In the Heights

In the Heights
Broadway poster
Music	Lin-Manuel Miranda
Lyrics	Lin-Manuel Miranda
Book	Quiara Alegría Hudes
Productions	2007 Off-Broadway 2008 Broadway 2009 North American Tour 2011 Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS Concert 2011 Manila
Awards	Tony Award for Best Musical Tony Award for Best Score Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Off-Broadway Musical Lortel Award for Best Musical [Pulitzer Prize for Drama]] finalist

In the Heights is a musical with music and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda and a book by Quiara Alegría Hudes. The story explores three days in the characters' lives in the New York City Dominican-American neighborhood of Washington Heights.

After productions in Connecticut (2005) and Off-Broadway (2007), the show opened in a Broadway theatre production in March 2008. This production was nominated for thirteen Tony Awards, winning four: Best Musical, Best Original Score, Best Choreography (Andy Blankenbuehler), and Best Orchestrations (Alex Lacamoire and Bill Sherman). It was also a finalist for the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Background

Miranda wrote the earliest draft of In the Heights in 1999, his sophomore year of college. After the show was accepted by Wesleyan University's student theater company The Second Stage, Miranda worked on adding "freestyle rap ... bodegas, and salsa numbers." It played from April 20, 1999 to April 22, 1999. After seeing the play, two Wesleyan seniors, John Buffalo Mailer and Thomas Kail approached Miranda and asked if the play could be expanded to be on Broadway. In 2002, Miranda and Mailer worked with director Tommy Kail and wrote five separate drafts of In the Heights.

Productions

Connecticut (2005)

A new version of In the Heights was presented at the National Music Theatre Conference at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, CT in 2005.

Off-Broadway (2007)

It then opened at the off-Broadway 37 Arts Theater, running from February 8, 2007 through July 15, 2007. Directed by Thomas Kail, with choreography by Andy Blankenbuehler and music direction by Alex Lacamoire, it was produced by Jill Furman, Kevin McCollum, Jeffrey Seller and Sander Jacobs. The off-Broadway production was nominated for nine Drama Desk Awards, winning two.

Broadway (2008-2011)

The musical premiered on Broadway, starting in previews on February 14, 2008, with an official opening on March 9, 2008 at the Richard Rodgers Theatre. The Broadway production was again directed and choreographed by Kail and Blankenbuehler, with most of the off-Broadway principals reprising their roles. The creative team included set design by Anna Louizos, costume design by Paul Tazewell, lighting design by Howell Binkley, sound design by Acme Sound Partners, arrangements and orchestrations by Alex Lacamoire and Bill Sherman, and music coordination by Michael Keller.

The producers announced on January 8, 2009 that the show had recouped its $10 million investment after 10 months. The cast recording was released on June 3, 2008, by Ghostlight Records and won the 51st Annual Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album, beating the recordings of The Little Mermaid, Young Frankenstein, and the revivals of Gypsy and South Pacific. The Broadway production celebrated its 1000th performance on August 2, 2010.

The Broadway production played its final performance on January 9, 2011 after 29 previews and 1,185 regular performances, making it the 79th longest running show in Broadway history. The final cast starred Lin-Manuel Miranda, Arielle Jacobs, Marcy Harriell, Shaun Taylor-Corbett, Olga Merediz, Andréa Burns, and Priscilla Lopez.

US Tour (2009-2011)

The first national tour of In the Heights began on October 27, 2009 in Tampa, Florida. The musical ran in San Juan, Puerto Rico in November 2010, the first time an Equity tour has played in the city. Puerto Rico is the "ancestral home of its librettist Quiara Alegría Hudes and its star and Tony-winning songwriter Lin-Manuel Miranda." Miranda played this engagement. The national tour closed on April 3, 2011 at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami, Florida. At the time of its closing, the tour starred Joseph Morales as Usnavi.

Cabaret Cares concert (2011)

On January 5, 2011, past and present cast members of In the Heights performed a Cabaret Cares concert at the Laurie Beechman Theatre to benefit Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

Manila, Philippines (2011)

The international premiere opened in Manila, Philippines, on September 2, 2011, and played a limited engagement until September 18, 2011. The new production was directed by Bobby Garcia and starred Nyoy Volante as Usnavi. In the Heights had a repeat run last March 2012 and Lin Manuel Miranda was present in the audience during the opening night.

Non-Equity Tour (2011-2012)

In The Heights began a new, non-Equity United States national tour, starting on October 17, 2011, according to casting notices. The tour is scheduled to run until June 2012. The tour played in Chicago in January 2012, with Virginia Cavaliere as Nina, Presilah Nunez as Vanessa and Perry Young as Usnavi,and San Jose, California in April 2012.

Characters

• Usnavi, the owner of a bodega in Washington Heights. He was named after one of the first sights his parents saw when they arrived in America, a US Navy ship. He dreams of going to the Dominican Republic, his parents' homeland. Abuela Claudia, the neighborhood matriarch, practically raised him. He is in love with Vanessa.
• Abuela Claudia is the matriarch of the barrio who knows everybody and is like a grandmother to all ("abuela" means "grandmother" in Spanish). She is the one who looked after Usnavi when his parents died. She was moved from Cuba to New York when she was a child. She worked as a maid for several years but never earned the money for her and her mother to travel home.
• Vanessa is Usnavi's love interest who works at Daniela's salon. She is stunningly beautiful and catches the eye of every guy in the heights, however she takes interest in Usnavi. She lives with an alcoholic mother and dreams of getting out of the barrio and getting an apartment downtown, but cannot afford it.
• Nina Rosario is the daughter of Kevin and Camila. She is the first to go to college (Stanford University), and everyone in the barrio admires her. However, she returns home from school for the summer with difficult news to tell her parents. She is the typical "good girl" and always got along with her parents. However when she returns home she loses patience constantly over her father's overprotection and refusal to accept Benny.
• Benny works at Kevin's dispatch. The only non-Spanish-speaking member of the community, he falls in love with Nina. He dreams of opening his own business, "Benny's Car Service.
• Sonny is Usnavi's sassy, lazy, yet ambitious younger cousin who works in the bodega. He is typically the laughing stock of the Barrio, but he hides his intelligent and thoughtful side.
• Daniela is the outrageous owner of the salon where the neighborhood girls gossip. She is very bold and loud but loves to gossip and cares a lot about her employees, especially Carla, one of her oldest friends.
• Carla works at Daniela's salon along with Vanessa, and is Daniela's oldest friend.
• Kevin Rosario is Nina's father, wants to make sure his family has everything they want. He is overprotective of Nina and owns Rosario's Car Service.
• Camila Rosario is Nina's mother, who wants what is best for Nina. She is typically tolerant of Kevin's control issues, but in the course of the show, reveals her real feelings.
• The Piragua Guy (Piragüero) is the owner of a small piragua stand that competes with Mister Softee.
• Graffiti Pete is a graffiti artist and friend of Sonny. Usnavi believes he is a trouble-making vandal, but Pete is really a good-hearted artist.

Synopsis

Act One

In the shadows, a young man sprays graffiti onto the awning of a bodega, but his artistic reverie is interrupted when the store owner, Usnavi, enters and chases him away ("In the Heights"). Usnavi opens his bodega and supplies everyone with their morning coffee and papers. We meet the major characters and neighbors as they pass by his bodega. As the morning rush subsides, Nina Rosario enters, home at last from her freshman year at Stanford. In a moment alone, Nina reveals that she struggled at college ("Breathe").

Meanwhile, Nina's parents seek an emergency loan from the bank to keep their struggling taxi dispatch afloat. They leave Benny, a young employee, in charge of the dispatch for the first time ("Benny's Dispatch"). Nina and Benny reunite after messing around at the dispatch. At the hair salon across the street, Vanessa has financial troubles of her own. Vanessa dreams of escaping to a studio in the West Village, but doesn't have enough money to do so. But she's positive it'll happen soon. ("It Won't Be Long Now"). When she stops by Usnavi's bodega, Sonny asks Vanessa out for Usnavi, and she accepts.

When her parents return, Nina becomes nervous and reveals to them that she lost her academic scholarship and dropped out of Stanford. Her father, Kevin, is devastated that he cannot provide tuition without the scholarship. He recalls a similar experience with his own father, and memories of Nina as a child. ("Inútil"). Nina seeks comfort from her friend Vanessa, but the salon owner, Daniela, sits her down for a makeover and gossip session ("No Me Diga"). Daniela decides to tease Vanessa by telling her that Usnavi slept with one of the neighborhood skanks, just to see how Vanessa would react. Vanessa reacts in a way that shows that she likes Usnavi, but does not truly recognize it. Nina feels so embarrassed by her friends faith in her she reveals she dropped out. The girls are speechless and confused.

After Usnavi discovers he sold a winning lottery ticket worth $96,000, everyone on the block dreams of how they would each spend the small fortune. Benny reveals how he'd become a great business man. Sonny shows his serious side by saying he'd fix the current school system in Washington Heights because kids aren't being "edjumacated" well enough. Vanessa tells everyone how she'd leave the Barrio.("96,000"). Later, Abuela Claudia reflects on her childhood journey from Cuba to New York in 1943, remembering her mother saying "patience and faith" along the journey ("Paciencia y Fe"). She reveals that she holds the winning lottery ticket.

Nina and Benny find themselves alone on the street. Nina admits that she felt like an outsider at Stanford, and now her parents are so disappointed it feels like she doesn't belong anywhere. Benny says that being the only African-American in a Latino-run business can be intimidating. The two take a tour of the neighborhood landmarks around which they grew up ("When You're Home"). Benny tells Nina how everyone knows she'll change the world. She becomes upset and tells him how her life would have been so different if her family never moved to Washington Heights. She tells him how hard she's always worked but now she's "Lost her way" Benny reassures her she's meant for incredible things. And they see how they are both meant to be here.

At a dinner party, Kevin announces that he has sold Rosario's Car Service to pay for Nina's tuition. His news is met with anger from Benny over losing his job. But Kevin demands family comes first. Nina follows Benny to a dance club, apologizing, but he is furious at Kevin's decision, which has put him out of a job. Vanessa and Usnavi enter the club and begin to dance ("The Club"). Tensions rise on the dance floor because Vanessa and Usnavi are attempting to make each other jealous. Nina tries to do the same with a random guy at the club. Unfortunately, Benny already angry and a little drunk, punches him causing the whole club to break into a fight.

Suddenly, the power goes out throughout the city ("Blackout"). Chaos ensues, and Usnavi, Vanessa, Nina and Benny all look for each other in the darkness, while Sonny and Graffiti Pete are at the bodega protecting it from vandals. Pete decides to set off fireworks to distract any thugs. It works and it also illuminates the sky, helping Benny find Nina. They get into a fight, and despite being afraid Nina is determined to find her way home without him. Abuela Claudia reveals to Usnavi that she won the lottery. Under the light of fireworks Nina and Benny find each other and kiss, and Nina ends up not finding her way home.

Act Two

The next morning, Benny and Nina are on his fire escape after spending the night together. Nina teaches Benny Spanish. ("Sunrise"). He shares his stress over what Nina's father will think of the two of them. Down on the street, Usnavi's bodega has been looted. Abuela Claudia convinces Usnavi they should use her lottery winnings to relocate to the Dominican Republic. Usnavi agrees to be rid of his corner store and pursue his dream ("Hundreds of Stories").

Nina's parents have been searching for her all night, and when they learn that she has been with Benny, Kevin is furious. Kevin vows that Benny will never be a part of the Rosario family because he is not Latino. The family is at a breaking point when Camila instructs them to get it together before it is too late ("Enough").

It is high noon and the neighbors are frustrated by the extreme heat and continuing power outage. They muster enough energy for one last celebration before the bodega, the salon, and the dispatch shut their doors forever ("Carnaval Del Barrio"). People, led by Daniela, start to dance and sing. During which Usnavi reveals to the corner Abuela Claudia won the lottery, and they will soon leave for the Dominican Republic. The neighborhood celebrates, except for Vanessa (upset by hearing Usnavi's plans to leave) And Sonny, who can't believe the corner will be changed forever, and they'll be powerless forever. Usnavi offers comfort "We're powerless so light up a candle, there's nothing going on here that we can't handle." Usnavi makes Sonny feel better when he tells him a third of the money will go to him. The celebration continues onto another block when a noticeably upset Nina comes out and stops Usnavi from dancing, pulling him into Abuela's house. Kevin makes an announcement over the taxi radios that Abuela Claudia has died ("Atención"). The neighbors reunite on the sidewalk, this time to hold a vigil in honor of the block's matriarch ("Alabanza"). Usnavi and Nina look through boxes of Abuela Claudia's keepsakes—old lottery tickets and photos from the block's history ("Everything I Know"). As Nina discovers photographs from her own high school graduation, she decides to accept her father's sacrifice and return to Stanford.

Across the street, as Daniela closes her salon forever, she reveals one last bit of juicy news ("No Me Diga" (Reprise)). She will co-sign on Vanessa's dream apartment in the West Village, thanks to a little convincing from Usnavi. Vanessa brings a bottle of champagne to thank Usnavi. ("Champagne") During the song Vanessa "flirts' with Usnavi. However he is so flustered with her moves he becomes frustrated he can't open the champagne. Vanessa gives him reasons to stay without giving away the easy one (she wants him to). Usnavi doesn't understand Vanessa's being around the bush, and she becomes so frustrated she kisses him. Upset and embarrassed Vanessa leaves, leaving behind a confused Usnavi. Even then Usnavi's mind is still set on the Dominican Republic. Benny worries about his relationship with Nina. They stand together as the sun sets ("When the Sun Goes Down"). He assures her no matter what happens he will always be proud of her.

The next morning, Usnavi wakes up early to begin closing up shop. He sees the businesses around him: Daniela's salon is closed, and the Rosario's Car Service sign is gone. In just a few weeks, he will be gone, too, and the block will be completely changed. Sonny, however, is not content to leave without a trace. He commissions a graffiti mural of Abuela Claudia on the bodega's grate, and Graffiti Pete has stayed up all night completing the portrait. Sonny rolls down the bodega grate, revealing the memorial. Usnavi is stunned that they completed this all in one night, and he realizes that this block is his true home ("Finale"). He tells Sonny to tell the block that he has decided to stay, and promises himself that he's "stepping to Vanessa, [he's] getting a second date." He has found home.

Musical numbers

Act I

• "In the Heights" — Usnavi and Company
• "Breathe" (Respira) — Nina and Company
• "Benny's Dispatch" — Benny and Nina
• "Inútil" (Useless) — Kevin
• "It Won't Be Long Now" — Vanessa, Usnavi, and Sonny
• "No Me Diga" — Daniela, Carla, Vanessa, and Nina
• "96,000" — Usnavi, Benny, Sonny, Vanessa, Daniela, Carla, and Company
• "Paciencia y Fe" (Patience and Faith) — Abuela Claudia, and Company
• "When You're Home" — Nina, Benny, and Company
• "Piragua" — Piragua Guy
• "Siempre (Always)" — Bolero Singer and Camila †
• "The Club" — Company
• "Blackout" — Company

Act II

• "Sunrise" (Al Amanecer) — Nina, Benny, and Company
• "Hundreds of Stories" — Abuela Claudia and Usnavi
• "Enough" — Camila
• "Carnaval del Barrio" — Daniela and Company
• "Atención" — Kevin
• "Alabanza" — Usnavi, Nina, and Company
• "Everything I Know" — Nina
• "No Me Diga (Reprise)" — Carla, Nina, Vanessa, and Daniela †
• "Piragua (Reprise)" — Piragua Guy
• "Champagne" — Vanessa and Usnavi
• "When the Sun Goes Down" — Nina and Benny
• "Finale" — Usnavi and Company

† Designates number not included on original cast recording

Casts

Character	Opening Broadway Cast	Closing Broadway Cast	Notable Broadway cast replacement(s)
Graffiti Pete	Seth Stewart		—
Usnavi	Lin-Manuel Miranda		Corbin Bleu
Piragua Guy	Eliseo Román	Tony Chiroldes	—
Abuela Claudia	Olga Merediz		—
Carla	Janet Dacal	Courtney Reed	—
Daniela	Andréa Burns		Justina Machado Bianca Marroquin
Kevin	Carlos Gomez	Rick Négron	—
Camila	Priscilla Lopez		—
Sonny	Robin de Jesús	Shaun Taylor-Corbett	David Del Rio
Benny	Christopher Jackson		—
Vanessa	Karen Olivo	Marcy Harriell	—
Nina	Mandy Gonzalez	Arielle Jacobs	Jordin Sparks

Awards and nominations

Original Broadway production

Year	Award Ceremony	Category	Nominee	Result
2007	Drama Desk Award	Outstanding Musical		Nominated
		Outstanding Ensemble Performance		Won
		Outstanding Director of a Musical	Thomas Kail	Nominated
		Outstanding Choreography	Andy Blankenbuehler	Won
		Outstanding Music	Lin-Manuel Miranda	Nominated
		Outstanding Lyrics		Nominated
		Outstanding Orchestrations	Alex Lacamoire and Bill Sherman	Nominated
		Outstanding Set Design	Anna Louizos	Nominated
		Outstanding Sound Design	Acme Sound Partners	Nominated
2008	Tony Award	Best Musical		Won
		Best Book of a Musical	Quiara Alegría Hudes	Nominated
		Best Original Score	Lin-Manuel Miranda	Won
		Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical		Nominated
		Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical	Robin de Jesús	Nominated
		Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical	Olga Merediz	Nominated
		Best Direction of a Musical	Thomas Kail	Nominated
		Best Choreography	Andy Blankenbuehler	Won
		Best Orchestrations	Alex Lacamoire and Bill Sherman	Won
		Best Scenic Design	Anna Louizos	Nominated
		Best Costume Design	Paul Tazewell	Nominated
		Best Lighting Design	Howell Binkley	Nominated
		Best Sound Design	Acme Sound Partners	Nominated
	Grammy Award	Best Musical Show Album		Won
2009	Pulitzer Prize	Pulitzer Prize for Drama		Nominated

Reception

The reviews for the show were positive to mixed (the median grade of 9 major reviews was "B+"). Charles Isherwood's review in The New York Times said that "when this musical erupts in one of its expressions of collective joy, the energy it gives off could light up the George Washington Bridge for a year or two." Heather Bing of The Cleveland Plain Dealer wrote, "Although I was sometimes struggling to keep up with the hip-hop and Spanish-infused lyrics, the exciting set and choreography paired with excellent acting held my interest in the storyline." David Rooney's Variety review said, "That depth of feeling, together with the wit of Miranda's lyrics, the playful dexterity of his rhymes, his dynamic score and a bunch of truly winning performances, make the show an uncalculated charmer."

Hudes' book received mixed reviews. Charles McNulty's The Los Angeles Times review mentioned that "the downside to In the Heights is the book...which is overstuffed and oversimplified." The New York Post's Clive Barnes also gave negative comments about the book, saying that "Hudes' work is droopily sentimental and untruthful." Joe Dziemianowicz of the NY Daily News also disliked the book, but added that "what it lacks in story and believability it makes up for in a vibrant rap- and salsa-flavored score, spirited dances and great-looking design."

Film adaptation

On November 7, 2008, Universal Pictures announced that they planned to adapt the musical as a feature film for release in 2011. Kenny Ortega was set to direct the film, which was slated to begin filming in summer 2011. However, the project was canceled in March 2011, when Universal opted not to produce the In the Heights film. But in January 2012, Lin-Manuel Miranda said the film adaptation is back under discussion.

Television

On May 27, 2009, PBS Great Performances aired an episode entitled "In The Heights: Chasing Broadway Dreams." It documents the journey taken by the cast and crew to bring the show to Broadway and to later win a Tony Award. Producer Andrew Fried and Director Paul Bozymowski captured footage of the cast and creative team for over two years, from Off-Broadway through to their Tony Award win for Best Musical. The special previewed at the Paley Center for Media in New York on May 4, 2009.

External links

• Official site
• ​In the Heights​ at the Internet Broadway Database
• ​In the Heights​ at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• The Heights, A Forum For In the Heights
• The American Theatre Wing's Tony Awards - Meet the Nominees - In the Heights
• BroadwayWorld.com Show Preview - In the Heights
• In the Heights- Broadway Cast Replacements