© 2024 Connecticut Public

FCC Public Inspection Files:
WEDH · WEDN · WEDW · WEDY · WNPR
WPKT · WRLI-FM · WEDW-FM · Public Files Contact
ATSC 3.0 FAQ
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Lin-Manuel Miranda And 'Hamilton' Partners Save A Manhattan Theater Bookstore

Lin-Manual Miranda, shot at a press event for <em>Mary Poppins Returns</em> in Paris in December.
Kristy Sparow
/
Getty Images For Disney
Lin-Manual Miranda, shot at a press event for Mary Poppins Returns in Paris in December.

The mood at the Drama Book Shop on Tuesday morning was giddy relief. Faced with a big rent increase, the beloved New York City store — which has served the theater community for more than 100 years, and which won its own Tony honor in 2011 for its services to the theater world — was set to close later this month. But word spread, via The New York Times, that Lin-Manuel Miranda and three of his Hamilton collaborators (director Thomas Kail, lead producer Jeffrey Seller and James L. Nederlander, the president of the group that operates the theater in which Hamilton runs on Broadway) have bought the shop.

One by one, as patrons approached the counter of the store in Manhattan's Theater District, they offered congratulations to Freddy Padilla, the floor manager, who professed to feeling "happy, excited and a little overwhelmed" by all the attention.

News travels fast in the theater community. One man said he'd heard the good tidings at an audition Tuesday morning; another, Steven Martin, a Shakespearean actor, learned of the store's new owners via a friend's text. "I had to stop by," Martin said. "There's a big community in the theater district, and we all come here. It's already home for a lot of us."

The shop is an essential New York hub for actors and other creative figures. Not only does the store sell scripts and books about theater and film, it also houses its own black box theater and hosts readings, classes and book signings. Senior staffer Stuart Brynien, who's been working there for decades, says that the shop encourages patrons to come hang out.

"This is a place where actors congregate and rehearse quietly at one of our tables, or just talk about the plays they're reading or have seen," he says.

Brynien says that while the bulk of the Drama Book Shop's patrons are people working in the industry, it's also a stop for tourists. "Visitors to the city come here to look for a script to the show they're about to see, or the show they have seen — they simply want a souvenir, or help [understanding] what they just saw," he says.

It's also been a catalyst for creative work. Miranda — who told the Times he often visited the shop in high school just to read plays off its shelves, before he could afford to buy anything — wrote most of his show In the Heights in the shop's basement.

This is not the first time Miranda has come to the store's rescue: After a pipe froze and burst in 2016, creating massive water damage to the store and its inventory, Miranda encouraged his fans to support the shop. The response was so overwhelming, Brynien says, that the store had to hire extra staff for its mail-order services.

And with its new lease on life, the Drama Book Shop is set to continue to be a hangout and creative hub for the community, just as it has been for Miranda and the other new owners — who plan to find the store a new location in the Theater District and reopen this fall.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Anastasia Tsioulcas is a reporter on NPR's Arts desk. She is intensely interested in the arts at the intersection of culture, politics, economics and identity, and primarily reports on music. Recently, she has extensively covered gender issues and #MeToo in the music industry, including backstage tumult and alleged secret deals in the wake of sexual misconduct allegations against megastar singer Plácido Domingo; gender inequity issues at the Grammy Awards and the myriad accusations of sexual misconduct against singer R. Kelly.

Stand up for civility

This news story is funded in large part by Connecticut Public’s Members — listeners, viewers, and readers like you who value fact-based journalism and trustworthy information.

We hope their support inspires you to donate so that we can continue telling stories that inform, educate, and inspire you and your neighbors. As a community-supported public media service, Connecticut Public has relied on donor support for more than 50 years.

Your donation today will allow us to continue this work on your behalf. Give today at any amount and join the 50,000 members who are building a better—and more civil—Connecticut to live, work, and play.