In The Heights

Last night I went and saw the tour of In The Heights at The Pantages Theatre... and I loved it.

This cast was SO good. I cried over and over again, not just because of the subject matter but also because it was one of those things where you're like: They are SO good and TOTALLY singing and dancing their hearts out and this is SO amazing.

Long story SUPER short: this show is about a group of Hispanic people in Washington Heights.

If you want a little longer description: It's about family, pride, life, fulfillment and choices...set to salsa music with a dose of rap...well...WRAPPED in contemporary broadway power ballads.

Full recap would include: Usnavi owns a bodega where his cousin Sonny helps him out and everyone gets their morning coffee. Nina Rosario is home from her freshman year at Stanford having not felt the best about it. Nina's parents, Kevin and Camila are broke and their employee Benny likes Nina. At the hair salon across the street, Vanessa wants to move downtown, but can't afford to and across from them lives the 'mother' of the neighborhood Abuela Claudia.

All I knew about this show was a few of the songs: Breathe, It Won't Be Long Now and When You're Home. I was totally freaked out that those songs were ALL in the first act, like, sort of right away so I got nervous the other music wouldn't be as good because soundtrack wise, they didn't really catch my attention.

I was totally wrong.

Came home and downloaded the rest of the soundtrack. SO GOOOD!



Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote the Tony Award winning score and has performed the role of Usnavi on and off AND on and off-broadway since inception. (He's also working on the film version) THis guy is STILL as fresh as EVER! AS EVER!!!!! Shaun Taylor-Corbett was freakin' AMAZING as Sonny. (This is his final week in the tour and moves to Broadway on July 29th! So if you're in L.A.: SEE HIM!!!!) Arielle Jacobs as Nina was great. My expectations of 'Breathe' were high, because Mandy Gonzalez's original broadway cast album is SO perfect and I recently cried listening to Anne Fraser Thomas sing it at her cabaret show at The Magic Castle. And while she didn't quite reach THEM, the rest of her performance was wonderful and her singing spot on.

Rogelio Douglas Jr.'s Benny was out of control brilliant. Lexi Lawson was our Vanessa (there are three on this tour for various dates) and she was sexy, sassy and throughly enjoyable. Another stand out for me was Daniel Bolero as Nina's father Kevin. He remined me of Philip Quast as Peron in the London revival of Evita. Every time Quast came on stage, you could feel the entire audience shift to watch, see, hear what he was doing. The show was called Evita, about Evita, sung 3/4 BY Evita and yet every time Philip Quast came on stage, no one gave a SHIT about Evita. THAT'S how good I thought Daniel Bolero was.

Now then, book wise, I felt like the entire first act was a bunch of sketches and novelty songs linked together. (shout out to [tos]) I get that you need to meet everybody and hear about their issues but it was WAY too simplistic. It was like they were holding a monologue competition on the set of Little Shop of Horrors on a night when the theater was dark.

However, I had Paciencia y Fe and act two was FULL of fabulousness both script wise and beyond.

I would TOTALLY go back and see it again. Great musical and emotional release. GO SEE THIS TOUR! HERE IS THE UPCOMING SCHEDULE!