BROADWAY UNDERCOVER

 With all the whoopla surrounding In The Heights one might think it wouldn’t meet expectations.  Not so!  We found it to be a high energy, creative and original piece of theatre centering on a Hispanic community in Washington Heights.  The set design alone is worth a look — a group of stores and apartment buildings with the G.W. Bridge looming in the distance reflecting this close knit society.  The musical score, a combination of rap and Latin rhythms, has a distinctive style all its own.  The cast of primarily young actors perform with great gusto to make this street scene come to life.

The show transferred from Off-Broadway to Broadway with ease but some changes were made in the process.  According to Lin-Manuel Miranda, its multi-talented star who not only conceived the idea but wrote the music and lyrics, four songs were added to the second act, as well as lyrics and a lot of Spanish throughout.  Miranda, a charming 28-year-old who began this project while in college, is reaping the rewards of his endeavors with enormous critical and audience praise.  When queried as to the background of the show he said, “I started writing this when I was 19-years-old.  When I graduated college I sort of put it in a drawer and in 2002 got together with Tommy (Director Thomas Kail).  We’d been doing readings and workshops.  I’ve cut about 60 songs from the show.  I could do about two more shows with the songs I cut.  I have 60 songs in my trunk.”     

The audience leaves the Richard Rodgers Theatre on a high note and BU believes that Miranda and company will do the same come Tony time. 

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 9th, 2008 at 12:50 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.