First things first: Go see In the Heights at Western Stage. It’s phenomenal entertainment, an urban slice-of-life that’s fresh and sympathetic, multilingual and intracultural, a traditional Broadway musical fortified with fresh music straight outta the barrio.
It won four of its 13 Tony nominations in 2008, including Best Musical and Best Original Score, for its creators Lin-Manuel Miranda (music, lyrics) and Quiara Alegria Hudes (book) who later won a Pulitzer for her Iraq War play Water by the Spoonful.
The story is set in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan, a mostly Dominican neighborhood north of Harlem, backdropped by the George Washington Bridge, which looms behind the action on Western Stage’s stage.
In the foreground, the set consists of the front stoop of a brownstone, and bodega, beauty salon and car service storefronts on the street level, and brick apartment fire escapes up top.
It mashes up musical tropes with street music right out the box, starting with an opening number as big as “Tradition” from Fiddler on the Roof, rapped with blazing intensity and eloquence by Chris Marcos (who also did the awesome choreography) as Usnavi.
He is the emcee of the show and the lead, a Dominican dude whose parents died when he was young, and who now owns a neighborhood bodega. On this morning he chases away Graffiti Pete (a funny Nico Abiera) who is tagging up his store sign. Then he addresses us.
“You do rapid mathematics automatically/ Sellin’ maxipads, fuzzy dice for taxicabs and practically/ Everybody’s stressed, yes!/ But they press through the mess/ Bounce checks and wonder what’s next.”
That is a complex rhyme scheme that Marcos delivers with a flow closer to 106th and Park than Midtown Broadway, orienting you to the scene – three hot days around the Fourth of July – and the people from his neighborhood.
They include Vanessa (Heather Mae Steffen, a powerful voice and stage presence), a cutie from the block who’s struggling financially to move out of the hood and into the West Village.
“That machismo pride doesn’t break my stride,” she sings about guys trying to holler at her on the street. She’s sweet on Usnavi, and vice versa.
Sonny (Arick Arzadon, quick and charming) is Usnavi’s younger cousin, a jokey, savvy and sympathetic sidekick.
The Rosario family, who run their car service from a dispatch office, consists of Nina (Velvet Piini, subtle, emotional and real) returning from Stanford with bad news, her mother Camila (Christina McGovern), a woman with strong opinions and an open heart, and her father Kevin (Ron Perez), an industrious immigrant who tells us his chase of the American Dream is ending in the heartbreaking song “Inutil” (“Useless”).
Benny (William Carl Stallings III, with great energy), an ambitious young black man who works in the Rosarios’ shop, is the only one who doesn’t speak Spanish, but he has charm and drive to spare.
In a nightclub scene, Benny and others act out scenes without dialogue, just pantomime, choreographed like it’s an unspoken language.
“Abuela” Claudia (Jaqui Hope, channeling the spirit of an elderly in exile) is the warm neighborhood matriarch, harboring a dream deferred across generations.
Daniela (Brianne Lopez, rocking a sassy attitude and the best accent) is the gossipy owner of a beauty salon who cares about employees Vanessa and Carla (Evandra Aurelia), a sweet, ditzy girl who dresses skimpy and invokes Jesus.
And then there’s Piragua Guy (Michael Blackburn, humble and delightful), the East Coast equivalent to a West Coast paletero, pushing his cart through the streets, doling out colorful shaved ice.
Each cast member is worth mentioning because they come full on with talent and commitment. Each and every one. They’re fun and lively, they’ve got dance moves for days, and they play off each other with fine timing.
The catchy and clever infusion of hip-hop, salsa and bachata music comes from both a live band and pre-recorded samples, with references to Mos Def and Talib Kweli, Big Pun and Kid-n-Play. The clothes and accessories are a mix-n-match of Ecko and Akademiks tees, guayabera shirts, knockoff designer skirts and tube tops, hoop earrings, Kangol hats, sneakers and platforms. The vibe is right.
The story has the usual template of young people pursuing love amid a backdrop of struggle and drama. But it’s done with a sharp ear for the flavor and history of this specific place and people.
The mostly millennial cast represents America’s immigrant energy and ambition, its potential and its fears, its youth and its past, with a raucous combination of joy, frustration and humor all jumbled together into some meta feeling that can only be approximated as “aliveness.”
These characters believe they are living at the bottom. But because they are dreaming and working, because they’re living close to the margin, because they are bound together with love and culture, they are actually “in the heights” of life. And what a place that is to be.