| "In The Heights" (at the Richard Rodgers Theatre)
"In the Heights" is a warm, open-hearted, sprawling kind of a show—messy at times, but written with passion, originality, honesty and real love by the author for the characters. The kind of show where every character's point of view is respected, where every character's intelligence is acknowledged; where we feel for the individuals, even when they are in conflict. (That alone would almost make it worth seeing, since so many musicals offer shallow, cartoon-like characters.) And the show—despite flaws in construction—reaches us, and gets inside of us, and leaves us feeling better. And maybe makes us wish we personally knew the creator (or creators) of the show, because there's not just admirable talent here, but an admirable generosity of spirit. And we've enjoyed basking in it.
More than that, "In the Heights" is an original musical. It is not a recycling of a hit movie or TV show, or cartoon, or play or book. And how many good new original musicals by new writers do we get these days?
Make note of the name Lin-Manuel Miranda. Now 29, he wrote the first version of In the Heights back when he was a sophomore at Wesleyan University. He is currently credited with conceiving the show, and with writing the music and lyrics. (In the evolution of the production—directed by Thomas Kail, and produced by Kevin McCollum, Jeffrey Seller and others—Quiara Alegria Hudes was brought on board as book writer.) In addition, Lin-Manuel Miranda is also the star of the show. Now in the history of musical theater, there have been occasional stars who have conceived and created their own shows—the foremost being George M. Cohan and Noel Coward—but they are extremely rare. And this show, despite imperfections, works.
The story takes place just above the George Washington Bridge, in a Dominican-American neighborhood of Washington Heights. We are watching people struggling to get by day to day. Miranda's character, the wonderfully named "Usnavi," runs a bodega, and serves as an amiable commentator—in brisk, engaging rap—on the goings-on. And gradually we get caught up in the stories of the people around him, from the gal who has dropped out of Stanford (played by Mandy Gonzalez), to her hard-working parents (played by Priscilla Lopez and Carlos Gomez), to his spunky young cousin (Robin de Jesus), and so on. Anna Louizos has created as stunningly effective a unit set as I've seen in years. The set does not change; this is the world the characters live in, although some may dream of getting out.
This musical, although fresh, draws upon tradition; it has moments of clear indebtedness to West Side Story and, more often, to Rent. One can hear at times, in the highly accessible Latin-tinged music, melodies that recall numbers Jonathan Larson composed for "Rent" (such as "I Should Tell You," "Light My Candle," and "Sante Fe"). That's not a bad thing. All writers have influences. (One can find occasional influences, for example, of Cohan in Irving Berlin, of Gershwin in John Kander.) And I welcomed hearing his connections to Larson; Miranda was listening well, taking inspiration wisely, and the results are pleasing. Anyone ought to be able to enjoy this show. (The music is contemporary, with Latin rhythms; but you do not need to be young or Hispanic to enjoy it.)
In the Heights boasts a solid ensemble cast. (Its 2007 Off-Broadway incarnation appropriately won a Drama Desk Award for best ensemble.) Miranda has given those around him moments to shine. For me, the most powerful song of the show was not sung by Miranda but by the senior-most cast member, Olga Merediz (playing a beloved grandmother-figure in the neighborhood). Priscella Lopez, whom I've enjoyed in so many productions (from the original A Chorus Line to her own cabaret shows), takes charge in her one song. (I wish she somehow could have been given more to do; she's got the goods.) Robin de Jesus makes his moments on stage count, and repeatedly earns laughs. There are lots of good, and believable moments.
There are times when the story-telling is not as clear or as tidy as I'd like it to be, times when our attention is pulled one way, then another, more than seems ideal. But most musicals have flaws, and the imperfections in the story-telling ultimately don't matter much here, any more than they do in "Rent" (which has similar sorts of rough edges). They show touches our hearts. We care about the principals. And the show has got life. I'm glad there are producers like McCollum, Seller and company, willing to take chances on new writers. I look forward to seeing more from Lin-Manuel Miranda.
--L. D.
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