In The Heights

I understand where other reviewers are coming from with their dislike of rap finding its way to the broadway stage. That is actually what made me enjoy this show so much, however. Although I personally do not care for that music style, my friend that came with me for the first time LOVED a musical. His comment after the show was "they used phrases that I use in a musical format that I actually enjoyed." At the same time, this show had powerful more traditional type ballads full of sentiment and emotion. For me, it was a show that both of us could enjoy for different reasons. That is what broadway is all about in my opinion, opening up stories to a wider audience. Perhaps it is a bit different from previous musicals, but that is the beauty of its success.

This show and its CD are AWESOME! Normally, no matter how much I enjoy a Broadway show, I never see it more than once, but this show was SO FANTASTIC(!) that once was not enough! I have now seen this show twice and would still love to go see it again! The singing, dancing, and storyline are excellent! I bought the CD two months ago and am still listening to it everyday on my Ipod! I highly recommend both the show and the CD!!

This show was absolutely amazing. It has been the best broadway I've seen in years. I'm as stunned as I was when I first saw wicked, but I honestly loved this one more than wicked. The soundtrack is amazing, some of these songs are so good they give me chills.

Highlights:
in the heights, 96,000, the club, finale

This has now been my new favorite CD. The singing is phenomenal. The song lyrics have heart and soul. It's clean, crisp and spicy. The songs truly stick with you. Listening to this on my commute to and from work certainly has taken the stress off of my traveling. I'm headed to NYC in December. Tickets to this show are on my list to Santa. My boss is headed to NYC in October and is going to see this show on my recommendation; however, I feel I can't let her listen to the CD. I feel like I would be revealing too much of the story and ruin the surprise.

Admittedly, each new generation "shocks" the preceding one with their taste in music, and I must admit to being shocked and being part of the older set. Yet, that being said, I cannot see how rap music can be elevated to the art form which is the Broadway stage; well, perhaps it can, but why would anyone want to pay $100 a seat when they can just go to any corner in Harlem, Spanish Harlem, or Washington Heights - the Heights in the title - and get a free exhibition performed by the real originators of the musical idiom? I was raised in the South Bronx, and I am Hispanic, so I have no prejudice against Latin music, but when I go to the theatre, I expect to be transported to another dimension, and if it's a musical, I want the music to soar above the mundane. Perhaps, if we considered this musical in the light of "West Side Story", what I am trying to say would be clearer: Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim were able to take New York's social problems of the 50's and 60's, e.g, gang warfare and prejudice against Puertorricans, set them against an ugly background (New York City's west-side slums), and still create a musical theatre experience that can be justly described as a work of beauty. Lin-Manuel Miranda has also focused on an lower-class neighborhood in New York and it's problems, but can we honestly say that his music transports the audience to another realm? Can any of us come out of "In the Heights" with it's music in our minds? At least, let's give credit to the Tony Award voters who are willing to recognize new forms of talent and music, something they did not do when West Side Story had it's original run on Broadway. (Ironically, it took Hollywood to recognize West Side Story for the classic that it was and is: the film won ten oscars including Best Movie of the year.)