Lin-Manuel Miranda and Quiara Alegría Hudes' In the Heights is back on a New York stage. New York City Center is presenting the Tony-winning musical in a limited three-week run through Nov. 15, directed by David Mendizábal and performed by a new cast of Latino artists.
The Associated Press reported Sunday that the production is the first major revival of the show, which won four Tony Awards in 2008, including best musical and best original score. Mendizábal told the AP he saw the original production's final performances and called it his "portal to the theater," the first time he had seen a world that looked and sounded like his on an American stage.
A new block in Washington Heights
The musical unfolds over three summer days in the largely Latino Washington Heights neighborhood, a short subway ride north of City Center. Matte Martinez plays bodega owner Usnavi, Ashley De La Rosa plays salon worker Vanessa and Natalie Venetia Belcon plays Abuela Claudia. Ishmael Gonzalez plays Sonny, whose verse in "96,000" Miranda told the AP is "more relevant than ever."
There is also a family thread. Christopher Jackson, who originated Benny on Broadway, watched his wife, Veronica Vazquez-Jackson, join the revival cast. The couple met in 2003 during an early off-Broadway staging of the show. Jackson called the moment "full circle" at the Oct. 28 opening gala.
City Center artistic director Jenny Gersten told the AP she chose the show for this year's gala presentation while searching for "a good balm for these times." The AP noted the revival arrives as federal immigration enforcement operations have affected Dominican and Cuban families like those the musical depicts.
Over a three-year Broadway run and a 2021 movie adaptation, In the Heights became a landmark for Latino representation, putting a Latino immigrant neighborhood at the center of a mainstream musical. A revival built around a new generation of Latino performers keeps that story in front of audiences while the people it portrays are again in the headlines.
Revisit Cup of Soul's coverage of the film adaptation, In the Heights, and our earlier piece, Latinos Front and Center in In the Heights.
