In the Heights Review- 11.7 matinee

Yesterday I went up to the city with a group of my college classmates to see "In the Heights." My roommate is obsessed with the show, and I've listened to the addicting song 96,000 several times. We saw in the upper mezzanine, Row C I believe. Good view, but some of the downstage action was lost to us.

The show is in good shape, thought it's not something I'd see again. I can't quite place my finger on the reason why, though: I particularly enjoyed the blending of multiple styles of music, and the storyline was easy to understand. And now for some tiny snippets of individual performance:

Gabrielle Ruiz was on as Nina. She, along with Chris Jackson, gave phenomenal performances.

Robin de Jesus...didn't particularly care for the character. But he's the comic relief of the show, so that's alright.

Javier Munoz's Usnavi...he is talented, there's no denying that; in many ways, he's not given a lot of freedom with the character because Lin-Manuel Miranda (from what I've heard/seen) was phenomenal in the role, and it's difficult to create your own interpretation of a character when your predecessor set the bar extremely high. I just feel like he was a robot, imitating everything Miranda done previously.

Gosh darnnit...Olga Merediz should have been given the Tony. She was phenomenal; there wasn't a single person sitting down when she took her bow.

I believe what my roommate and I partially agreed on was that the show's overall energy was probably the thing that was off. The intensity of the numbers died down considerably as Act II progressed, and was most noticeable during Carnival del Barrio: it just seemed dead.

Overall, the show was entertaining, and that's what I want to be when I go to a Broadway show. The cast did the BC/EFA pitch, headed by Andrea Burns, who cracked "You want us to make more money than Billy Elliot, don't you?" So I had to donate some money haha

Updated On: 11/8/09 at 07:38 PM

I never understood the appeal of the show, so I understand your desire to never see it again. Olga is amazing though. I will give you that. The book was derivative and predictable IMO and I can't imagine Javier being any worse than Lin-Manuel.

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I've seen the show twice, and Olga stole it both times. If Follies is ever revived again, I think she'd make a terrific Stella. She'd knock Who's That Woman out of the park.

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I saw Marcy when she started and I thought she was terrible compared to Karen...

Trish,
Yes, Seth Stewart left the show. Will Wingfield took over the role in August.

That's how I feel about Karen vs. Marcy too. ^^

The role is probably not the easiest to play because it is under written and kind of boring. But at least Karen had some stage presence and you could understand why Usnavi liked her. Marcy also throughout her time in the show has not changed the character at all, she has been the same 1 dimensional character for a year now.

I also think Marcy leaves much to be desired. I saw both Karen and Marcy. While the part is vastly underwritten, Karen Olivo was able to reach the full potential of the part. Marcy is just boring and I never felt she cared. I also thought her Champagne kiss was boring and lifeless. When did Seth leave the show?

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