The Heights that the title of the musical In the Heights refers to is the Washington Heights neighborhood of New York City. Washington Heights is the geographical location that a large and bustling cross-section of the Latine community calls home. It was composer/lyricist Lin-Manuel Miranda’s neighborhood growing up. The title is also an apt description of the aspirational state of being that the neighbors in Miranda’s story encourage each other to maintain. Through their ever-present care and attention to each other’s needs, dreams, and almost private business, the inhabitants of Miranda’s world make it clear that here everyone is welcome. Here everyone here is family.
In fact, director James Vásquez has molded this cast into a family, and the connection among the cast is palpable. Vasquez takes the elements that Miranda and book writer Quiara Alegría Hudes have entrusted him with and splashes them all over the Signature Theatre stage. The result is a production that pulses with lavish and unrestrained joy.
It’s notable how the people of In the Heights meet America’s recalcitrant challenges of caste, race, and cultural gatekeeping with a sweaty and electric combination of fierce determination, exuberance, and self-satisfied pride.
Usnavi (Ángel Lozada) is the proprietor of the bodega that everyone in this rapidly gentrifying neighborhood frequents for their morning coffee. That makes him an appropriate narrator and tour guide. Through him, we meet Kevin (Rudy Martinez), who owns the local car service, Daniela (Karmine Alers), who owns the beauty parlor, and the Piragua Guy (Berto Fernández), who sells the distinctive Puerto Rican shaved iced (piragua) from his pushcart. All three businesses are being squeezed by the changes in the neighborhood. Most poignantly, Usnavi introduces us to Abuela Claudia (Rayanne Gonzales), the beloved neighborhood matriarch. Through them, we experience the fear and weight of the impending loss of this place that they have called home. As the show opens, the entire neighborhood is awaiting the return of Nina (Victoria Gómez), Kevin’s daughter, the neighborhood girl who won a scholarship to Stanford, thereby demonstrating that it is possible for someone from this neighborhood to succeed.
Set designer Andrew R. Cohen places the audience in the center of the neighborhood, allowing for a panoramic view of conversations and events with perspectives that shift on a dime.
The show is full of dancing and singing that satisfies and inspires. The choreography by Shani Talmore is sexy, gritty, and elegant in its conception, and its execution by this highly competent and athletic cast is stunning. (This show is known for having dragged both creators of and audiences for the Broadway musical into an appreciation of Hip Hop, thus giving musical theater the regular updating that it periodically needs.) There are the obligatory big dance numbers, and the show comes close to being danced throughout.
The score is filled with music that makes you want to move. But there is also music of longing and endurance. Kevin’s song “Inútil” describes what fuels his determination to meet his family obligations: “I will not be the reason that my family can’t succeed.”
The music embodies an algorithm that simultaneously supports and documents a people’s survival. There are echoes from classic Latin music of the 1950s. There are horns that scream, complementing the melodic moaning of voices. And together they remind us of how the neighborhood’s challenges get transformed into something beautiful.
Abuela Claudia’s song, “Paciencia y Fe,” describes how accessing patience and faith has enabled her to continue to look for a brighter day through decades of challenge.
I am convinced: there is no good excuse not to see this show.
Running Time: Approximately two hours and 30 minutes with a 15-minute intermission.
In the Heights plays through May 4, 2025, in the Max Theatre at Signature Theatre, 4200 Campbell Avenue, Arlington, VA. For tickets ($40–$131), call (703) 820-9771 or purchase online. Information about ticket discounts is available here.
The program for In the Heights is online
Closed captions are available via the GalaPro app.
COVID Safety: Masks are optional in the lobby and other public areas of the building except that face masks are required inside the performance spaces on February 23 at 2:00 PM, March 27 at 8 PM, and April 9 at 7:30 PM. Signature’s COVID Safety Measures can be found here.
In the Heights
Music and Lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda
Book by Quiara Alegría Hudes
Conceived by Lin-Manuel Miranda
Music Direction by Angie Benson
Directed by James Vásquez
