In The Heights revival?

[Dave13]

Posted: 1/4/16 at 11:41am

Unfortunately, I missed In The Heights. However, after becoming obsessed with Hamilton and being introduced to Lin-Manuel Miranda, I would love to see In the Heights. I am betting I am not the only one in this category.  

 

I know it is way too early for a typical revival 5-6 years after being on Broadway, but wondering if LMM would consider bringing it back while his name is hot. Maybe he would consider it once he steps down from the cast of Hamilton.

Updated On: 1/4/16 at 11:41 AM

[Kad]

Posted: 1/4/16 at 11:44am

In the Heights is produced regionally very often now. While I'm sure it'll be revived, I doubt it'll be in the near future.

(I also think having In the Heights running in tandem with Hamilton will only serve to further highlight the considerable weaknesses of the former).

[haterobics]

Posted: 1/4/16 at 11:58am

Dave13 said: "...while his name is hot."

 

Why would he assume that is something that will disappear soon, though?

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 1/4/16 at 11:58am

Heights opened on Broadway in 2008 and played for awhile. Much to soon to be talking about a revival.

Updated On: 1/4/16 at 11:58 AM

[Dave13]

Posted: 1/4/16 at 12:46pm

haterobics said: "Dave13 said: "...while his name is hot."

 

 

 

Why would he assume that is something that will disappear soon, though?

 

"

The amount of people that have written 2 Best Musicals of the year is small. The amount of people to write 3 Best Musicals is even smaller. Even if he writes a 3rd, it is anyone's guess as to how long it will take or even if his next musical is a hit. 

[DAME]

Posted: 1/4/16 at 12:53pm

Heights needs to lie professionally dormant for a long while.  There was even a time when I thought Lin Manuel would do nothing else but rest on the laurels of this show.  He took the tour to Puerto Rico.  He returned to the tour in Los Angeles.  He returned to the role to close the show in New York.  He then did a benefit concert of it.  He was beginning to look a lot to me like a one hit wonder.  Boy was I wrong.  And boy am I glad I was.  

[mcsquared]

Posted: 1/4/16 at 1:09pm

Well it is currently playing off-Broadway in Harlem Repertory Theater production  through March if that is close enough for you.

[haterobics]

Posted: 1/4/16 at 1:17pm

Dave13 said: "The amount of people that have written 2 Best Musicals of the year is small. The amount of people to write 3 Best Musicals is even smaller. Even if he writes a 3rd, it is anyone's guess as to how long it will take or even if his next musical is a hit."

 

Yes, and there is probably some producer debating whether that would be the case, although it still seems too soon. But I don't see LMM being the one driving something like this, which is your premise.

[gypsy101]

Posted: 1/4/16 at 1:21pm

I thought the same thing as DAME about 18 months ago. I obviously knew he had done some stuff other than ITH and that he was working on that weird Hamilton musical (at least I thought the idea was weird) but everything he did had that "side-project" feel to it. Bring It On, Electric Company, appearing in some random tv shows. I thought "wow, what a shame that he's already over the hill." I knew Heights had taken him many years to write and I thought maybe A) he didn't have it in him to finish another musical or B) he wouldn't be able to top the success he achieved his first time out. Luckily for all of us he proved me wrong. Of course now THIS success may be impossible to follow, and I can't wait (even though it'll probably be another 5 to 10 years) to see what new things he does next.

[Hellob]

Posted: 1/4/16 at 1:37pm

Kad said: "In the Heights is produced regionally very often now. While I'm sure it'll be revived, I doubt it'll be in the near future.

(I also think having In the Heights running in tandem with Hamilton will only serve to further highlight the considerable weaknesses of the former). "

The biggest weakness IMO is the book. I'm wondering if that's why he did H on his own. 

[Dave13]

Posted: 1/4/16 at 1:43pm

mcsquared said: "Well it is currently playing off-Broadway in Harlem Repertory Theater production  through March if that is close enough for you.

 

"

I wish. I am in Utah, but come to NYC about twice a year. My next scheduled trip to NYC is in July. I noticed it is showing at a fringe theater in London. Hoping it lasts long enough for me to make it in November. 

[bear88]

Posted: 8/15/16 at 3:50am

Bumping this just to note, as Kad states, that the show is popular with regional theater groups. I just saw it over the weekend in Santa Maria, California (north of LA, further up the coast) by the Pacific Conservatory Theatre. It was a charming production, and the friendly artistic director was very excited to be presenting the show. 

The show itself works well on a smaller, more intimate scale. The musical certainly has plenty of holes, but Miranda covered a lot of the flaws with charm, goodwill, and songwriting skill. 

I'm not sure it makes sense to revive In the Heights on Broadway, at least at this time. A relatively inexpensive film in the wake of Hamilton's success seems sufficient.

Updated On: 8/16/16 at 03:50 AM

[Shaunthedog]

Posted: 8/15/16 at 4:08am

The writer of ITH know has a pulitzer

[bwaychae5192]

Posted: 8/15/16 at 6:04am

You can also search productions through the "Upcoming" tool on R&H Theatricals' website. 

I know it's not a Broadway production, but you'd be able to experience the material at least. Plus you might find a regional company that you love, or some exceptionally talented high school kids. 

[bfreak]

Posted: 8/15/16 at 7:30am

I just performed in this show with a local youth theatre group a little north of NYC and completely fell in love with this show. I agree that the book isn't the best, but the songs are all so cleverly written and it is a show that brings joy to my face. It is not the time to revive this on Broadway, but give it another 5-10 years and I would love to see it happen. Hamilton is a "better" constructed show, yes, but there is something so personal about this story through its execution that it is wonderful.

[Dancingthrulife2]

Posted: 8/15/16 at 7:39am

Saw the show at King's Cross Theatre in London. Very impressed by how it works so charmingly in an intimate theater. The show probably needs this level of intimacy or something close for the firecracker energy Lin enthused it with to perfectly take off, but even a "diluted" production in Gershwin, if possible, is still going to work better than many shows we now have on Broadway.

[gypsy101]

Posted: 8/15/16 at 8:11am

Shaunthedog said: "The writer of ITH know has a pulitzer"

both of them have one!

[MyFavoriteBrunette]

Posted: 8/16/16 at 3:21am

After much debate, I booked my trip to London tonight to go and see it.  I looked for local productions and did find Harlem Reperatory and some others that JUST ended their run, so decided to make a trip out of this desire to see this show.  

I kept saying I was gonna go see it when it was on Broadway but I never did and I felt bad when it closed!  When my mom moved here from Cuba in 1967, a lot of her family was living in Washington Heights.  She never drifted very far, she moved over into The Bronx just across the Washington Bridge over the Harlem River and that's where I grew up.  Going to Woolworth's in Washington Heights for back-to-school shopping was an annual ritual.  I wish I had the chance to see the set on Broadway because the view of the bridge does look like the view from about 173rd or 174th and Amsterdam Ave and at the very end of 181st Street. 

 I've been listening to the cast recording and am enjoying the story a lot so I'm sure I'll enjoy the London production.

[TheatreFan4]

Posted: 8/16/16 at 8:37am

The writer of ITH know has a pulitzer

Congrats, it's still written like a bad soap opera with large plot holes.

[nasty_khakis]

Posted: 8/16/16 at 10:50am

I still NEED to know why they kept the lotto at $96,000. Yes, it's a large sum but taking almost half for taxes, splitting it into thirds isn't enough for a man in his 30s to retire on, even with selling the bodega.

[Oak2]

Posted: 8/16/16 at 10:57am

nasty_khakis - I didn't think Usnavi's goal was to retire per se - he just wanted to return home. I assumed with exchange rates that his third of the money, even after taxes, would still be enough to allow him to move back to the Dominican Republic and at least build up a comfortable life there - not necessarily retiring. Usnavi's goals for most of the musical felt more like just wanting to return to what he felt as his homeland, even if that meant still having to work there. Which is why he had to have that epiphany of realizing Washington Heights WAS his home. Presumably the money he won was still able to help him get his business back on track at least.

Also, I'm not as clear on this, maybe the setting is meant to be earlier than when it came out? I may be mistaken, but for some reason when I was listening to recordings of it I got the impression it was meant to take place in the 80's or 90's, when $96,000 would be a much more effective sum of money than in 2008 when the musical came out.

[hork]

Posted: 8/16/16 at 11:22am

Usnavi even says, "96 G's ain't enough to retire." It's just a nice nest egg for him to move back to the DR and do something else with his life. It would have been silly if they'd won like $10 million. $96,000 is a nice sum to keep the story grounded and add poignancy to the fact that, for Claudia, even this small amount is life-changing.

Oak2 - No, it's set in the time period in which it was written.

[nasty_khakis]

Posted: 8/16/16 at 11:35am

Based on the cell phones used in the show it was most definitely the year it was produced, maybe a year or two earlier.

I still think it would have been a lot easier to believe this "life-changing" amount of money was a bit higher. He mentions moving a sipping cocktails by a beach, not opening a new business or something. It's not a huge flaw, but it's always been unclear to me. I feel the same way about a lot of weird things in Nina's storyline too, her parents selling the business, etc.

[Kad]

Posted: 8/16/16 at 12:02pm

Shaunthedog said: "The writer of ITH know has a Pulitzer"

So do a lot of writers who have written some "meh" (or even bad) things. A Pulitzer doesn't mean everything someone creates is great. It means one particular thing was great.

 

Updated On: 8/16/16 at 12:02 PM

[Liza's Headband]

Posted: 8/16/16 at 12:14pm

Oak2 said: "nasty_khakis - I didn't think Usnavi's goal was to retire per se - he just wanted to return home. I assumed with exchange rates that his third of the money, even after taxes, would still be enough to allow him to move back to the Dominican Republic and at least build up a comfortable life there - not necessarily retiring. Usnavi's goals for most of the musical felt more like just wanting to return to what he felt as his homeland, even if that meant still having to work there. Which is why he had to have that epiphany of realizing Washington Heights WAS his home. Presumably the money he won was still able to help him get his business back on track at least.

Also, I'm not as clear on this, maybe the setting is meant to be earlier than when it came out? I may be mistaken, but for some reason when I was listening to recordings of it I got the impression it was meant to take place in the 80's or 90's, when $96,000 would be a much more effective sum of money than in 2008 when the musical came out."

 

In the song 'When You're Home,' Benny sings "There's no 9 train now." The 9 train was discontinued in May of 2005. The musical would have to take place sometime after May of 2005. Assuming Nina was gone for about 9 months for college (Sept - May) and considering the show's first public presentation was in June of 2005, I think it's safe to say Lin's intended -- or perhaps unintended -- timing of the musical is unofficially the summer of 2005. 

Also, with respect to the lottery: when accounting for inflation, $96,000 in 2005 had the same buying power as $118,290.38 in 2016. You can assume the winner would retain about 48 or 49% of the lump sum buyout. $60,000 is nothing to sneeze at.