In the Heights: What a difference a year makes

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 9/12/08 at 10:28am

I thought of this, which I'm sure has already been discussed, as I was exercising the other day and 96,000 popped up on my iPod.

1 year ago (give or take), when IN THE HEIGHTS had just closed at 37 Arts, everyone was scoffing at the idea of taking it to Broadway. It rarely played to full houses at 37 Arts, and most of the reviews were positive, though not exactly million dollar commentary.

Fast forward six, seven months, IN THE HEIGHTS won the Tony for Best Musical and is doing boffo business.

I regret not seeing it at 37 Arts - It was always on my list, but I just never got there. On Broadway, it was a solid, enjoyable experience, certainly not the Best of the Year (in my opinion, anyway), but definitely an exemplary work in the modern American musical theater canon.

By all accounts, it's certainly not a case where the entire show was rewritten. So what happened? Is 37 Arts a theater of death? (We all know the answer to that starts in "Y" and ends in "ES.") Were McCullum and Seller saving all publicity for the Broadway run and letting it lay low at 37 Arts?