. analysts expect 2011 to remain sluggish for the european market, but things will improve later in the year. the late pope john paul ii

is closer to sainthood today. pope benedict xvi has approved evidence that john paul performed a miracle but during a french none of parkinson's disease. it will take place in a ceremony on may 1. the time between his death and his beatification is one of the shortest on record the entire history of the catholic church. for more, i asked our religious affairs correspondent why john paul was so quickly being declared a saint. >> contrary to what the media usually says about pope's making people famous, in fact, the process always begins with ordinary people, faithful refering somebody, and then the church looks and decides to leave their govett its blessing or condemns it. on the day that john paul ii died, the people attended, thousands in st. peter's

square, asking for him to be declared a saint immediately. this popularity was so great that the pope decided to suspend church law that there should be five years cooling off and investigated immediately. >> can you tell us about the miracle that qualified him for beatification? >> god is intended to give his seal of approval to the beatification process by allowing a miracle to take place in the proposed saint's name. many think that is not a good idea is it emphasizes the role of the saint as a miracle worker rather than as a role model. >> this was a french nun cured of parkinson's. what does this say about where pope benedict is taking the catholic church? >> pope john paul ii was a very conservative, traditional fee elegist with a warm, charismatic

personality. benedict xvi as a cartel at the time was really the brain behind that papacy. he was very comfortable standing in the shadow of john paul ii. what i think he is doing by sounding off on this is stepping into the shadow again, that is the kind of person we need in the 21st century. for more than a week, people in germany have been asking how safe is the food? dangerous levels of dioxin have been found in eggs, poultry, and pork. the consumer affairs minister is under fire for not doing more sinner. today she faced her critics and presented a 10. plan to present rigid. something like this happening again. -- she presented a plan to prevent this from happening again. consumers would be informed immediately of any contamination of this kind in the future. the second half of the german soccer season is underway

at this hour with tabletop purse -- table toppedpers getting wins. well they'd be up to keep up? >> the coach knows his team is the underdogs, but he also knows that can be dorfman. the one against them in the first half of the season 2-0. daly began their impressive series of victories after that opening match. they are especially helpful because there player is fit again. he is likely to be on the field for at least some of friday's match. their other star players are also available. they have all been told how to tackle dorfman. >> i am sure we can take the wind out of their sales by pulsing quickly and plain good soccer. >> we will move the ball around quickly and keep away from their players.

>> i think we will create opportunities and use them. >> but their opponents are not faced by such talk. their coach remains confident and dismisses talks of nerves. he says his team has not forgotten how to play good football over the winter break. >> the adrenaline will be flowing before the game. this is football, and you gain confidence by winning tackles. we intend to do that. >> with both sides determined to win, fans of both teams can look forward to what is sure to be a competitive fast-paced batch. -- matcgh. -- match. >> stay with us. we will have a lot more on the german soccer season, coming up in our in-depth in 60 seconds. bu

welcome back. it is friday, and this evening marks the return of bundesliga soccer after the winter break. the second half of the season has kicked off with the league topping dorfman taking on third place team. the german soccer world is a bit mixed up. the traditional tightness down in the rankings and its star players cannot seem to make any magic. that is the teams with smaller starts stealing the show this season. >> they celebrate their successes together, team work first, not star performances, is what counts at portman, and that has put them at the top of the table. a switch quickly from a defensive to an attacking game, always on the move, always fast,

and the payoff was 39 goals in the first half of the season, the best in the bundesliga. >> we just do what we do. we will be trying to do the same in the second half of the season as the first half. we will do our best and see what happens. >> he is young, talented, and ambitious, the youngest member of a young team. many teams are only in their early 20's. the central defender, then once the youngest bundesliga professional, who now leads the unpacked. >> we would rather take a hit for a teammate then leave them in the lurch. you could teach that by example and demanded of your players. >> it is this person's third this season at portland. he is both the boss and an equal

member of this group of vehicles. -- this group of equals. that is a different story in munich. the starke coach runs a company of star players. they just spent 17 million euros on another star. others have been out because of injury. but they are determined to robert dorfman of the top bundesliga spot. >> the most important thing is -- >> it is not to look too far into the future. >> in the immediate future, they have decided to take the goalie out and replace them. that will be another test of their team spirit, unsettling the squad, especially since the move was not agreed with by the sports director.

>> i can gauge thomas craft every day, but what i cannot gauge is whether he will be able to handle the pressure. >> all the bundesliga players have to handle the pressure. that includes the individualists if they want to overtake dorfman on the way to the title. one of the most impressive players has been there midfielder. the japanese international has been virtually unknown when he arrived, but he has managed to help the club take the lead by scoring eight goals. he was also recently voted top discovery of the year by a german soccer magazine. he is one of a growing number of japanese players in the bundesliga. we look at why so many are choosing to come to germany and what the japanese have to offer. i>> it is soccer time at this

tokyo sports bar. whether it is the japanese national team, the bar is packed with in the bundesliga exports flash across the screen. >> i am happy that five of our national players are now planning in the bundesliga. is every player's dream to play in europe, and they have made it. i>> the bundesliga scouts have n eye for players with young potential. the most famous of them is this player who knocked in eight goals for dorfman, who have enjoyed the season break in first place. not far behind, these players, also a new arrival last summer. bu>> we japanese are light on or feet and have good tactical

fundamentals, which we bring to the bundesliga pitch. >> he is not shy. in order to get to europe and shine, the new generation of japanese players has adopted a new mentality. >> they are much more open when they come over, open to take part in discussions, to approach people. they are proactive and not reserved. we see them taking the initiative. >> this football scott specialized in asia early on and arranged all the transfers from japan this season, after only placing one japanese player in the bundesliga in the 1990's. but japanese soccer has opened up, and that is paying off for the scout. >> more and more japanese teams are being coached by south american or european coaches, so

soccer there has developed enormously. >> the german national players went to japan early on. after winning the 1990 world cup, they finished their playing careers and worked as coaches in japan. the scout still looks to them for advice. even with his next transfer deal in the making, he knows the generation of players is not about to replace the ever popular stars imported from south america. >> due to the relatively small size of the country, they cannot produce the amount of top players that brazil or south america can. that is clear just looking at the rankings. >> be that as it may, fans in tokyo are enjoying their players in the bundesliga. and one in particular. [cheering] >> as the second half of the

season gets underway, we decided to examine the biggest muscle and the achilles heel of the league. here are the seasons tops and flops so far. take a look. >> the team plays catch-up in the second half of the season after playing a fairly unspectacular first leg. they came into the season fielding 15 new players, hoping to take the top of the bundesliga table by surprise. no such luck. they lost seven matches in a row thanks to a persistent case of mediocrity. but the spanish icon raul treated fans to a slew of goals before the break. stoop guard is also on have to work on their form. that underperformed their way to the worst ever first leg in the crowns history, coming in 17th place. this after firing not one but two coaches.

now their new coach will get his chance. stuttgart is the bundesliga's comeback kid, having played impressive second legs and all of the last three seasons. everybody in frankfurt loves out this team. with 14 goals to his credit, the greek is the bundesliga's top scorer, and he came at a bargain price. his transfer cost frankfurt a mere 1 million euros. four years ago, he netted 20 goals and was the league's top scorer. a feat that he hopes to repeat by the end of the season. in the first game of the bundesliga, now under way after the winter break, the score is still 0-0 at this hour. thank you for joining us, and stay with dw-tv if you can.

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>> hinojosa: his groundbreaking musical in the heights, about a vibrant latino community in northern manhattan skyrocketed him to fame. two tony awards and a grammy later, he's paving the way for more latino made productions on broadway-- composer, lyricist, and performer lin-manuel miranda. i'm maria hinojosa, this is one on one. lin-manuel miranda, welcome to our program. >> thank you for having me. >> hinojosa: so you're the lyricist, performer, and composer of the award winning in the heights on broadway which tells the story of this barrio, this neighborhood in northern manhattan, and it becomes this

amazing musical of survival of this community. and you started writing that when you were in college. >> yeah. >> hinojosa: so did you ever imagine, "yeah, it's going to end up on broadway," or was that just like an illusion? >> oh, i imagined it! ( laughing ) i mean, you wouldn't write it if you didn't feel like it was... it was worth something, but i imagined it in the way that you imagine being a jedi when you are three years old, you know? it's in the realm of possibility, and sure, maybe one day. but you know, i just... i knew that i wanted to write, i knew that i wasn't good at anything else, and i just... i knew there weren't enough musicals to keep me employed as a latino actor if i wanted to go into theater. and i... and i just sort of started writing everything i'd always wanted to see in a musical, musically speaking. just hip hop music and latin music and all the stuff i'd sort of grown up with.

>> hinojosa: and you were able to translate that... what i love is that you had these images of broadway, and you're able to take hip hop and salsa, and say, "yeah, yeah, yeah; it works on broadway." >> yeah, well, that was, you know, that was the gradual process of writing the show. but you know, in that first incredibly messy draft, i remember being in the audience and watching the audience sit up during the rap scenes when story was taking place and the characters were rapping to each other, and the audience literally sat bolt upright. and i said, "okay, well, this is new; this is something really interesting." >> hinojosa: so you weren't even sure of it at first in terms of the rapping on broadway? >> well, i didn't know if it would work in my show, much less on broadway-- in my little show at wesleyan. but when i first met with tommy kail, our director, one of the first things he said to me is, "the hip hop is the most exciting part of this, and the way you mix the hip hop and the latin music." and i had had that experience firsthand watching that first production at wesleyan. so you know, that was the beginning of a conversation that lasted eight years, and figuring out how to use it as another form of storytelling on stage.

>> hinojosa: finding a director that you could trust... you said, actually, that when you met your director, you realized that he knew this play, in a way, even better than you did. >> yeah. well, you know, it's interesting. i had... i wrote it and put it up my sophomore year, and then it was in a drawer for two years. and someone gave a copy to tommy kail, some mutual friends, john mailer and neil stewart. >> hinojosa: john mailer being the son of norman mailer. >> yes, and... and so he had two years with this cast album that i'd recorded, and he'd listened to it over and over. and so, you know, he... he said to me, "hi, we've just met but your third song needs to be first." ( laughing ) and luckily, you know, i think any young writer gets very precious about their material, but since it had... i'd had two year's distance on it i was like, "well, those are good ideas; what else do you have?" and that was the beginning of the process. >> hinojosa: the ability, though, to trust broadway to take this show-- well,

off-broadway at first, right? >> oh, well, before that a basement in a bookshop. i mean, that's where.. >> hinojosa: that you would go to after... >> ...that's where tommy kail and i met. i mean, there were... it was literally a storeroom that they converted into a black box theater. it was being painted when we met in that basement. so this was not, "trust me to take it to broadway," this was, "i have some good ideas on how to make show better," and that's the mindset we always tried to stay in mind. we didn't worry about the end goal. we just said, "well, how can this be better and how can this be clearer?" and if you keep your eye on the rock in front of you, then that's... that's the way to get it done. >> hinojosa: now, the show actually continues to change, even... like, in other words, you... there are lots of things that you talk about in the show. you bring up gentrification, you bring up immigration. it's not at all a political show per se, ( speaking in spanish) >> well, a spoonful of sugar. >> hinojosa: you know? here and there, there's just like, a little political thing here and a little political thing here, and you're... is it constantly being adapted, because it's still on broadway? >> it's still on broadway, and it changes with every performer

who comes with it. the text doesn't change much, but we also made a lot of little changes when we rehearsed the touring production, as well. and what's fun is... is what different people bring to it. i... we now have... there are now eight people in the world who have played usna. >> hinojosa: no! >> yeah. >> hinojosa: eight people? >> eight people if you include understudies and swings. >> hinojosa: i'm sorry, but you know what? you will always be usnavi. >> well, thank you. >> hinojosa: i just... i mean, i know it has to happen, but it just breaks my heart to not see you in that central role. >> but for me, the joy is in watching new people adapt it and seeing what they bring, and you know, we're all... it's all very friendly. it's such a hard role to play. i mean, you are rapping for two and a half hours and you never leave the stage. >> hinojosa: and moving for two and a half hours. >> and moving and dancing and all of that. that... you know, we give each other tips. it's like a little survivor's club, and it's, "hey, i like the way corbin did that. i'm going to steal that next time i get to do it." >> hinojosa: but corbin is doing usnavi? >> corbin is playing usnavi. >> hinojosa: corbin is playing... corbin bleu... >> yeah. >> hinojosa: ...from high school

musical fame. >> yeah, and you know, he originally came in to play benny, because he's not... >> hinojosa: right, right, right. >> ...he's not latino and he came in to play benny, and he was so charming and so effortlessly charming that we said, you know, "i think this guy might be usnavi." >> hinojosa: oh! all right, people are probably saying, "what's that name-- usnavi, what's that?" so we have to tell. there might be some people who get it immediately. it's spelled u-s-n-a-v-i... >> yeah. >> hinojosa: ...but if you just spell it u-s-n-a-v-y... >> correct. >> hinojosa: ...it says... >> it's says "us navy," and his parents named him after the boat they saw when they first got to the united states. >> hinojosa: urban legend, or... >> urban legend, but also becoming a very popular name in florida with dominican and cuban communities. i heard the story from a friend who works in immigration, and i said, "well, that's too good." >> hinojosa: really? because i heard that story from someone who had nothing to do with... so it's true? >> no, it's becoming a thing. there's a great book called the dirty girl's social club by alisa valdes-rodriguez, and

there's a female character named usnavys in that, and it's "us navy" with a y and an s at the end. it's the feminized version. so it's really becoming a thing. >> hinojosa: and... and seeing someone like corbin bleu doing that role, for you... i mean, i know that what you say is you've got your nights back. >> yes! >> hinojosa: you get to go home at night. >> i sure do. >> hinojosa: because you were working for a full year. >> well, yeah. eight shows a week, your life becomes about being at your peak at 8:00 p.m., and 2:00 and 8:00 on the weekends, and i was finding i didn't have time to write anymore, because you're... you're just thinking about 8:00 p.m. all day. >> hinojosa: and so now you're writing? >> i'm writing like crazy. >> hinojosa: really? >> yeah. >> hinojosa: because you're kind of busy. >> ( laughing ) i'm incredibly busy! >> hinojosa: you're incredibly busy. >> yeah, which is great. >> hinojosa: you are... well, let's see. right after you were in the middle of finishing your role as usnavi, you started translating songs of west side story. >> yeah, i actually did that while i was doing usnavi, at the same time. >> hinojosa: and what i love is that even though your primary... your first language was english,

and your parents always sent you back to puerto rico so you kept the spanish alive, and then now you're actually translating into spanish. >> yes, and it was such an amazing process, and really, it was... for me, the fun was it was a bonding experience with my dad, because, you know, my dad moved here when he was 18 for school, and so he was the same age as these characters in west side story, although he came here for... under very different circumstances. but we learned a lot. i learned a lot of vocabulary from him; he learned how hard my job is in terms of writing lyrics. you know, he would... he would sit there with these thesauri and he would say, "well, what if we did, ( speaking gibberish)?" and i go, "that's great, dad, but that's 15 syllables and we have five, so we need to make it fit here." >> hinojosa: oh! >> and we were rhyming english with spanish, and so, you know, we had to find a rhyme for the word "size." en español, there's no... yeah. there about three words that do, so we have to find a word that rhymes with "size," we have eight syllables, and the sharks are singing it to the jets in

the quintet. and so, you know, my dad... i remember my mom telling me, you know, "your dad has a whole new appreciation for how difficult your job is because he's staying up at night trying to think of rhymes for 'size' in spanish." >> hinojosa: you... part of, i think, why this... this show has become so successful is because you kind of confront what a lot of young people are dealing with-- this kind of bifurcated existence. which is on the one hand, you are completely latino in your home-- in your barrio, in your neighborhood-- and then you leave and you went to a very high-performing public school... >> yeah. >> hinojosa: ...in manhattan, but it was like two different worlds. >> absolutely. i mean, i commuted to... to a low-middle class barrio, to the richest zip code in the country every day for school since kindergarten. you know, i would go from 200th street to 94th and park, and so i... i absorbed that schism so

early that it wasn't until college and i stepped back from it that i really gave myself permission to write about it. i'd written musicals before heights-- little one-act musicals in high school-- but i'd never written latin music before that. i didn't know that that was fair game to write about. in my sophomore year when i wrote the show, i lived in a latino program house at wesleyan with a bunch of other kids who were just like me-- who grew up with marc anthony and the thunder cats. and you know, it was the same american, but then our own special, you know, culture on the side and language on the side. and writing about that schism and getting to joke about that with friends-- it was the first time i had latino friends my age. because in puerto rico, i was the gringo who spoke a really badly-accented spanish. >> hinojosa: and you weren't quite accepted in puerto rico. >> no, i... no, not at all. >> hinojosa: you were a gringo... >> i was a gringo, i hung out with my grandparent's friends. i am... you know, when i go to puerto rico, i visit ( speaking spanish ) >> hinojosa: no! >> those were my friends, those were the people i hung out with, those were the stars of my first movies.

and so... so yeah, so my sophomore year of college was the first time i really had latino friends my age and we could make jokes about, you know, jerry rivera and transformers, you know? it's... and both those cultures. >> hinojosa: you know, it was interesting, because the reviews... wonderful reviews, but there were some people who said, "this is so not realistic. this is not what in the heights..." washington heights is a neighborhood that went through some rough times... >> absolutely. >> hinojosa: ...some serious rough times-- major drug dealing, turf battles, you know... >> i was there in the 1980s, i know all about it. >> hinojosa: it was rough. but people looked at your play and they were like, "well, this isn't true." and it's like, well, no, actually, when you were growing up, there was that, too. where it was a community, it was warm place, it was a welcoming place, it was a safe place. >> yeah, i mean, though, i think if you looked at mainstream coverage of new york city, you would think it ended at 96th street. >> hinojosa: right.

>> you know, there's the apollo in harlem, and then it ends. so the only time we'd be on the news is if there was a crime. there's just no coverage. and washington heights is home to more small businesses than any other part of new york city. there's 3,000 small businesses there. >> hinojosa: this is a statistic i did not know. >> so the fact that we can't tell a story about, you know, stores struggling to get by and stay up on their rents? that's another economic reality that unfortunately, thanks to our recession, i think, is more relevant to our audience than i think even when we first came out. but you know, the story of crime and drugs, that's all over new york, so you know, why can't... why aren't we allowed to tell those stories and why is it unrealistic to tell the stories of the other 23 and a half hours of the day when there isn't a crime taking place? >> hinojosa: so the media, again, becomes this way in which we somehow envision these places, and the media again, it focuses on all this negativity. you are now something of a major player in the media.

>> ( laughing ) >> hinojosa: well, in the sense that you've created something that has impacted popular culture and now it's going to be made into a universal movie... >> yeah. >> hinojosa: ...so what does that feel like to know that you're having an imprint on... on the media, on how communities are perceived? >> well, it's... it's gratifying... it's strange. i mean, you can't think of yourself like that. you can't... >> hinojosa: you don't walk around like... >> ...you can't get out of bed and be like, "i'm impacting the media!" >> hinojosa: "today i'm going to have an impact." >> "i'm going to have breakfast and impact the media." but... but it is... you know, i always tell people, "our greatest blessing and our greatest curse as latinos in theater is west side story. and really, it swings both ways in terms of i don't know a latino who hasn't been in that production. it's our foot in the door; it's also a... it happens to be a masterpiece of storytelling. however, it did its job so well that the iconic... you know, if you had never heard of puerto

rico or puerto ricans, you'd probably heard of west side story and your image is of a guy with a makeup of a color not found in nature with a knife in his hand. and it's so... it's become so iconic that that's what they think of when they think of us. and so what has been gratifying about the success of heights is that it's allowed for an alternative image to flourish, particularly in theater, of who we are. >> hinojosa: so i was telling you the story about my husband who is a dominican immigrant, and when i told him that we were going to go see in the heights off broadway, and he was like, "you know what? i've done the musicals on broadway, i don't need to see another one; they're all the same." and i was like, "you've got to come." and he started crying from the first moment that you hit the stage and probably didn't end crying until the very last scene. and i have heard this story from many, many people-- that they are sitting in their seats crying as they're watching in the heights. >> ( laughing ) >> hinojosa: what does that... i mean, that must just... >> it's unreal. i... it's really unreal, and...

you know, i... i'm a theater kid. we didn't get to go to much theater as a kid, but i remember seeing rent at 17, and crying like your husband did at our show, because i'd always loved musicals-- i love music-- and i didn't know you were allowed to write musicals about now. it just... it had never occurred to me. you know, i'd seen musicals in opera houses, i was in pirate of penzance like your son, and... and it always took place in some other place, in some faraway land, and these were kids struggling to make a life for themselves through their art and living and dying, and it hit me like a ton of bricks. and that's when i started writing, because it just... it tacitly gave me permission. and for me, the most fun from my time performing in the show was when we would have school groups, and we'd have kids from the south bronx, the dominican republic. and i would say, "dominican republic," and you couldn't hear the next five bars... >> hinojosa: oh, they'd be...

>> ...because kids would scream so loud. i think if i had seen in the heights when i was a kid, i'd be president of the united states right now. it's just sort of... it's just... you know, it was... it's... i watch it i these kids and seeing themselves, and that's so enormously validating. it's... it's really the best part of the thing. >> hinojosa: how did you know that you could trust your voice? how did you know... i mean, i know that your dad was the president of the debbie reynolds club... >> ( laughing ) yes, that's true. >> hinojosa: ...okay, so i know you grew up also watching musicals, but how did you know that you could do this? where did you learn how to trust that, "yeah, i'm going to put pen in hand and i'm going to start writing a musical"? >> i... i was lucky enough to be encouraged by people who were not family. i had an eighth grade english teacher named rembert herbert-- he still teaches at hunter-- and we had a class assignment for school, and we were teaching chaim potok's the chosen. and we had to present three chapters, and i took charge of

our group and i wrote a song based on each chapter. and i was such a control freak that i made the other kids in the group lip sync to my voice on tape. and dr. herbert-- you know, i'd been lounging, doodling in the back of the class-- and he said, "you've been hibernating in my class and this is amazing, and you're a writer, and that's what you've been doing in the back of my class instead of paying attention." >> hinojosa: oh, my gosh. >> and it was the first time someone who wasn't related to me said, "you're good at this thing." and that was enormously empowering, and i started writing that year. >> hinojosa: so do... did you worry, though, about the fact that, you know, there have been other latino-produced or latino-centric productions on broadway that didn't go so well? >> my heart broke with each one of them. and i think that's part of the impetus... that as part of the impetus to begin writing. i saw, you know, the capeman came out my senior year in high school, and it was written by

one of my favorite songwriters of all time... >> hinojosa: paul simon. >> ...and starred two of my other favorite songwriters of all time... >> hinojosa: marc anthony... >> ...and ruben blades. and i went into that thinking, "this is going to be my dream musical." and it got killed by the critics. the score was gorgeous; it got killed by the critics and it closed after 68 performances. i saw it three times in previews. and the cold, hard thud of reality set in-- "no one's going to write your dream show for you, papa," you know? "no one's going to write that dream... it doesn't exist unless you make it." and i spent two years editing capeman in my head. i remember thinking, "well, if you start it in the 1950s and you just tell that part of the story," or, "if you start in prison and maybe you do a flashback," you know, i tried to fix that show before i started writing my own. >> hinojosa: on the subway, you were doing this? >> ( laughing ) on the subway, yes. >> hinojosa: all right, so big, big changes for you. hollywood-- wow. >> yeah. >> hinojosa: and i told you, i asked you, "are you moving to hollywood?"

you said, "no, no, i have an apartment north of the heights." >> yeah, i do, i do. i live uptown, and you know, for me it's just logistical. i do most of my writing on the subway. i find it's the perfect mix of being able to interact with the world and be closed off, so any time i'm in l.a.-- like when i had to shoot my episode of house-- any time driving feels like lost time. that's... that's my writing time is commuting time. so you know, i... i participate in that world as much as is necessary, and then i go home. >> hinojosa: you're a producer of a hollywood film. >> ( laughing ) well... >> hinojosa: i'm sorry, i just have to say that. >> i'm a co-producer. >> hinojosa: okay, you're a co-producer... all right, well, let's just say you are producing a major hollywood film in a team... >> when you say it like that it's terrifying! ( laughing ) >> hinojosa: well, i want to know if it's terrifying. i mean, how do you... i mean, suddenly you're like, negotiating hollywood executives. and not one, but a room full. how do you like, kind of say, "no, it's going to stay this

way," when you've got other people saying, "no," and "you must," and "you've got to change," and "we've tested this," and "we've screened this"... >> well, i have the luxury of great collaborators. you know, our producer meryl poster saw us very early off broadway and really champions the show very early on. and kenny ortega is a fantastic collaborator, and... >> hinojosa: and just so we don't... in case people don't know, kenny ortega of... let's see, high school musical fame, of... >> ...newsies, my favorite; michael jackson's this is it... >> hinojosa: michael jackson this is it, an amazing... >> yeah, choreographed dirty dancing and footloose; i mean, has just unbelievable history. >> hinojosa: one of your heroes, right? >> yeah, absolutely. >> hinojosa: and now you're working with him. >> yeah. it's... it's... i mean, it's quite literally a dream come true. so i mean, to answer your question, i have people who are very protective of the work working with me, and i also, i feel like my... my reason for being in the room is, you know, i helped to write this thing and i have been with it for going on

11 years. so you know, i'm sure there are people who know more about the movie making business than me, but there's no one who knows more about this story and these characters than me. and so that's... that's my way in. >> hinojosa: and you will be playing usnavi. >> yeah. >> hinojosa: oh, my god! >> i have to go to the gym. >> hinojosa: you have to get back to the gym. >> i've been sitting on the couch, writing. >> hinojosa: what are writing about? >> i am writing a lot of things. i'm going to probably write couple of new songs for the movie, and i'm working on... >> hinojosa: you know, i'm still... i'm kind of like, wow, you have been doing this for 11 years and you still have the capacity to write a new song... >> well, it... >> hinojosa: ...about this story that's... >> well, you know, it's... it sounds like we've been working on the same story for eight years, but really, that was the process of me going from having a good idea and not really having the craft to pull it off yet to getting to be a good writer and that practice. so i have a trunk full of music already, and also, you know, just... it's... i know these characters backwards and forwards at this point, so it's

very easy to slip into their skin. but the fun of writing for musicals is it's acting. you put on someone else's clothes, you sit in someone else's pantolone, and you talk to yourself until it feels true. and if it feels true and it sounds... sings well, you write it down. it's not much more complicated than that. >> hinojosa: ( laughing ) >> and so, you know, right now i'm working on an animated film for dreamworks, i'm writing a score for an animated movie, and so i get to be a cuban monkey every once in a while. ( laughing ) and that is a blast! >> hinojosa: how do you switch it off? like... >> you... you kind of don't, and you know, my fiancée vanessa... >> hinojosa: congratulations, by the way. >> thank you, thank you. and she'll... she'll see me get an idea and i look like i'm having some sort of episode, because i just... i go... i'll stop and i'll... talking to myself. i get my rain man on, and then... and she knows to just kind of like, "oh, he's... he's in a thing," and she goes and

does something else until i've written it down. >> hinojosa: and you're writing by hand sometimes? >> it depends. i catch it any way i can catch it. a lot of the time when i'm composing, i'll write... i'll use logic, which is a great program, and so i play each part into the computer and it's freed me up enormously since that technology came out. i used to write by hand-- i wrote the entire first draft by hand and i wrote out all the parts by hand, but i'm very slow at it. i can read and write music, but i'm just very slow. so technology has helped the speed at which i can write and the specific... the specificity with which i can write enormously. but yeah, i... i often will write until i have a chord progression or a melody i'm really crazy about, and then i'll put it on my ipod and i'll get on the train and i'll talk to myself. and i'll play the thing on a... >> hinojosa: on the train? >> ...on a loop-- yeah. i'm... that crazy guy next to you on the train? that's me! >> hinojosa: okay, good to know. >> and then i'll have it on a loop and i'll just kind of let it sort of sink in and then

figure out how this thing wants to talk. >> hinojosa: so your dream has kind of come true two or three times over. >> yeah. >> hinojosa: what are you dreaming about these days? or do... do you, i mean... or it is about vanessa? >> ( laughing ) well, it's always. but well, you know, vanessa and i went to high school together, so i've been... i've been dreaming about her for a minute now. >> hinojosa: yay! >> but the... it's a lot of things. i think what's really exciting about writing is it's just... it's limitless, you know? i'm working on a lot of different things and they're using different parts of my brain. you know, i'm working on this hamilton mix tape-- this alexander hamilton concept album that i got to sing... i got to perform at the white house. >> hinojosa: right. a friend of michelle and the prez... >> yeah, which was... and that was the first time i'd performed that song in public outside of the shower. so it was really terrifying and thrilling and amazing. but you know, that is...

requires all this historical research and this part of my brain that has long laid dormant in terms of, you know, being accurate historically while getting to really play with contemporary music. and then you know, slipping back into my old heights bathrobe and writing those songs. so the fun for me is in trying to get as much done as i can. >> hinojosa: but more can you dream about? i mean, if you already have a play on broadway that's been a success and it's going to be made into a hollywood movie, kind of what... you know, what's like, the next thing? >> well, you know, you just continue to... i think the goal of any writer is to continue to find stories that move you, and... whether they're self generated or you hook into something, you know? like, when i read hamilton's biography, i... you know, i'm not a found... you know... it's a different type of identification than in the heights, which is, you know, i'm latino, i grew up in upper manhattan. like, i'm not a founding father, but i read hamilton's story and i said, "i know that guy, i just know that guy and i know how he thinks and why he was so

brilliant and ambitious but also self destructive, and the childhood that fed that," and it just... just spoke to me. and so that's how you do it. you just hook in. >> hinojosa: i'm interested, so we'll be looking forward to it. lin-manuel, congratulations. >> thank you very much. continue the conversation at wgbh.org/oneonone. captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org