Some thoughts on IN THE HEIGHTS

The stalworts - Olga Merediz, Andrea Burns, Priscilla Lopez and Eliseo Roman - are just as good as they were last year, and the year before that, and the year before that.

Andrea Burns left the show months ago -- Bianca Marroquin now plays Daniela.

random question, and yes I'm going to be this person: do you have a pic of your Playbill? I'd heard that they'd changed it so that only Sparks is on the cover, a la the Corbin cover of months ago?

Bianca Marroquin was the summer Daniela, Burns should be back by now.

Brody - Tell that to the Playbill editors, and the person in charge of the cast board, and Andrea Burns who was on stage last night.

Mallardo - It's a racial thing. I never really felt that angle came across with Chris Jackson in the role.

ETA - Don't have a photo of the Playbill cover, but it is the promotional photo of Sparks that's in all of the advertisments. She also gets top billing on the title page.

Updated On: 9/13/10 at 03:14 PM

Sparks was injured some time during her first week in the show (don't remember the exact date). She was out for a few days, and has been missing scattered performances since.

I have seen her Nina twice, and am not a fan. She sings it fine, but the acting is shaky at best. She was often either very whiny and dull, or very hyper and speeding through the scenes. Her best scene is Everything I Know, which (seemingly coming out of nowhere based on the rest of her performance) is very well acted and rather touching. Overall though, I was not impressed. I think she could improve, but we'll see.

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Andrea is a f***ing lying sack of s**t!

I saw her at Starbucks about a week ago and she said she was done forever with IN THE HEIGHTS when I asked if she would be returning to the show.




HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. I'm sorry. She returned nearly a month later than originally planned, but she is, in fact, back in the cast.

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Ugh, I really want to catch Rua's Usnavi.

I can't imagine Rua's Usnavi being better than Corbin's, or even great for that matter, based on how he does as Graffiti Pete. But I also loved Corbin.

Having seen Mandy, Janet, Jordin, and both of the current understudies, Jordin's Nina singing-wise, is for sure the most powerful. In those moments where she lets loose, her voice fills the theatre like none of her predecessors could.

That said, her acting needs major work. She looks uncomfortable/awkward on stage for most of the show, fidgets a lot, and doesn't seem to naturally be able to "react" yet. She has grown from her first week, however. I'm hoping she eventually will get it. I'm sad to hear she was out both shows yesterday; she's missed a lot. She was out from a Sat. evening to a Thursday the other week.

In regards to the rest of the new cast, Clifton's great, though his voice has been sounding more and more tired as time progresses. I absolutely LOVE Shaun Taylor-Corbett. Kyle is also great; a very unique performance I think. Priscilla Lopez, bless her, is on autopilot every night. I love seeing her understudy Blanca go on.

Jon Rua is actually a great Usnavi.

In addition, someone was talking about how the show is not in bad shape and Marcy, and I agree. I went to Chris Jackson's last show and she actually was a highlight for me, even though I did not like her the first time around.

I wouldn't swear to it....but I don't think so. Inserts for the Playbills were made for Sunday's show, usually one or two cast changes are with a little slip of paper, this was the full size of a Playbill. Let us know.

I also read that Jordin was bit by a pit bull in the park yesterday. Did anyone see this? Link below

http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/story/sparks-suffers-pitbull-bite_1165354

Updated On: 9/13/10 at 05:09 PM

BrodyFosse, maybe Andrea was playing with you when she said she was through with ITH forever.

Obviously.

Her response actually was: "... its been good to me for several years but time to move on."

For what it's worth, Heights always has a full, Playbill-sized insert with the full cast for that particular performance. I've never seen the small slip inserts there, and I've been many, many a time.
I was at the show last Monday night. Since I didn't go to see Jordin, I wasn't disappointed that she was out. In fact, I was very happy to get to see Courtney go on as Nina, and she did a wonderful job. She's a fantastic Vanessa too- caught her in that role back in July. Marcy though was having a good night, and I enjoyed her performance. I loved Kyle's Usnavi, and it was fabulous having Andrea back on the stage. I like Clifton, even though I miss Chris Jackson quite a lot. Everyone seemed to be on fire- lots of energy- and the theatre was full too (the orchestra section was at least- I couldn't see up in the mezzanine).
I did see Jordin at Broadway on Broadway, and I thought she sounded fine. I'm sorry that so many people who were hoping to see her in the show have been disappointed thus far.

It seems like much of the original cast was at Lin-Manuel Miranda's wedding on the 5th. The NY Times article has a short video from the ceremony and reception, and I spotted Karen, Mandy, Olga, Priscilla, Janet, Andrea (and her adorable little boy, dancing up a storm).

^ They already have the people in the theatre is this really needed?