Lin Manuel-Miranda musical set for Las Vegas Strip residency

Long before Lin-Manuel Miranda taught Alexander Hamilton to rap, he slammed together a freestyle hip-hop musical that could spin in any direction. This show would forecast the palpable passion of “Hamilton,” and would keep the beat for two decades.

That show was, and is, “Freestyle Love Supreme,” and it’s moving fast-forward to Summit Showroom at The Venetian. The residency production opens Nov. 10, and is to run 8 p.m. Wednesdays through Fridays, 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. Saturdays, and 7 p.m. Sundays. (Tickets start at $57.45, onsale 10 a.m. Wednesday at venetianlasvegas.com, 702.414.9000 or any Venetian/Palazzo box office.)

“Some of my most fulfilling creative moments have come from working on ‘Freestyle Love Supreme,’ and I’m excited to see its next chapter unfold on the Las Vegas Strip at The Venetian Resort,” Miranda said in a statement. “This show consistently surprises the performers and the audience and I’m certain the Las Vegas crowd will bring an added element of excitement that we haven’t seen before.”

Miranda, hip-hop freestyle pioneeer Anthony Veneziale, and director Thomas Kail created “Freestyle” show in 2004. Alluded to by its title, the production introduces comic improvisation to hip-hop numbers. It all happens on the fly. Audiences are not just encouraged to play along, it is a requirement. When you enter the Summit Showroom, be ready to shout terms to the artists in a seamlessly performed, 90-minute sprint.

The cast of stage vets is set. Get to know Simone “Sims,” Acosta, Andrew “Jelly Donut” Bancroft, Richard “Rich Midway” Baskin Jr., Jay C. “Jellis J” Ellis, Kaila “Kaiser Rözé” Mullady; Morgan “Hummingbird” Reilly, and Dizzy Senze.

Guest stars will drop in, and an occasional appearance by Miranda himself is (naturally) welcome, though not confirmed. His name generates excitement, but “Freestyle” stands with its current creative roster.

“This is a show that has been able to translate to comedy venues, to touring houses, to Broadway stages, to off-Broadway stages, to international theatre festival,” says Kail, who also teamed with Miranda on Miranda’s first musical, “In The Heights.” “There’s something about this show, and its particular blend of comedy, and music, and energy, that seems to be able to find an audience wherever we drop it.”

The show has soared in two runs on Broadway ending this past February, winning a Special Tony Award in 2020 for its creative inspiration and groundbreaking themes. The touring version has won over fans across the country. Kail has seen the show generate word-of-mouth support, in real time, at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

“We took it all the way over to the U.K., and I thought, ‘What is going to happen here?’ because there were eight people in the audience,” Kail says. “Then the next show, there were 14, then 28, then 60, then 100. About five shows into it, we were selling out our venue.”

Kail reels off the show’s evolutionary travelogue, through The Comedy Festival in Aspen in Colorado, Melbourne Fringe Festival, Just For Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal.

But Las Vegas, as we have learned, offers a different set of challenges with its high volume of entertainment options. Even proven improvisation concepts haven’t hit the mark on the Strip. The improv-heavy, and quite funny, “Puppet Up” was staged in the very same theater as “Freestyle.” That show closed after just six weeks in September 2016.

In that instance, the audience seemed to resist calling out specific phrases to Muppet-like figures. Don’t expect that to be a hindrance in “Freestyle.”

“The show asks the audience to be engaged and willing, but it’s only particular things that we need from an audience,” Kail says. “It can be a single word that can drive the show for 10 or 15 minutes. The cast we have is incredibly gifted to interact with any audience, no matter what it is. We’ve played at 8 o’clock in the morning to high-school kids, at corporate gigs, for many types of people who are not necessarily ready to engage.”

At the executive level, The Venetian President and CEO Patrick Nichols says the show fits ideally into the hotel’s entertainment infrastructure. The Venetian Theater is the property’s headliner venue. Palazzo Theatre and Opaline Theatre are currently unoccupied.

“We have a really unique position at The Venetian with four theaters, varying in a variety of sizes, that allow us to program a number of different types of shows, from small, intimate shows for less than 500 people to something larger, to approximately 1,800-person range,” Nichols says. “‘Freestyle Love Supreme’ in particular was very interesting. We’ve had a lot of success with Broadway here before, and ‘Freestyle Love Supreme’ is fresh off Broadway run. It’s also a very interactive, high-energy show. We think our casino customers are going to love it, and our leisure customers as well, who are traveling to Vegas.”

Over the years, Venetian/Palazzo has presented such Broadway hits as “Phantom — Las Vegas Spectacular,” “Jersey Boys” and “Rock of Ages.” In the groove category, Derek Hough has loosened up Summit Showroom with his excelleng “No Limit” dance production.

New Venetian/Palazzo titles will be announced in the coming weeks, including (we expect) at least one with strong Broadway lineage. Meantime, we are casting an eye toward Mr. Miranda, to see if he’ll light up the showroom.

“I’m not trying to be coy about it, but Lin loves performing in the show as much as anything that he’s ever done,” Kail says. “And when there’s a stage, there is always a chance he’s going to be there. I mean, I’ve seen it for 18 years now.”

Cool Hang Alert

Column fave Rockie Brown leads the Cloud 9 Trio at the Palms’ Unknown Bar at 6 p.m. on Wednesday. Everything Brown touches is gold (see what I did there?). No cover. Say hi to Damien Hirst’s split shark.

John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His “PodKats!” podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.