Review: In the Heights. Music and Lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda. Book by Quiara Alegria Hudes. Now through October 17 at the 5th Avenue Theatre.
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| Joseph Morales in the national tour of In the Heights playing The 5th Avenue Theatre now – October 17. Photo: Chelsea Lauren © (2010) |
In The Heights depicts the predominantly Hispanic borough of Manhattan’s Washington Heights. In short, Usnavi, an enigmatic store-owner, dreams of returning home to the Dominican Republic while pursing Vanessa, who is also desperately attempting to leave the Heights. At the same time, Nina a Stanford University dropout returns home to the disapproval of her father, who wants her to return to school. Nina’s father disapproves of her relationship with Benny and is prepared to sell his business in order to give Nina a life outside of the Heights. In typical musical theatre fashion, these stories weave together as the plot progresses.
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| The company of the national tour of In the Heights playing The 5th Avenue Theatre now – October 17. Photo: Joan Marcus |
In terms of theme and poignancy, In The Heights does an adequate job of depicting the desires of young adults, as well as minorities in general, to escape their circumstances and live the life they envision for themselves. A little corny? Yes. However, this message is delivered with much more subtlety than say, High School Musical, which more or less encompasses the same general theme. Besides, the mix of hip-hop, standard musical theatre fare and multiple forms of Latin music, help to distract from the simplicity of the theme while giving the play a modern and relatable quality.
Performance wise, this particular cast is nothing short of spectacular. Almost every single cast member nails their performance. However, the downside to this is that the weak links become much more obvious. Arielle Jacobs as Nina and Lexi Lawson as Vanessa are two of the strongest performers in this production. Jacobs’ channels her best Vanessa Hudgens, complimenting her show-stopping voice with a touch of believable vulnerability. Lawson radiates sex appeal and one cannot help but focus their attention on Lawson during one of her many sizzling moments. As Usnavi, Joseph Morales displays impressive rapping abilities that eerily seem to channel Seattle based hip-hop group, Blue Scholars. In addition, Isabel Santiago, Chris Chatman and Natalie Toro are the best of the incredibly strong supporting cast in their roles as Daniela, Sonny and Camila, respectively.
Unfortunately, not every performer rose to the lofty challenges presented by In The Heights. In the role of Kevin, Oscar Cheda was completely unconvincing and wooden. As opposed to the other principle roles, I found it difficult to appreciate or relate to Cheda’s performance and I often found myself dreading any number in which he had a solo. Cheda wasn’t awful, but his Ward Cleaver performance kept the overall relatable production from perfection.
Overall, despite minor flaws, In The Heights is a wonderful production. The vibrant set, a diverse array of musical stylings, strong performers, timely pacing, inventive choreography and even the random pop culture reference make this a production worth seeing. Hopefully, more productions such as In The Heights will be produced. Surely, it is the most impacting way to introduce musical theatre to a whole new generation.
– Chris Heide
