bear88 said: "bear88 said:
I don't think you understand Miranda and Hudes wrote the show in their 20s and wrote the film in their late 30s and early 40s. They've grown as people and artists, so I'm not surprised that made changes.
. It's easy to understand why Hudes would want to include the plight of undocumented immigrants, Dreamersand casual racism into a story that already is about a Latino neighborhood that is disappearing due to rising rents.
The film still tells the story of a disappearing Latinx neighborhood.
The problem, I think, is that the immigration plotline feels tacked on. Hudes never devotes too much time to it, but there's enough time spent that it slows the film down. It also, as I mentioned in my earlier critique, makes Usnavi's plan to leave a teenage cousin he adores - facing an uphill legal fight-seem very implausible.
Ms Hudes said when she went back to the stage script, she realized Sonny is the only major character who does not have a solo song. IMO, the immigration plot line does not feel tacked on. The following is Sonny's solo (dream) in 96,000.
SONNY:
Yo!
with 96,000, I'd finally fix housing
give the barrio computers and wireless web browsing
Your kids are living without a good education
change the station, teach them about gentrification, the rent is escalating
GRAFFITI PETE:
what?
SONNY:
the rich are penetrating
GRAFFITI PETE:
what?
SONNY:
We pay our corporations
when we should be demonstrating
GRAFFITI PETE:
WHAT?!
SONNY:
What about immigration?
GRAFFITI PETE:
what?
SONNY:
politicians be hating
GRAFFITI PETE:
what?
SONNY:
Racism in this nation's gone from latent to blatant!
I'll cash my ticket and picket, invest in protest,
never lose my focus till the city takes notice.
and you know this man! I'll never sleep
because the ghetto has a million promises for me to keep!
Tough, merry Christmas.
You’re now the youngest
tycoon in Washington Hiznits.
SONNY
Yo!
With ninety six thousand, I’d
finally fix housin’,
Give the barrio computers
and wireless web browsin’,
Your kids are livin’ without a
good edumacation,
Change the station, teach ‘em
about gentrification.
The rent is escalatin’
GRAFFITI PETE
What?
SONNY
The rich are penetratin’
What?
SONNY
We pay our corporations
when we should be
demonstratin’
GRAFFITI PETE
What?!
SONNY
What about immigration?
GRAFFITI PETE
What?
SONNY
Politicians be hatin’
GRAFFITI PETE
What?
SONNY
Racism in this nation’s gone
from latent to blatant!
community
Oooooh!
SONNY
I’ll cash my ticket and picket,
invest in protest,
Never lose my focus till the
city takes notice
And you know this man! I’ll
never sleep
Because the ghetto has a
million promises for me to
keep!
He is the only one who thinks about other people. This may have influenced the immigration plot line. As for Usnavi leaving Sonny behind, you would have a point if Usnavi left. He doesn't.
Vanessa sings about leaving the barrio for a betterlife, but in the film, she can't even create her artoutside of Washington Heights - and ends up staying. (There's a feminist critique of this show that never got written due to the colorism controversy.)
A feminist critique? Do tell? It was clear to me Vanessa thought she had to leave Washington Heights to be creative and, what is worse, she has to forget about her neighborhood to please white folks. She comes to realize this is not true.
There are flashes of the original show, because most of the songs - and the lyrics - are still there. But they don't quite mesh with the screenplay Hudes has written or Chu directed.
Nonsense. From my point of view, the screenplay deepens to story.
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