Lin-Manuel Miranda still believes it was a miracle that “In the Heights,” the musical homage to Latino culture through the lens of the Washington Heights neighborhood, made it to Broadway.
“Some of the hurdles were about Hollywood’s unwillingness to take chances on new talent and invest in that,” Miranda said.
The movie features a cast of emerging and seasoned talents, including Anthony Ramos as a bodega owner with dreams of returning to the Dominican Republic, Melissa Barrera as an aspiring fashion designer and Leslie Grace as a struggling Stanford student, and was shot on location with all the panache that a reported $55 million budget can achieve.
In a recent video call with Miranda, Hudes and Chu, the three creative minds discussed their euphoric spectacle with incisive social commentary on immigration, assimilation and gentrification.
That freed me to say, “Let me try to add something new to their experience.” For instance, losing Camila Rosario really hurt because anyone who is my friend knows I’m very matriarchal.
Every time there was a struggle, they were like, “It’s going to find its way.” Then the pandemic happened and I’m like, “You guys weren’t kidding.” Who knew that the dart we threw would hit the moment that the world is opening up again.
An important change is the decision to make the character of Nina, the elite student played by Leslie Grace, an Afro-Latina woman.
I wanted to consciously make Nina Afro-Latina in this version of “In the Heights.” Since we opened the show on Broadway, this national conversation has happened around microaggressions and really interesting stuff that I feel like would be applicable to Nina’s situation.
There were about 600 extras, from 5-year-olds to 81-year-olds, and you have to think, “Oh wait, they can’t drown or get electrocuted.” You have to keep them dry so they don’t get hypothermia.
HUDES At some point, for various artistic or budget reasons, many of the numbers were up for being potentially cut.
He’s the one member of my family who did not get to see everything that came after that opening night.
Put them in tennis shoes.” Then Jon started asking me, “What would the food look like?” And I was like, “Can we also talk about the pots?” Then I started talking to the choreographer Chris Scott about the dance casting call.
I give Jon so much credit for leaning in and listening and finding these corners of the neighborhood that have additional layers of meaning for those of us like Quiara and myself, who still live in the neighborhood.
We had a piano on the sidewalk and Anthony and Melissa had to weave in and out of dialogue and music and movement.
The musical seems to say that you can attain your aspirations without losing who you are to assimilation.
You grow up with the “Sliding Doors” thinking: “What if they’d stayed? Who would I be if I grew up in Vega Alta, Puerto Rico?” The nuance that we always fought for is to say, “I can accept the sacrifice of my ancestors.
That’s the path I’m on too, to honor my cultural roots, and also use those things to find new ways to be an individual to honor my own heart.