Things That Matter

Lin-Manuel Wants To Keep Lots Of Ticket Prices Down To $10 When He Brings ‘Hamilton’ To Puerto Rico

By November 8, 2017 at 6:05 pm

Lin-Manuel Miranda has been doing just about everything he can for Puerto Rico. He’s called out the Trump administration for its slow response after Hurricane Maria. He launched a campaign with The Hispanic Federation — his father is the founder — to raise funds for the island. He also got the most famous Latino and Puerto Rican singers in the world to get down on a track where all the cities in Puerto Rico were name-checked. Oh, and the proceeds of the song will also be going to hurricane relief.

Short of going to the island and getting his own hands dirty, he’s done just about everything he could. So what do you do when you’ve done everything?

You go to the island to get your hands dirty.

And this week, that’s what he did.

Miranda got to work immediately, helping Chef Jose Andres prepare food for those in need.

His dad was along for the ride, too, helping make sandwiches, using all the mayo-ketchup.

One of Miranda’s first stops in Puerto Rico was this mural in La Placita de Güisin in Vega Alta.

Over the summer, La Placita de Güisin unveiled a mural honoring both Miranda and his grandfather, Güisin Miranda. Güisin served as an inspiration to Lin-Manuel and was well known in the community.

After stopping by the mural, Miranda got back to work, handing out food to families in need.

The next morning, he went down to the theater at the University of Puerto Rico’s main campus in Río Piedras.

Miranda announced he would bring “Hamilton” to Puerto Rico for a three-week run in 2019.

He tweeted the news moments later.

Students at Teatro UPR were waiting for him to come and speak with them. When they could no longer contain their excitement, they sang.

Miranda told the students all he wanted was to make art.

As usual, journalist David Begnaud was on the case.

And Begnaud did a short interview with Miranda to get the scoop.

Miranda addressed the issue of ticket sales, saying hundreds of tickets will be priced at $10 so that people on the island can actually afford to see the show.

Listen to Miranda’s full announcement at UPR:

UPR Announcement!

Posted by Lin-Manuel Miranda on Wednesday, November 8, 2017

Speaking in Spanglish, Miranda spoke about how important it was for him to travel to Puerto Rico in 2010 with his first musical, “In The Heights.” He said he hopes the three-week run of “Hamilton” will help tourism and bring some much-needed money to the island.

2019 can’t come soon enough.


[H/T] Playbill

READ: Twitter Users Lost Their Cool When Lin-Manuel Miranda Made This Woman His Profile Picture


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Legendary Astrologer Walter Mercado’s Home In Puerto Rico Is For Sale And At A Discount

Entertainment

Legendary Astrologer Walter Mercado’s Home In Puerto Rico Is For Sale And At A Discount

By February 3, 2021 at 2:12 pm
BY  | February 3, 2021 AT 2:12 pm

Prediction: You will want to check out Walter Mercado’s house in Puerto Rico, and maybe even buy it up and call it home. And what perfect timing, because the stars have aligned to bring you his Puerto Rico pad at an unbeatable price.

That’s right! Walter Mercado’s home in San Juan is up for sale!

Located in an “exclusive area” of San Juan, according to the property listing, the six-bedroom, five-bathroom estate is on sale for just $395,000.

Since you likely won’t fly to San Juan right now (thanks, COVID), you can check out the flamboyant cape aficionados sweet, two story tropical oasis on Realtor.com.

The listing photos show the home’s vibrant interior, which appears in the documentary, with yellow, red and green walls. The first floor boasts a large living room, kitchen and dining room. Tile-work leads up the stairs to the second level, where there’s yet another living room, dining room and a smaller kitchen — plus two balconies.

Outside, there’s a pool area with a gazebo and a patio, as well as a covered carport for at least four cars.

The home seems to be having trouble finding a buyer.

The estate originally hit the market for $495,000 in September 2020 but with no buyer in the cards, it then had its price slashed to $430,000 in December, according to Realtor.com. It’s now asking just $395,000.

Mercado already sold his Miami property in 2017 to cover financial difficulties.

While in Miami, Mercado maintained an apartment at The Grand in downtown for many years until 2017 when he decamped part time to New York.

Many in his family had hoped to turn his Puerto Rico home into a museum to the late icon, but due to zoning issues the family decided the best step forward was to list the home for sale. Regarding Mercado’s belongings that were contained within the home (so many of which we came to see in the Netflix documentary), one of his nieces told Pledge Times, that though family members have each kept some items, many were given to the Miami History Museum, and some items will go to Mexico. However, his cape with the Puerto Rican flag is being sent to the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC.

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Who Is Mari Pepin? Everything You Need to Know About the Puerto Rican Beauty Queen and ‘The Bachelor’ Frontrunner

Entertainment

Who Is Mari Pepin? Everything You Need to Know About the Puerto Rican Beauty Queen and ‘The Bachelor’ Frontrunner

By January 11, 2021 at 9:47 pm
BY  | January 11, 2021 AT 9:47 pm

As you probably know by now, a new season of the never-ending reality series “The Bachelor” has just started.

And this season is destined to be especially exciting–not just because of the promise of non-stop drama, but because the franchise has finally hired its first Black male lead, Matt James, after 18 years on the air.

And with the first Black “Bachelor” comes the most diverse group of contestants competing for the lead’s heart that they’ve ever had.

And one of the contestants that is capturing the hearts of both fans and Matt James alike is 24-year-old Puerto Rican-born pageant queen Mariela “Mari” Pepin.

On this season’s premiere episode of “The Bachelor”, Mari was immediately clocked by viewers as one of the front runners by the way that Matt reacted to meeting her. The former Wake Forest wide receiver was struck speechless by her beauty and couldn’t keep his eyes off her when she parted ways with him. It was obvious that Mari had made quite the first impression on him.

And because we love to see #representation on screen (and especially on reality TV), we decided to do our due diligence and find out as much as we could about this gorgeous and accomplished Latina. Here’s everything you need to know about Mari Pepin.

She’s Boricua–and proud of it!

Something that immediately endeared Mari to fans was the fact that she is so vocally proud of being Puerto Rican. In her first sit-down conversation with Matt, she opened up about how hard its been for her family to live through the relentless natural disasters that the island is going through.

She’s a military brat.

According to Mari’s personal blog, she spent the first few years of her life in PR before relocating to Germany because of her father’s military career. According to Mari, her unique childhood contributed to her love of traveling as an adult.

She was 2019’s Miss Maryland USA.

According to Mari’s official “Bachelor” bio, she began competing in pageants when she moved to Maryland as a teenager. She won Miss Teen Maryland and then went on to win the title of Miss Maryland. After that, she placed in the Top 10 of the Miss USA competition.

She’s wicked smart.

According to Mari’s LinkedIn page, she has a Bachelor’s degree in Communications from Towson University and she’s currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Marketing Intelligence from the same institution. It’s safe to say she values education.

She’s multilingual.

Not only does Mari speak both Spanish and English flawlessly, but she’s also fluent in French and American Sign Language.

Based on all this info alone, we can’t wait to see Mari Pepin crush this season of “The Bachelor”. Hopefully, this Boricua beauty will be popping up a lot on our screens for years to come!

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Beauty PageantsMari PepinPuerto Ricoreality tvthe Bachelor