Three years later, and Colleen has brought her Miranda character to the Broadway stage – she was invited by the cast of Mamma Mia! to perform alongside them at Broadway’s Easter Bonnet competition – and around the world, as live Miranda shows have taken place in London, Australia and next month, Ireland.
“The fact that I went from making a minute-and-a-half video in my bedroom to doing an hour-and-a-half live show is just crazy,” Colleen said. Her first live performance took place at Jim Caruso’s Cast Party, a weekly show at New York’s Birdland, popular amongst Broadway performers. “Jim reached out to me on email shortly after the Miranda videos went viral, and he’s now one of my dearest friends.”
The Broadway community has since rallied behind Miranda, with Lin-Manuel Miranda, the creator of the musical In the Heights, collaborating with Colleen on a recent YouTube video and various theater stars performing with her on stage.
Despite millions of views on YouTube and Broadway in her corner, not everyone is familiar with Miranda or Colleen. She jokingly remembered a recent live performance that was filled with season ticket holders, rather than fans. “We’re talking 65 to 80 year olds who don’t own a computer. They were very confused and appalled. I had a lot of senior citizens walking out.”
But younger demographics are keyed in to what Colleen is up to, especially after Miley Cyrus linked to a Miranda video on Twitter. Colleen returned the favor in true Miranda fashion, but producing a horrendous homage of “Party in the U.S.A.” And that Miranda fashion includes poor visual choices, all done with sloppy precision. “Miranda is extremely tacky,” Colleen said. “I personally want to edit my videos well, but I have to keep Miranda’s character in mind, so there are bad angles, flashy cuts and sparkles everywhere.” And since breaking out of YouTube and taking to live performances, Colleen has decided not to bother upgrading any of her video or editing equipment. “Miranda is way too cheap to buy a new camera,” she joked.
Unlike her YouTube counterparts — top video personalities include the likes of Shane Dawson, Philip DeFranco and Lucas Cruikshank — Colleen’s videos aren’t eligible for the site’s lucrative partnership program. A recent TubeMogul study estimates that the most popular YouTube creators are earning hundreds of thousands of dollars through the site as uploaders with a certain amount of views get to profit share off of the ads running along with their videos. However, because Miranda’s videos feature the character singing other people’s songs, Colleen can’t earn money off of them, due to copyright issues.
With no examples to follow, Colleen continues to figure things out as she goes. “The balance is till on its way,” Colleen said. “Miranda is still the thing that is getting me work. When I’m in New York, I am going out on auditions as myself, but it has been hard, up until now, to do my own stuff.”
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