Watch President-Elect Price 'Freestyle' the Introduction of Lin-Manuel Miranda
When as University of Pennsylvania provost Vincent Price took on the task of introducing Lin-Manuel Miranda, the creator of the Broadway hit "Hamilton," he gave it with a style that went viral online and drew the praise of Miranda himself.
Here's how Price prepared for the introduction:
"I practiced – a lot, knowing that the approach I took was a little risky. I have a fabulous communications team at Penn and a wonderfully talented writer in Josh Piven, and as a group we played with the concept of a rapping introduction for quite a while.
"Like so much of what I’ve done in higher education, it was a richly collaborative process, and it was great fun … especially when it was over and I did not, as they say, crash and burn. To the contrary – thanks in no small part to the delightfully generous and humorous Lin-Manuel, who was the most gracious and insightful commencement speaker one could hope for – the day was an absolute joy. There are few things more glorious than commencement day, and this one was particularly ebullient."