To New Heights

The wild, unprecedented success of Hamilton makes it easy to forget (if you even knew to begin with) that Lin-Manuel Miranda had previously created a Tony winning Best Musical with In the Heights. Like many, I'd never seen that earlier effort... but was now given the chance to see the movie adaptation. Judging by the box office report, not many others took that chance. But I'm here to say they are definitely missing out.

In the Heights focuses on a few hot summer days in Washington Heights in New York City. Interwoven personal narratives follow several young characters at major life crossroads: one looking to return to the Dominican Republic where he was born, one torn over revealing that she's dropping out of college, one dreaming of becoming a fashion designer, and more. The plot is serviceable, dutifully checking the boxes of many stage musicals. And as with most stage musicals, the real draw are the songs.

The music of In the Heights is bubbly and infectious in all the right ways. The songs drill into your head, make you move while you watch, are clever and fun, and linger in your mind long after. Fans of Hamilton who've never gone back will recognize some similar building blocks here... but there's also some clear influence on other writers who followed later. (I personally find hints of both Kinky Boots and Dear Evan Hansen.)

Having never seen the original production on stage, I'm not keenly aware of how the story was enlarged for the screen. But it very clearly was; the scale of production is enormous, to a degree where it feels like it could have been written originally for the movie screen. There are numerous settings, clever usage of visual effects to expand the presentation, and oh so many background dancers. Why have a dozen when you can have hundreds?! That's particularly moving for a film arriving in the wake of COVID-19, seeing so many people gathered in one place, and in a celebration of pure joy.

There is a knock on the film being widely discussed online: the fact that while the movie does include some Afro-Latinx actors, they're all notably light-skinned. (The one lead -- and character -- with a darker skin tone specifically does not have any Latinx roots.) It's not truly representative of Washington Heights, many say... and moreover, another form of racially insensitive casting from a Hollywood you might have believed had already discovered all kinds. There's really not much I could contribute there, but I mention it because it doesn't seem right to praise members of the cast without acknowledging the criticism that perhaps some of the roles should have been cast differently.

Having said that -- the four leads are all excellent: Anthony Ramos, Leslie Grace, Corey Hawkins, and Melissa Barrera. Olga Merediz is wonderful as "Abuela" Claudia.  Original Rent cast member Daphne Rubin-Vega plays a supporting character who absolutely steals the show with her songs. If you only know Stephanie Beatriz from Brooklyn Nine-Nine, her role here will blow your mind. And yes, Jimmy Smits, Marc Anthony, and Lin-Manuel Miranda himself (and his Hamilton co-star Christopher Jackson) are here too, all in entertaining roles.

In short, In the Heights is just plain fun. I'd call it an A-, and well worth checking out for any musical fans.