It’s been a good week for Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Encanto, with the Disney picture making waves across the awards ceremonies and music charts. The composer has shared his excitement, as well as teasing some potential future plans to musical lovers following the successes.
Oscar nominations and Number 1 songs
As previously reported by TheatreArtLife, Encanto has been nominated for three Oscars at the 2022 awards: Best Animated Feature, Best Original Score, and Dos Oruguitas for Best Original Song. Additionally, the song We Don’t Talk About Bruno has hit Number 1 in both the UK Singles Chart and the US Billboard Hot 100, a notable achievement on both sides of the pond. The Encanto soundtrack has managed to hold the top spot in the US for four non-consecutive weeks, with the single holding the spot for two weeks. Sharing his gratitude that fans were appreciating music from the film, Miranda stated in an interview with Alyssa Ray at E! News:
“It’s thrilling, I can’t believe the success of the soundtrack in general, not just We Don’t Talk About Bruno, but there’s like six songs on that chart, which is like amazing. It means people are invested in the story and invested in this family.”
Lin-Manuel Miranda has expressed his interest in adapting the film for the stage, that he felt there was a potential to move Encanto onto Broadway, or even a television series, citing that “there are so many stories in that house, that it would be wonderful to expand on it”, and the musician also noted that a sequel film could work. Speaking about the potential for a live show, Miranda also said in the interview:
“I think it weirdly lends itself well. They don’t always, you know? Like, I can’t picture a Moana Broadway musical. I don’t know how you’d do the ocean. My first draft of the last song in the movie, ‘All of You,’ was like seven minutes long. It was so late in production that they were like, ‘Lin, we won’t make the movie in time. You actually have to cut this down.’ So I’ve got the Broadway finale like in the chamber.”
Whether Encanto will be the latest to follow in the footsteps of Disney’s recent Broadway successes is yet to be seen, however we suspect there would be no shortage of creatives scrambling to get involved, nor of audiences lining up to see it.
About Encanto
Encanto is an American animated musical fantasy comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. It was released on November 24, 2021 in the United States and is the 60th animated feature in the Disney Animated Canon. Directed by Byron Howard and Jared Bush, the film was written by Bush and Charise Castro Smith.
Encanto tells the tale of an extraordinary family, the Madrigals, who live hidden in the mountains of Colombia, in a magical house, in a vibrant town, in a wondrous, charmed place called an Encanto. The magic of the Encanto has blessed every child in the family with a unique gift from super strength to the power to heal—every child except one, Mirabel. But when she discovers that the magic surrounding the Encanto is in danger, Mirabel decides that she, the only ordinary Madrigal, might just be her exceptional family’s last hope.
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