Photo Credit: Michael Brosilow
Years before Hamilton became the hottest ticket in town, Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote about subjects closer to his time and place. Miranda’s musical In the Heights respected the life and lives of a particular New York City community, largely Latino, flying flags of a half-dozen Caribbean nations: proud, struggling, aspiring. When it arrived on Broadway in 2008, In the Heights injected much needed vitality into the bloated carcass of American musical theater and earned its four Tony Awards.
The Milwaukee Repertory Theater captures the life-energy of Miranda’s musical in a vibrant production whose sharp-elbowed kinetics, drawn from urban dance, simmers down to allow emotional introspection amidst the bustle. The protagonist, Nina, returns to Washington Heights from Stanford University on a sultry July 3 to face the disappointment of family and friends. She was the book-smart girl who was going to rise through education, but her “partial scholarship” was suspended. The two jobs she worked to pay for her books left her little time to read them.
Despite a pair of love stories that add sizzle to the dance routines, In the Heights is about the American Dream and the struggle to swim against the current of low incomes. The show’s narrator Usnavi (Ryan Alvarado) is hard-pressed to maintain his deli; his love interest Vanessa (Stephanie Gomerez) can’t pay her rent; Nina’s dad Kevin (Tony Chiroldes) can’t pay the bills to keep his cab company running. Even tagger Graffiti Pete (UJ Mangune) is hard up for spray paint. However, Benny (David Kaverman), the African-American cab dispatcher who loves Nina despite Kevin’s disapproval, is saving pennies to pay for his dreams.
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And yes, it’s the story of immigrants hoping, like waves of immigrants before them, to build better lives for themselves and their children.
Sophia Macias sings Nina’s role with the powerhouse projection of an “American Idol” champion, but if Nina is the star of many scenes, she is always part of a larger ensemble of characters. The cast in good voice as they sing and rap (and dance) their way through a day, a night and the morning after. The acting is also superb, especially Yassmin Alers as the neighborhood’s matriarch and keeper of dreams, Abuela Claudia. The elder woman doesn’t do much rapping, but Alers has the challenge of presenting a dignified yet fun portrait of a woman hobbled by age and slipping easily into memory. Director May Adrales keeps the many parts of In the Heights in sync as the cast movies through the simple but evocative set.
Through Oct. 28 at the Quadracci Powerhouse, 108 E. Wells St. For tickets visit tickets@milwaukeerep.com or call (414) 224-9490.
