In the Heights

You would think that putting on a fully-staged musical in a week, as Youth of Banbury Operatic Society (YOBOS) aims to do every summer, would be challenge enough.  This year, the Society has also had to deal with the impact of the pandemic - surely this would have a negative impact on this summer’s show?

Well, no. The Society’s production of “In the Heights” is an astonishing tour de force.  The company is so talented, so professional in all it does, that you have to keep reminding yourself that these are teenagers performing a demanding show after just a week of intensive rehearsal.

The musical, with music and lyrics written by Lin-Manuel Miranda before he found global superstardom with “Hamilton”, is set in Washington Heights, a predominantly Latino district of New York.  While rooted in a specific time and place, the show primarily explores deeper themes of community, love and loss.

The creative team did extremely well to marshal the talent at their disposal into such a high quality ensemble production, while also finding time to draw extraordinary individual performances out of so many members of the cast.  The choreography translated infectious rhythms into energetic and joyous routines, and the band’s mastery of syncopation, together with a simple but effective set, allowed the action to remain fast-paced throughout.

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