Review: In the Heights

I can't believe there hasn't been more buzz for In The Heights. In the middle of this season with moody, reflective pieces like Grey Gardens and Spring Awakening getting so much attention, In the Heights is a funny, joyful, and sizzling hot triumph. Walking over to 37 Arts on a snowy night last week, my expectations were moderate, and my mood was chilly to say the least. As soon as the show started, I couldn't believe how genuinely, well, good I felt. Lin-Manuel Miranda has created (and composed, and stars in, at age 27, I KNOW) a dazzling, heartfelt, inspiring show that pays tribute to his Hispanic roots and celebrates the Washington Heights community he grew up in.

In the Heights is the story of a community striving towards a better future - there's Usnavi (Miranda), the young bodega clerk, Nina, a young woman returning to the Heights after her first year at Stanford, Vanessa, who works in the salon but longs for a more glamorous life, and Sonny, a young guy who doesn't have much, but has ambition in spades. They're supported by a fabulous ensemble of supporting characters. Not every cast member is a great actor (Mandy Gonzalez's line readings are pretty simplistic and obvious), but the sense of unity amongst them is so palpable that I stayed intensely involved in the story from start to finish. The show's heart is definitely beating inside each cast member. There's a sense that these actors know these characters, grew up with them, live with them, have loved them and hated them, and so the intimacy in this big, splashy musical makes it something really special.

The music is fantastic. Lin-Manuel Miranda also wrote all the songs, and they combine musical theater bravado, belting, and power ballads with rap, salsa, merengue, and the beats you would hear blasting from cars if you walked down the streets of Washington Heights any day of the week. The lyrics are smart and sharp, and you can hear Miranda's work in music/comedy group Freestyle Love Supreme peeking out coyly. This unlikely marriage of styles is exciting and innovative, and actually succeeds at making musical theater sexy again - an unlikely feat.

I've also gotta give props to the designers, whose work goes a long way in making the show so exciting and dynamic. Anna Louizos's set is so gorgeous: we see three storefronts (a taxi dispatch, bodega, and salon), and apartments above them, with the huge bridge rising above it all, beckoning to the inhabitants like a portal out of the Heights, into a fantasy world. Jason Lyons's lights are perfect - the first act follows a day from sunrise to a late-night blackout, and every part of the day is rendered flawlessly by having the scrim be a gigantic sky background. The costumes are also a real achievement - designer Paul Tazewell has managed to capture all the color and flair of the culture while still being true to the characters' limited financial means.

Also, keep an eye out for dancer Seth Stewart. He is one of the sexiest, most compelling, and most watchable dancers I've ever seen perform. He toured with Madonna, for christssake. He plays Graffiti Pete, he starts the show, and you will not be able to take your eyes off him.

When I saw it, the audience went wild. I was in the front row, perched between two oldsters who I expected would be leaving at intermission - instead, they were the first on their feet at curtain call, hooting just as loud as the rest of the house. The cast recording isn't out yet, but there was a long line of people who were waiting to order it in advance, and kids were clamoring for In the Heights sweatshirts. With a little help on Quiara Alegria Hudes's slightly-too-saccharine book, this thing would be a hit on Broadway.