Well, you already know what this is going to be about, because you had to have seen the title to have made it this far, so here are some of the best things about In the Heights, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s first major Broadway success!
THE ORCHESTRATIONS. If you know, you know. If you don’t, let me tell you: the pit for this show is INSANELY COOL. The Latin style of the score opens up opportunities for amazing details that most people don’t notice but I’m a music nerd so…yeah. There’s this one little trumpet solo in “When You’re Home” when the ensemble is singing, “no pare sigue sigue” that gets stuck in my head every single time I listen to it. And the whole show starts with a traditional Latin beat played on claves, a percussion instrument any average person wouldn’t recognize. And if you still need more examples, listen to “The Club.” Just trust me on this one.
The motif of wanting to go somewhere better than where you are but eventually realizing that you’re happiest at home is largely common in theatre, but this show takes it to another level. Usnavi, the main character, dreams of leaving Washington Heights and going ‘home’ to the Dominican Republic to be in the place his parents got their roots in before emigrating to New York. But when a barrio-wide blackout and {{{SPOILERS SKIP TO NEXT PARAGRAPH IF YOU WANT TO AVOID THEM}}} the passing of Abuela Claudia change everyone’s plans, not to mention his scoring of Vanessa, the girl of his dreams, he sees that his roots and his family are there with his parents’ bodega.
The CAST! I mean, you just can’t go wrong with those amazing human beings. (I’m speaking specifically about the OBC, but every cast is equally spectacular!) Karen Olivo, who plays Vanessa, pretty much got her first claim to fame here, going on to play Anita in a WSS revival and now originating Satine in Moulin Rouge: the Musical! Christopher Jackson, AKA Benny, kept in touch with Lin, evidently, since he is the singing voice of Moana’s father in the Disney movie and the original George Washington in Hamilton! Not to mention Lin himself, who we all know is one of Broadway’s biggest and most well-loved names in the present. Mandy Gonzalez (Nina) remained close with Lin, playing Angelica Schuyler at one point in Hamilton, too.
There’s a lot more to say about this amazing musical, but I haven’t even seen it in person yet, so I’ll save it for when the highly anticipated MOVIE ADAPTATION (starring Anthony Ramos who I love) that I’m super excited about comes out in June of next year!
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