In the Heights Tour Review--Chicago 12/28

I have been listening to the cast recording since the show opened on Broadway, and always loved it, so I was very excited to finally see the show in Chicago. We got student tickets (6 together in row Ugreat seats). I feel like I read a lot of reviews about people seeing understudies, but the full cast was on last night.

Kyle Beltran- I thought his Usnavi was just ok. Nothing really impressed me, but I didnt think there was anything bad either. I felt a little distracted in the sense that I thought he sounded like Ray Romano, but overall I had no problems. Its hard to say with the Lin Manuel bias though.

Rogelio Douglas Jr.- INCREDIBLE Benny. Everytime this guy sang I got goosebumps. I liked his voice better than Christopher Jackson. Really glad I got to see him. Probably the best singer in the show, IMO

Shaun Taylor-Corbett- I thought he was a pretty good Benny. Nothing really stood out for me, but he got a lot of laughs from the audience.

Yvette Gonzalez Nacer- All I heard were bad things about her Vanessa, but I thought she was fine. She had a good belt (however I did miss the high belt at the end of It Wont Be Long Now). She didnt come across as all that likeable, but Im not sure if that was bc of her acting or just how the part is written.

Arielle Jacobs- WOW. I always loved Mandy Gonzalez from the cast recording, but I was shocked to discover that I liked Arielle Jacobss voice even better than Mandys. She had a sweet tone, and I didnt think she would be able to belt (the end of Breathe wasnt quite as explosive as Mandys), but by the time Alabanza came, I was totally sold. Her high harmony in that song really got my heart going. Her chemistry with the parents was very good, and I just couldnt help but really empathize with her character. Her songs with Benny (When Youre Home, When the Sun Goes Down, Sunrise) I liked even better than Christopher/Mandys versions.

Daniel Bolero- I wasnt all that impressed with his Kevin. I thought his voice sounded too high kind of like he should have been playing Piragua guy. He did a good job of coming across as the over-protective and unaccepting father though, so I guess his acting was alright.

Elise Santora- The abuela character always kind of annoyed me, and I dont feel that sorry for her when she dies, so its hard for me to rate her. She was a good actress and her paciencia y fe was pretty fierce. Otherwise I dont have too much to say.

Isabel Santiago- Her Daniela was GREAT. I thought she was the funniest one in the show, and she certainly potrayed that gossipy, confident Latina woman very well. Great voice too.

Genny Lis Padilla- I thought she was really funny. However, even though I know she is the more soft-spoken counterpart to Daniela (making for a great pair, IMO), I thought she was a bit too softspoken. I dont know if her mic was turned down or if she just didnt project, but I could barely hear her. Especially when she sang, she was completely overpowered by everyone else. (like in blackout, I knew what her lines were and I could still barely hear them/make them out)

Natalie Toro- I didnt know that Ninas mom was that big of a character, going into the show, but I thought she was awesome! She really sold the **** out of Enough, a song that I would always skip over on the cd. Great voice too.

Grafitti Pete and Piragua guy were decent, pretty much exactly what I expected. The ensemble was good, dancing was great, and I especially loved the lighting. I didnt have too much of an issue with the acoustics (which I feel like a lot of people were complaining about for this tour), however I did feel like some songs could have been louder. A lot of the songs would end with a big booming sound, and I kind of wish the volume was like that for more of the song rather than just for the final note before the applause. Overall I was very pleased with my experience, and look forward to seeing it again sometime in the future.

Thanks for your review. I am seeing it tonight. You should really check out The Addams Family less than a block over!!

I had hoped Yvette would have gotten better as Vanessa. The reviews here dont seem to be getting any better for her as the show goes on. Here's hoping she doesnt drag the show down completely when I see it here in Boston (after seeing it 8x on Broadway) on 1/23.

Fanb, Lin-Manuel Miranda will star in the movie.




Kenny Ortega will direct In The Heights film, Lin-Manuel Miranda will star

I look forward to seeing the tour when it hits Baltimore this winter. I haven't seen the Broadway production since Lin Manuel's final performance in February.

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I saw it opening night in Chicago - I loved this show! But I guess I am in the minority re: Ariel Jacobs - mainly because she is very Disney in comparison with the others in the show, and I am not convinced she is fluent in Spanish (could be wrong), I could swear I caught a few "Ah-Boo-Ey-La" and other slips of the American accent. Very talented girl though.

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Now I feel like the outsider. I've heard a few songs from In the Heights and seen some videos, and a friend of mine told me if I see any show that came through Broadway in Chicago this year, it had to be this one. So, I did the rush with a friend today to see what it was like. Really, I didn't enjoy it that much. I was actually kind of bored at parts! There was some good music, but half the time, I couldn't understand what they were saying. I understood the story though, so it didn't matter as much. I guess i'll do a breakdown of the actors for my thoughts.

Kyle Beltran: I thought he was just ok too. I've seen videos of Lin and I liked him better. Kyle's voice is just lower, and maybe it was because I was at the back of the house and the speakers might be off a little, but I couldn't understand him most of the time.

Rogelio Douglas Jr: I liked his Benny a lot! I really liked Benny's Dispatch. Pretty cool idea!

Yvette Gonzalez-Nacer: Yeah, really didn't like her singing voice. I also agree about losing some of the fierceness that Karen Olivo put in the role. I understand that yes, it's a different actress and they interpret the part the way they want to, but I just didn't feel her performance.

Arielle Jacobs: On the opposite side of the spectrum, I loved her! She sang well, and I think her and Rogelio Douglas Jr. have great chemistry. Definitely good on my end!

Shaun Taylor-Corbett: I like Sonny too. Thought he was really funny.

Elise Santora: I thought her Abuela was cute.

Isabel Santiago:I agree with the comment that she was on fire! Loved her in "Carnaval del Barrio!"

Genny Lis Padilla:I liked her attitude in the part, if that makes sense. Very cute as Daniela's sidekick.

Daniel Bolero: I thought his Kevin was ok. I think his acting was ok with the overprotective father, but wasn't impressed with his vocals.

Natalie Torro: Her "Enough" was awesome! She was definitely the boss in that one and it worked well.

David Baida: Yeah, the part of the Piragua Guy isn't that big, but I liked his little songs. Made me laugh many times.

Jose-Luis Lopez: Again, small part, and it didn't make that much of an impact on me.

I wasn't crazy about some of the songs. I think the best one was "96,000." They just didn't impress me. I felt like there were some big numbers, but felt like the ballads brought down the energy of the show a little bit. I thought the set was pretty cool though. My friend and I were both like "wow, that's cool!" The dancing was cool too.

I don't know, I just wasn't all that impressed. If I had to rate it out of ten, I'd give it a five at best. I found myself wondering if the show was almost over at certain points. Maybe it's just not my kind of show.

Was Elise an understudy for Abuela on Broadway? I think I might have seen her.

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Did anyone get the student rush tickets? If so how were they?

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For the show on the 28th, and since there were 3 of us there, we got 6 student rush tickets total all next to each other in row U of center orchestra, which were actually phenominal seats (didn't pick up any of the sound problems everyone is complaining about).

This was at about 10:20 (20 min after the box office opened). However there were still plenty of seats in the rows behind us so I'd say your chances of getting rush tickets are very good, at least on a weekday.

Just saw the tour in Hartford, and I've been waiting for months. I loved the show overall, but have to admit that while he did a good job I didn't feel Kyle Beltran carried Usnavi as well as I would have liked. That's perhaps due to extensive listening to the cast album, but he felt a little too flat. Maybe it was just the night.

My biggest complaint though echoes comments above, and I hope the tour is listening. The sound was awful - very difficult to make out the lyrics (I would describe the quality of the sound as muddy), particularly in Act 1, and the orchestra overrode the performers too often. This was a big disappointment. I wondered if it was the theater in Hartford, but my issues seem to be the same as others. Fix it!

This might be off topick, but I saw the show in NYC and me and my friend were so dissappointed, we didn't enjoy this show a bit. It was all over the place and the score was awful.

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The issue with the sound on this tour seems to be a real big issue, mostly because there is so much overlap in the singing. I didn't understand why the lead's mics were not up more during songs where their voices should be extra emphasized. I was sitting a few rows in front of the orchestra level controls and wanted to walk back there and smack them.