May the 4th has come and gone, and the day known as "Star Wars Day" to fans and by-standers alike was filled with all sorts of news and surprises dealing with that franchise from a galaxy far, far away. One such surprise saw Star Wars: The Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams join Hamilton writer/composer Lin-Manuel Miranda for a special celebration that you can watch below.
Courtesy of the official YouTube channel for Hamilton: The Musical, the video above comes from a regular segment that Miranda conducts for fans of the show, known as "#Ham4Ham," which sees the Pulitzer Prize winner perform outside of the show's stage door with special guest stars. In honor of "Star Wars Day," Lin-Manuel Miranda re-teamed with J.J. Abrams, whom he wrote and performed the cantina song "Jabba Flow" with in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and the result was nothing short of hysterical.
As the prologue to the video explains, Miranda's work on "Jabba Flow" turned out to be loosely inspired by the work of 90's R&B sensation Shaggy, since the translation of the lyrics from Huttese to English tells the story about a lover's lament after being caught in the act. If it wasn't for J.J. Abrams meeting with Lin-Manuel Miranda during a Hamilton performance last year, we would have never gotten this song, which is now available digitally, as it all stemmed from Miranda joking that he'd write a Cantina song for the new film's soundtrack. Flash forward to today, and not only did that song become a reality, but now Miranda has found himself with a fruitful working relationship with Disney.
Not only is Lin Manuel-Miranda writing the music for Disney's next princess film, Moana, he's also slated to co-star in the new sequel to Mary Poppins, starring Emily Blunt. This is, of course, on top of his starring duties in the Broadway equivalent of Captain America: Civil War, which has seen ticket sales booked solid through next January. Which, of course, leads back to one of the reasons the "#Ham4Ham" performances are so popular, as they are open to the public and take place between Matinee and Evening performances on Wednesdays – around the time that the public ticket lottery for the latter show is conducted. And you thought Maz Canata's cantina was crowded.
Considering how much fun Lin-Manuel Miranda seems to have had with his time writing "Jabba Flow" for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, we wonder if Star Wars Episode VIII or its subsequent sequel will feature further work from Miranda and J.J. Abrams. Surely, it depends on if Maz Canata's cantina band survived the First Order sacking and destroying their performance venue, but as we've seen time and time again in the Star Wars universe, anything can happen with the right explanation.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens is available on Blu-ray, with Moana set for release on November 23rd. Tickets Hamilton: The Musical are estimated at 3,720 to 1; but we're sure we didn't have to tell you the odds.
