In the Heights

The other day I was "In the Heights!" "Big whoop Stocker, we've all been to "The Heights" here in Houston..." Well, I'm not talking about the Heights located here in Houston, I'm talking about the Washington Heights, in New York City! The other evening I had the chance to see the musical 'In the Heights.' Now, I have to be honest, I really don't like musicals all that much (I'm more of a symphony orchestra kind of guy), but this musical was really good!

In case you don't know the setting/plot, let me bring you up to speed. The entire story takes place in New York City (Washington Heights (predominately a Dominican Neighborhood)) and focuses on three days of events revolving around Usnavi, the owner of a small convenience store, and Nina, a recent Stanford freshman drop-out. The musical tells us there troubles, along with all of the shared issues that this community faces day to day paying rent, making money, and overall finding their place in the 'American Dream.'

I was very impressed with the music and rhythm and beats. This is probably the first musical that I have ever attended which had actually rapping. While I thought some of the singing was a little hurried, and therefore difficult to understand, I would give this production a 9 out of 10 for their almost faultless performance. It is definitely in the audience members favor to know some basic Spanish, as many of the puns tend to be in Spanish. It was quite hilarious to be laughing at a joke, only to find my friend (who does not speak Spanish) sitting in wonder of why some people were laughing.

While the stage was beautiful, I would have liked to have seen multiple sets, especially between curtains. It's likely that if you are leading this blog after Sunday you have missed the show, but take the time to do some research and put it on your calendar for the next time it comes around!

Best,

C.S.