In The Heights

A great production of Lin Manuel Miranda’s musical ‘In The Heights’ by this talented group of young people. For those not familiar with this relatively new musical the story is set in Washington heights in New York City and covers the course of three days.   It involves a great variety of characters who live in thislargely Hispanic-American neighbourhood. At the centre of the story is Usnavi, a local shop owner who dreams of a date with the gorgeous girl, Vanessa, who works in the neighbouring beauty salon.   Meanwhile, Nina, a childhood friend of Usnavi's, returns to the neighbourhood from her first year at Stanford College to tell her parents that she has dropped out.  This close-knit neighbourhood work together to face many trials and tribulations while coming to understand what really matters about a ‘home’ – this being that it’s not where it is, but the people with whom they shares their lives.

Director, Producer and Choreographer Lauren Tosney had produced a fabulous show with a very strong cast line-up.  A touching performance from Ellen Garrett as the Nina Rosario – the local girl who has done well and on whom many expectations are laid.  A lovely clear presentation of this character.  Garret has a strong voice and was well suited to this role.  Her parents, Kevin and Camila, played by Joseph Stead and Emily Robinson played their parts to great effect and allowed the audience to share in their challenges and desire for their daughter to ‘do better’ through great characterisation.  Elliot Butler was a super                 ‘Benny’ and I really enjoyed his duet with Nina “When You’re Home”.             

Lauren Kirkbright as Daniela and Isabel Dobson as Carla were an excellent pairing who brought much humour to the show, both had developed really strong and entertaining characters.  Harvey Rhodes was a funny Sonny and I really enjoyed Max Green in the role of the Piraguero man.  The cast were well supported by a number of smaller roles, Graffiti Pete (Miles Fortune), Jose (Calum Taylor) and Sophie Butters who took the parts of Yolanda and Bolero singer – all of whom gave great performances.

Eli-Mai Waite did incredibly well in the role of ageing Abuela Claudia, who talks of her former life in Cubawhilst supporting and caring for the younger members of the neighbourhood.  A brilliant portrayal by this young woman.  Molly Robinson was a super Vanessa who played this role with great passion and energy.                  Archie Rhodes, as Usnavi – the story’s protagonist, gave a stand-out performance.  His delivery of some very wordy lib was excellent.  He really held the show together and I was surprised to read that he was still only in year 10 – a very mature performance. I felt all of the cast showed great empathy with their characters and the challenges they were facing.  The jokes were not over played and the funny lines were very well delivered.

The music added to the atmosphere and the 19 piece band played very well.  Musical Director, Kathryn Clarke had clearly worked the musicians and singers very hard to get the great results they achieved.  In all I counted over 70 people on stage and they made excellent use of the auditorium performance space to allow so many performers to be involved.  Both the Junior and Senior ensemble were very impressive and all remained engaging throughout the story.  

The choreography was perfect for this production and the routines which were both fitting for the numbers and suited to the performers.  The dance interludes between each scene were used to perfectly mark each transition.  There were clearly some very experienced dancers in the ensemble and the routines offered them the opportunity to show their skills and talent.  A number of lifts were well executed as was some great acro.

The costumes were bright and appropriate for the characters with excellent hair and make-up.   The set and props were used to best effect in the performance space with the production having good lighting and soundthroughout.  

Very well done to everyone who had supported this production – it was a fabulous show and I hope everyone involved (on stage and off) enjoyed it as much as the audience.

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