The title of former national security adviser John Bolton’s upcoming memoir, “The Room Where It Happened,” has drawn the ire of some theater and culture critics over his use of a song title from Lin-Manuel Miranda’s award-winning Broadway musical hit “Hamilton.”
The book, due in March, details Bolton’s time at the White House and already had an icy reaction from those who think it’s unseemly for him to release it but not testify during President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial in the Senate.
But some prominent theater folks are also questioning his title choice. “Wonder how @Lin_Manuel feels about Bolton borrowing from him?” L.A. Times theater critic Charles McNulty wondered on Twitter.
The Washington Post’s theater critic, Peter Marks, tweeted, “Wow. Bolton calling his book ‘The Room Where It Happened.’ An ideologue from an administration so dismissive of culture, appropriating the words of an artist.”
Columnist and author Michael Musto quipped Bolton should call the book “In the Depths,” a nod to another of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s popular musicals, “In the Heights.”
A representative for Miranda did not immediately return a request for comment, nor did one for the book’s publisher, Simon & Schuster.
In November 2019, Bolton tweeted for the first time since leaving his position in September, promising his 783,000 followers “the backstory.”
Using President Donald Trump’s preferred medium and his signature too-long ellipses at the end of a tweet, Bolton wrote, “Glad to be back on Twitter after more than two months. For the backstory, stay tuned……..”
He was called out at the time during Congressional hearings in the impeachment inquiry, even by actor Jim Carrey, who accused Bolton of being “silent” was “just another profile in cowardice.”
See some of the other reactions to his book title below.
Wonder how @Lin_Manuel feels about Bolton borrowing from him? https://t.co/xr2CRQXZo8
— Charles McNulty (@CharlesMcNulty) January 27, 2020
https://twitter.com/petermarksdrama/status/1221655772154777601?s=20
when you title your book “the room where it happened” pic.twitter.com/LbepaPMmYZ
— Dave Itzkoff (@ditzkoff) January 27, 2020