REVIEW: IN THE HEIGHTS—MUSICAL THEATRE WEST @ Carpenter Performing Arts Center
- TheShowReport
- 5 days ago
- 5 min read
APRIL 10-26—LONG BEACH
As you watch Ruben J. Carbajal as Usnavi bound jubilantly across the stage, rapping a cityscape into vibrant life over the rumbling rhythm of a bass line, shredding the air with his arms as rhymes percolate on his tongue, he introduces us to the men and women whose daily troubles—overdue bills, overheated romances and overtaxed hearts—will form the episodic story that provides a slender spine for Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical valentine to the barrio.
In fact, you’ll get your ears opened from the amazing very first number, a pure adrenaline blast of Latin rhythms and hip-hop energy. As soon as the lights go up, the atmosphere crackles with electricity and it becomes clear that the audience isn’t here just to watch the ride—they're going to be on the ride. Explosions of color, movement and music ricochets around the whole auditorium, and we suddenly realize that this isn't going to be an ordinary theater experience.
It’s a heart-tugging story of family ties and the immigrant experience—in this case, a panoramic, airbrushed portrait of the Dominican-Puerto Rican-Cuban experience in the Washington Heights area of Upper Manhattan—a place where the coffee from the corner bodega is light and sweet, the windows are always open and the breeze carries the rhythm of three generations of music. It’s a community full of hopes, dreams and pressures, where the biggest struggles can be deciding which traditions you take with you, and which ones you leave behind.
Brought to you by Southern California’s premier theatre company, Musical Theatre West, the show debuted to a sold-out opening night, setting the stage for a powerful and high-energy run at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center in Long Beach through April 26th. With music and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda and a sentimental book by Quiara Alegría Hudes, IN THE HEIGHTS pulses with hip-hop, salsa, merengue, and soul, telling the vibrant story of a tight-knit neighborhood on the cusp of change, where a celebration of music, family, sacrifices and community shape the pursuit of home and identity.
Brilliantly Directed by Jesse J. Sanchez and Produced by Executive Director/Producer Paul Garman, the production features a staged aptly stocked with an adroit company of appealing actors who season their performances with generous doses of sugar and spice. And, what’s more, the dazzling choreography and zesty street dancing, under the skillful, sure-handed direction of Associate Director/Choreographer Marissa Herrera, seems to put invisible wings on the young cast’s bright sneakers.
Here we have a pulsating, tuneful score enlivened by the dancing rhythms of salsa and Latin pop, sounds that are an ear-tickling novelty on any stage. And, responsible for bringing those brassy, ebullient orchestrations to your ears is the show’s multi-talented Music Director and Conductor, Rod Bagheri. Under his enthusiastic guidance, the orchestra plays with a sense of excitement almost never heard emanating from any stage’s pit. Bright, piping fanfares from the trumpets punctuate the dance numbers; the merry tinkle of a steel drum laughs along with the jokes. Actually, the players in the pit seem to be having as much fun as the performers onstage. Giant kudos, by the way, for an incredible sound to designers Andrea Allmond and Andrew Tarr.
Meanwhile, Anna Louizos’ wonderfully evocative set, designed with impressive attention to the minutiae of urban decay, etches a wealth of detail into the funky row of storefronts and apartment buildings spread out in the shadow of the George Washington Bridge. And Paul Black has designed the show’s lighting with a poetic touch, bringing a gorgeous color palette to scenes that shift primarily between dawn, dusk and nighttime, and adding visual excitement to the July 4th fireworks.
The brightly glowing owner of the deli that’s the hub of the hood, and dispenser of the cafe con leche that fuels its residents, is the aforementioned Mr. Carbajal’s Usnavi de la Vega. Steady customer and Usnavi's love interest is leggy hairdresser Vanessa (Angelica Lozada Ramos), who never has to pay for her coffee. Both have big dreams of escaping their environment, yet they remain anchored to their home and its people.
Their hesitant romance is nicely balanced against that of troubled Stanford scholarship student Nina (Amanda Aceves-Lopez), the first in the Rosario family to go to college, and who is viewed by everyone as the one who made it out of the barrio; Benny (Antwone Barnes), an upstanding, but un-Latino dispatch worker who is in love with Nina and dreams of owning his own business; and Nina’s adoring but strong-willed, protective parents—hard-working Puerto Rican immigrants and owners of the central-themed Rosario’s car service—Kevin and Camila (Mario Rocha and Elvira Barjau), who are nervously eyeing their futures.
Then there’s Sonny (the impishly funny Adam Leiva), Usnavi’s cocky 16-year-old cousin, eager to give Usnavi tips on how to woo the girl he’s got a secret crush on; and Usnavi’s surrogate grandmother Abuela Claudia (Suzanna Guzman), source of wisdom and loving matriarch of the barrio who arrived from Cuba in 1943.
Other generously drawn standout figures integral to the story includes hilariously vivacious salon owner Daniela (Veronica Vazquez-Jackson) who’s been priced out of the hood, packing up her straighteners and moving on to the Bronz, and her straightforward staffer Carla (Rianny Vasquez), while the Piragua Guy (Berto Fernandez), pushing his cart of fruit-flavored slushies, provides a lilting melody all his own. And street artist Graffiti Pete (Patrick “Patches” Viloria), Sonny’s best friend (but nemesis to Usnavi, who writes Pete off as a troublemaker), does some incredible break-dancing moves. Domingo is played by Alonso Melgoza, Jose is Elijah Samuel Figueroa and Yolanda is Veronica Carolina Leite.
With rapid-fire hip-hop passages and Latin styles of music having been fused solidly into musical theater since the dawn of “West Side Story,” this production speaks the musical language of a new generation. But Lin-Manuel Miranda’s score ranges far beyond hip-hop. He infuses the composition with salsa, Latin jazz, Latin pop and island-inflected rhythms. And there are also many numbers that might be described as good old-fashioned Broadway ballads, such as “It Won’t Be Long Now” and “When You’re Home.”
Jubilant, unapologetically massive, and bursting with a cozy, melancholic sense of communal belonging, this multi-award-winning stage musical now welcomes you back to the Carpenter Performing Arts Center to float weightlessly during a breezy two-and-a-half hour-celebration of the diverse Latinx communities, where the music is cool as a cucumber, the beat is as tight as a drum, and where your synapses will jump like beans in a tin can.
MUSICAL THEATRE WEST PRESENTS, IN THE HEIGHTS; Music & Lyrics by LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA; Book by QUIARA ALEGRIA HUDES; Directed by JESSE J. SANCHEZ; Musically Directed by ROD BAGHERI; Assistant Directed & Choreographed by MARISSA HERRERA; Technical Director KEVIN CLOWES; Lighting Designer PAUL BLACK; Sound Designers ANDREA ALLMOND & ANDREW TARR; Scenic Designer ANNA LOUIZOS; Costume Designer JESS MORENO CAYCHO; Prop Designer JANE HAMOR; Wig Designer GARRETT RUIZ; Production Stage Manager JULIAN OLIVE.
IN THE HEIGHTS will play through April 26th at CARPENTER PERFORMING ARTS CENTER; Performances are Thursday, Friday, Saturday evening at 7PM, Saturdays at 2PM and Sundays at 1PM and 6PM (except closing day). For Tickets, see www.musical.org
CHRIS DANIELS
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT REVIEWER
THE SHOW REPORT
Photo Credits: Sujan Creative
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