Lin-Manuel Miranda, ever the friendly neighbor, is returning to Washington Heights’ United Palace this year to host “Movies at the United Palace,” an annual screening series.
In addition to curating the films to be featured this year, he will host talk-backs with directors and special guests after each one!
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The first is set for April 24 with Black Swan, directed by Darren Aronofsky and starring Natalie Portman, which portrays a ballerina preparing for the lead role in Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake.” Her commitment to the role, and rivalry with a younger dancer, cause her to lose her tenuous grip on reality.
Miranda will chat with Aronofsky (who also directed The Whale) after the screening.
Other titles that will be featured in the series include When Harry Met Sally, The Devil Wears Prada andIf Beale Street Could Talk.
Dates for these and additional film titles will be announced soon, according to a press release.
Miranda (Hamilton, In the Heights, Encanto) has supported Washington Heights’ United Palace theater since 2013 in various ways, including helping a fundraising campaign to purchase a new projector, screen, and surround sound system. Last year during “Movies at the United Palace,” Miranda hosted chats with Steven Spielberg, Spike Lee, Hugh Jackman, and Danai Gurira.
The series is sponsored by the Miranda Family Fund with support from NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital.
If you don’t know about United Palace, the 3,400-seat theater has been around since 1930, when it opened as one of the Loew’s “Wonder Theatres,” premiere vaudeville and movie houses located in four boroughs and New Jersey. The theater was designed by architect Thomas Lamb (who also designed the Cort Theater, the former Ziegfeld Theatre) and decorative specialist Harold Rambusch (who worked on the Waldorf Astoria and the Radio City Music Hall). It is Manhattan’s fourth-largest theater.
If you want to see it for yourself and attend the movie series, tickets to Black Swan are free and can be reserved starting at 9am on Monday, April 17.
This content was originally published here.