My London: Lin-Manuel Miranda

Home is…

Washington Heights, Manhattan, with my wife and our two sons. 

Where do you stay in London?

We lived in Notting Hill while I was making Mary Poppins Returns. That was an incredible privilege.

Bus, taxi or Tube? 

I love the Tube, but black cab drivers know so much, so you get to learn a fair bit of history. I feel like I learn something every time I get into a black cab. 

The last play you saw?

I went to see the great Andrew Scott in Present Laughter at The Old Vic. It was really brilliant, he was unreal in it. And now I get to work with him on season two of His Dark Materials so I feel very lucky.

Where in London do you go to let your hair down?

I’m not really a ‘night out’ kind of guy. If you’re looking for nightclubs, you’re asking the wrong person. I’m always just trying to see as much theatre as I can.

Where would you recommend for a first date?

I would say go and see Hamilton at Victoria Palace Theatre — if you manage to get tickets to that, it’s a great first date.

Do you collect anything?

Regrets…? I have a pretty horrible T-shirt collection and there’s stuff in there that I’ll never wear again, but I can’t bear to throw out. It’s an involuntary collection.

What makes someone a Londoner?

There is a certain baseline level of politeness that I believe is not genetically ingrained, but down to the fact that you have such narrow streets that happen to be two-way. So you have to be polite and let each other pass in your cars, because your streets are too narrow! You guys are unfailingly polite, even in the face of madness. 

Where would you most like to be buried?

That’s a very morbid question! Somewhere random, like behind a 14th-century church outside Richmond. So you’d just be walking by and think, ‘Is that Lin-Manuel Miranda’s tombstone? What the hell is he doing here?’ Just to really surprise people.

What’s your biggest extravagance?

A home console of NBA Jam, which is one of my favourite mid-Nineties video games. I have that in my apartment in New York, and it’s my biggest indulgence. That’s about as extravagant as I get. 

The best meal you’ve had?

My wife and I are big Ottolenghi fans, so we like to go to his restaurants — I took her to Nopi for her birthday. And I tell you this at risk of blowing up my spot, but Egg Break has an incredible breakfast and lunch. I would sit in the basement of that place and just write all morning; it was my local haunt when we lived nearby.

Who is the most iconic Londoner?

Someone like my friend Riz Ahmed, or Andrew Lloyd Webber. I couldn’t think of two more different people on Earth, but they’re both ‘London’ to me.