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Lin-Manuel Miranda

Lin-Manuel Miranda to play Hamilton in Chicago to honor Oscar Lopez Rivera

Jayme Deerwester
USA TODAY

When Lin-Manuel Miranda bowed out of the title role in Hamilton last July, he said it probably wouldn't be the last time he played the Founding Father.

Lin-Manuel Miranda will return to the role of Alexander Hamilton this year for the first time since leaving the Broadway production last summer.

"I feel like it's not done with me," he explained. And he meant it.

He'll return to the part in the Chicago production to commemorate the commutation of Puerto Rican independence activist Oscar Lopez Rivera by President Obama. (Hamilton opened in October in Chicago, with Miguel Cervantes in the title role.)

It's likely to be a one-off performance or limited run and no dates have been announced.

Rivera, who has been in a Chicago prison since 1981, will be released May 17. He was convicted of seditious conspiracy to overthrow the U.S. government in 1981 while he was a leader of the Puerto Rican independence group FALN. The group bombed buildings in the 1970s.

Miranda tweeted that he was "sobbing with gratitude" on Tuesday when it was announced that Lopez Rivera's 55-year sentence had been reduced. His only regret? He was in London. "I wish I was with every Puerto Rican in Chicago right now,” he said.

Miranda's parents were both born in Puerto Rico and the Tony winner often spent summers there as a child. He successfully lobbied for debt relief for the island (an American territory) last year — both in the halls of Congress and in song.  It worked — the bill passed both the House and Senate.

Contributing: Associated Press

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