In the Heights: ACT THREE?!

[GIZMO2]

Posted: 7/29/08 at 11:43pm

A posting from a previous thread was too rich to let go:

"For me one that really falls apart is "In the Heights" aside from the fact that it's depressing, there isn't any resolution. What happens with Nina and Benny? What happens between Nina's Father and Benny? What about Usnavi and Vanessa? And why doesn't Priscilla Lopez get to sing more?"

For all of us who LOVE In the Heights, let's do some quick brainstorming:

What DOES happen to Nina and Benny?
What happens between Benny and Nina's dad?
How does Nina finally pay for Stanford?
Will Priscilla Lopez ever sing again?
Will Graffiti Pete ever get arrested?
Will that piragua guy make it big on the FOOD NETWORK?
And how long will it take Robin de Jesus' character to finally COME OUT O' THE FREAKIN' CLOSET and express his true love for his cousin, Usnavi?!?!

Let's be creative here, folks. Lin-Miranda & the rest of the cast will LOVE it!

[taylorPHENOMENON2]

Posted: 7/29/08 at 11:47pm

I don't think making/selling piraguas will qualify him to be on the food network, but can I just say that i heart Eliseo.

[toanythingtaboo 2]

Posted: 7/30/08 at 6:01am

I highly doubt Lin Manuel would think including an incestuous love between cousins would be a good idea.

[Weez]

Posted: 7/30/08 at 6:14am

I don't quite get why Nina wouldn't take Abuela's money for Stanford.

I'm just assuming that selling the business would cover the entire time at Stanford. That's the only way that plot-point works.

[MyLife]

Posted: 7/30/08 at 8:34am

You don't need an Act 3 to answer these questions:

SPOLER ALERT

What DOES happen to Nina and Benny? -- They are staying together and have a long distance relationship while she's at school. They have the entire summer to be together and have more "sunrises," and they will visit during the school year. Listen to the song "When the sun goes down"


What happens between Benny and Nina's dad? -- Benny leaves the business to start his own, and they still don't get along. But Nina tells her father to suck it up because BEnny is stil l a good person adn they are going to be together whether he likes it or not.


How does Nina finally pay for Stanford? --Her parents sell Rosario's

Will Priscilla Lopez ever sing again? -- In life, yes. In the show, no.

Will Graffiti Pete ever get arrested? -- Fine you can't answer this question, but do you really need an Act 3 for this? He did a good deed by painting the grate, and now Usnavi has his back. So if he did go to jail, Usnavi would pay is bail :)

Will that piragua guy make it big on the FOOD NETWORK? -- wtf?

And how long will it take Robin de Jesus' character to finally COME OUT O' THE FREAKIN' CLOSET and express his true love for his cousin, Usnavi?!?! -- See previous answer.



If there was an Act 3, or Act 2 was lengthened, I would like to see how the neighborhood stays together. Yes, Usnavi stays, but everyone else is gone! Sure, they all live there, but will the street be like during the day? A little more about Vanessa and Usnavi would be nice. I'd like to see their second date.
Updated On: 7/30/08 at 08:34 AM

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 7/30/08 at 10:28am

Gizmo2-
Thanks for enjoying my post

toanythingtaboo-
Who in the show are cousins?

MyLife-
My original post was in response to how there is no resolution. It's not really decided on anything. We are left wondering how will Benny's business succeed? Will Kevin (Nina's Dad) ever come to terms with their relationship? Usnavi and Vanessa re-unite in the last few moments, sure, but she's about to move, is that going to change things? What about Daniela and Carla, with their shop in the Bronx, would they fit in? And I'm sorry, but "Enough" is not a song worthy of the woman who introduced "What I Did For Love," she needs another and better song pronto (although it does come off better in the theatre than on CD). Sure you can sorta glean it, but to me it felt very much like instead of ending, the show just...stopped.

[crzyray]

Posted: 7/30/08 at 11:16am

this show allows us to leave the theatre and ponder the questions they did not answer, i love not having all the answers because it gives the audience member a chance to have it end the way they want. Lin actually does answer a lot of the questions (see previous posts) but the ones he did not answer were left for the audience to interpret.

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 7/30/08 at 11:27am

I don't think that selling a business would be enough to cover Stanford tuition + textbooks + on-campus living costs.

I personally don't understand why Nina didn't just transfer to a cheaper school, like NYU or something.

[Weez]

Posted: 7/30/08 at 11:32am

I thought it helped the realism of the story by not having definite answers. Real life doesn't just stop once you've concluded one part of your story. There was a narrative beginning, middle, and end. I understand how stories that start, continue, then just stop without any resolution can be frustrating, but this wasn't 'Beyond Black' or that Italian novel I read. There was an end. Not an end*ing*, just an end.

[Testing1232]

Posted: 7/30/08 at 12:25pm

<< I don't quite get why Nina wouldn't take Abuela's money for Stanford.

>>

Because it was very important for Nina (and for Kevin) that
her father helped pay for at least part of her college tuition.

Kevin didnt want to feel "useless" as he says.

[toanythingtaboo 2]

Posted: 7/30/08 at 12:30pm

I quote:

"And how long will it take Robin de Jesus' character to finally COME OUT O' THE FREAKIN' CLOSET and express his true love for his cousin, Usnavi?!?!"

As I said before:

I highly doubt Lin Manuel would think including an incestuous love between cousins would be a good idea.

That is the question I was referring to, husk_charmer.

[MyLife]

Posted: 7/30/08 at 12:48pm

But that is the reoslution. Benny decides to leave the cab company and start his own. I'd be upset if the show ended and Benny was still on the fence about leaving while Kevin still had something against him, but this is not the case.

All musicals leave questions unanswered.

What about RENT? Roger moves back to NY and Mimi is alive, but what happens between them? Sure, they're in love, but do they get married? Have children? Does Mimi get medical help? What happens to Mark's film? And what about Joanne and Maureen and their relationship? - There are too many questions, but the end of RENT is a resolution of itself.

Only musicals with an epilogue type ending fixes this. Spelling Bee, for example, gives everyone a rundown each character's future (except Leaf.. I guess).

It's good to do this so that the audience is thinking. After having ITH Act 3, there will be new questions that are unanswered and then people would want Act 4, and so on. ITH portrays real life. It goes on, and never ends. The audience is lucky enough to see into the lives of these people 2 days of their lives. Unless it's made into a TV show, not all questions will be answered.

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 7/30/08 at 12:48pm

Testing1232: Well, yeah, but Abuela's money could have paid for most of it.

Though I'm not sure if even that would have been enough.

[Weez]

Posted: 7/30/08 at 1:52pm

Hey, Leaf Coneybear has cats. :P

[Testing1232]

Posted: 7/30/08 at 3:46pm

<< Testing1232: Well, yeah, but Abuela's money could have paid for most of it.

Though I'm not sure if even that would have been enough. >>

But that is my point.... if Abuela's money would have paid for it, Kevin (dad) would have felt "useless" again---

Kevin NEEDED to feel that sense of purpose (paying for the tuition)

[winter_sky]

Posted: 7/30/08 at 5:26pm

I know Robin is gay but I really don't think Sonny comes off that way. I think he is very believable in his affections for the girls in that show.

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 7/30/08 at 5:29pm

I'm just saying that I don't think that selling the family business would be enough for four years of tuition for a private, out of-state school plus other college expenses.

Updated On: 7/30/08 at 05:29 PM

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 7/30/08 at 7:29pm

taboo-
Gotcha. I missed the "confess his love for Usnavi" part.

I dunno, I just think it raises too many more questions than it answers, and the resolution doesn't work for me.

With RENT (as someone mentioned), it feels complete, you get the moral, and you are left to assume it has as happy an ending as possible...whereas in ITH, I just feel like it stopped, that Usnavi deciding to stay is a mid-way point.

[MyLife]

Posted: 7/30/08 at 8:11pm

See, I disagree.

You get the In The Heights moral at the end. Usnavi is home, and he realizes how important family is. He is home. He found his island. He realizes he doesn't need to go to Caribbean paradise to be happy and escape his troubles. Being at home with his friends and family does just that. Sure, it's not complete but neither is RENT. RENT, we get the moral, but the show could continue. It shouldn't and doesn't, and I think the same goes for ITH.