A Salute to Lin-Manuel at Bay Street

By Katlean De Monchy–

It was an an unforgettable evening of star power, heartfelt tributes and extraordinary generosity as the East End honored Lin-Manuel Miranda with the Julie Andrews Lifetime Achievement Award and celebrated Bay Street’s 35th birthday. Miranda, only 46, may be a bit young to be given a lifetime award, but he had won two Tony awards for the book and score of his first musical “In the Heights.” He had also starred.

Lin-Manuel Miranda in the lead role in “Hamilton”

Then he won best book and score for “Hamilton,” which got 11 Tony awards including Best Musical. He starred in this one, too, and was nominated for best actor. He has two Prime-Time Emmy Awards, five Grammy awards. He’s been nominated for two Oscars, for songs in two scores, “Moana” and  “Encanto.” (Yes, he wrote “We Don’t Talk About Bruno.”)

Cocktail hour featured a novel way to serve Champagne. (Photo credit: Katlean De Monchy)

He won the Pulitzer Prize for Hamilton. He played the god Hermes in the television series “Percy Jackson and the Olympians.”

As the god Hermes, with his usual droll delivery, Miranda told adolescents to use soap.

The only thing Lin-Manuel Miranda hasn‘t gotten is a Nobel and a Kennedy Center Honor, which, under the current president, is unlikely.

Thus it wasn’t so much that he was accepting the lifetime achievement award from the Bay Street Theater, a nonprofit organization that puts on full-length plays and musicals year around in Sag Harbor.

With his love of theater, music and creativity, he was allowing Bay Street to give him an award so that Bay Street could raise money with a gala. It was an act of charity on his part.

Everyone understood their roles, and the evening began.

Miranda, center, with his award, surrounded by, from the left, Scott Schwartz, the theater’s artistic director, the actress Jennifer Garner, and Tracy Mitchell, executive director of Bay Street (photo credit: Ron Asadorian for Rob Rich/SocietyAllure.com)

Lynn Mester, chair of the board of the Bay Street Theater, started the evening by quoting Miranda: “Supporting the arts doesn’t just make better artists; it makes better human beings.”

One of the night’s memorable moments came when Lin-Manuel’s father, Luis A. Miranda Jr., took the stage with a heartfelt and humorous tribute celebrating his son’s extraordinary talent, boundless creativity and lifelong passion for storytelling. He said he always knew his son was a genius. Perhaps everyone needs a father like Luis A. Miranda Jr.

Lin-Manuel Miranda with his father, Luis A. Miranda Jr. (photo credit: Katlean De Monchy)

Then Luis welcomed Jennifer Garner to present the award to Lin-Manuel. The Bay Street citation said that Miranda’s “influence reflects the same spirit of creativity, accessibility, and artistic ambition that has defined Bay Street Theater for more than three decades as a home for both emerging voices and established artists.” The statement hailed Miranda for a body owork that had “reshaped American musical storytelling and expanded its reach to audiences around the world.”

Jennifer Garner graciously helped present the award to Lin-Manuel Miranda (photo credit: Ron Asadorian for Rob Rich/SocietyAllure.com)

The gala showed off some cast members starring in “Cagney: The Musical”: Robert Creighton, who plays Cagney, did a tap dance. Melissa Manchester, who plays his mother and is best remembered for the power ballad “Don’t Cry Out Loud,” sang. Performers gotta perform.

Spirits raised, emotions high, it was time for the auction. The generosity in the room was remarkable. Things began with three donors pledging $50,000 each. There were five live auction items. The lowest bid was $20,000.

Mollie Plotkin won a trip to London and tickets to see “Hamilton,” now in its ninth year there.

Then there was the last item, two contiguous tickets to the World Cup final at the Meadowlands. There had been bids accepted online up until July 9 for international fans.

Jennifer Garner wore a Gabriela Hearst sundress, perfect for Sag Harbor (photo credit: Ron Asadorian for Rob Rich/SocietyAllure.com)

The bid was solely for the two tickets, no limo, no accommodations, just two tickets. And the winning offer was … $60,000. That would be many many ducats in Shakespearean terms.

Depending on their location, tickets to the final game can be resold for as much as $1 million. Let us hope the top bidder was a passionate theater backer, and not a speculator. Bay Street did not disclose the bidder’s name.

Huma Abedin, who married the philanthropist Alex Soros in the Hamptons last year, was spotted there solo. She and Lin-Manuel Miranda are intellectual and political associates. His wife, Vanessa Nadal, is a lawyer and scientist. They have two sons.

Huma Abedin is a fast friend of Lin-Manuel Miranda. (photo credit: Katlean De Monchy)

Backstage, I ran into the Boadway producer Wendy Federman, who told me, “I know first hand how vital institutions like Bay Street are to the theatrical ecosystem.” I  also saw a perennial figure in these parts, Mr. Broadway, Stewart Lane. He said, “It’s important for everyone to support Bay Street Theater and all the regional and community theaters that inspire, educate, and entertain audiences while fostering new artistic voices.”

With Broadway legends, Hollywood stars, passionate supporters, and a community united behind the arts, Bay Street Theater’s gala proved once again why it remains one of the Hamptons’ most anticipated cultural events.