The Original Broadway Cast
A quote from Lin-Manuel Miranda, the creator of In The Heights:
"[...]
In The Heights began as a scribble in the margins of my astronomy notebook during my
sophomore year of college. As our professor droned on about the size of the universe
and the mass of objects in space, I doodled those three words, In The Heights, over and
over again, spinning my thoughts into a universe of my own. Perhaps that’s why it’s so
difficult for me to write the introduction to a study guide: In The Heights was conceived
when I should have been studying.
I was born and raised in New York City. My parents were both born in Puerto Rico. And
every summer, my sister and I were sent back to my dad’s hometown of Vega Alta,
Puerto Rico, to get spoiled by my grandparents and learn Spanish the old fashioned
way, sink or swim. Even at the age of five, my Spanish accent was bad enough for the
kids in Vega Alta to call me “Gringo” and“Americano,” and exclude me from stickball
games. So I stayed close to the Abuelos and Abuelas of Puerto Rico, my grandparents
and their friends, who didn’t mind having a little American kid scribbling on their
front porch, who could understand my Spanish through its tortured conjugations and
verb-tense agreements. I would spend hours on those porches, imagining what my life
would be like if I had been born here. Would they let me play stickball? Would I be more
Puerto Rican?
When I started going to Hunter College Elementary School, on the Upper East Side
of Manhattan, I quickly became aware of how Puerto Rican I was. Most of my school
friends were white, Jewish, and lived on the Upper West and East sides of Manhattan.
When I told them I lived on Dyckman-200th street, they howled with laughter and said,
“Is that in the Bronx?”And yet I knew, even then, that my neighborhood was special.
While my contemporaries lived within their rigid Manhattan grid, I spent hours roaming
the wilds of Inwood Hill Park. I indulged medieval fantasies around the Cloisters,
imagining it as my own private castle. I marveled that my grandparents could visit and
make themselves understood, because everyone spoke Spanish. They played salsa
and merengue at my local McDonald’s. We played dominoes on the curb and spent
our nickels on Now & Laters and Quarter Waters from the local bodega. In the absence
of Puerto Rico, this pan-Latin neighborhood, where everyone was from everywhere,
became my home.
[...]
Keep an eye out for that kid in the back of your classroom, scribbling in the
margins. He or she is dreaming of worlds we haven’t yet imagined, scribbling toward a
place we haven’t yet seen. Engage those kids, get them out of the margins, and there’s
no telling where they may lead you.
Siempre,
Lin-Manuel Miranda"
Source: http://www.hersheytheatre.com/pdf/in_heights_studyguide.pdf
In The Heights premiered off-Broadway in 2007. It opened on Broadway on March 9, 2008. It closed January 9, 2011, after 29 previews and 1,185 regular performances. At the 2008 Tony Awards, In the Heights won 4 Tony's, including best musical. (You can see their performance at the Tony's here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvVgm4imyj0)
After it's premier off-Broadway, the show won the Outer Critics' Circle Award for Outstanding Musical; Outer Critics' Circle Award for Outstanding Choreography; Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Musical; Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Choreography; Drama Desk for Outstanding Choreography; Drama Desk for Outstanding Ensemble Performance; Obie Award for Outstanding Music and Lyrics; Equity's Clarence Derwent Award for Lin-Manuel Miranda; Theatre World Award for Lin-Manuel Miranda.
If you want to learn more about the creation of the show, you can watch this documentary, part of PBS's great performances series, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDkRLXugO24
A quote from Lin-Manuel Miranda, the creator of In The Heights:
"[...]
In The Heights began as a scribble in the margins of my astronomy notebook during my
sophomore year of college. As our professor droned on about the size of the universe
and the mass of objects in space, I doodled those three words, In The Heights, over and
over again, spinning my thoughts into a universe of my own. Perhaps that’s why it’s so
difficult for me to write the introduction to a study guide: In The Heights was conceived
when I should have been studying.
I was born and raised in New York City. My parents were both born in Puerto Rico. And
every summer, my sister and I were sent back to my dad’s hometown of Vega Alta,
Puerto Rico, to get spoiled by my grandparents and learn Spanish the old fashioned
way, sink or swim. Even at the age of five, my Spanish accent was bad enough for the
kids in Vega Alta to call me “Gringo” and“Americano,” and exclude me from stickball
games. So I stayed close to the Abuelos and Abuelas of Puerto Rico, my grandparents
and their friends, who didn’t mind having a little American kid scribbling on their
front porch, who could understand my Spanish through its tortured conjugations and
verb-tense agreements. I would spend hours on those porches, imagining what my life
would be like if I had been born here. Would they let me play stickball? Would I be more
Puerto Rican?
When I started going to Hunter College Elementary School, on the Upper East Side
of Manhattan, I quickly became aware of how Puerto Rican I was. Most of my school
friends were white, Jewish, and lived on the Upper West and East sides of Manhattan.
When I told them I lived on Dyckman-200th street, they howled with laughter and said,
“Is that in the Bronx?”And yet I knew, even then, that my neighborhood was special.
While my contemporaries lived within their rigid Manhattan grid, I spent hours roaming
the wilds of Inwood Hill Park. I indulged medieval fantasies around the Cloisters,
imagining it as my own private castle. I marveled that my grandparents could visit and
make themselves understood, because everyone spoke Spanish. They played salsa
and merengue at my local McDonald’s. We played dominoes on the curb and spent
our nickels on Now & Laters and Quarter Waters from the local bodega. In the absence
of Puerto Rico, this pan-Latin neighborhood, where everyone was from everywhere,
became my home.
[...]
Keep an eye out for that kid in the back of your classroom, scribbling in the
margins. He or she is dreaming of worlds we haven’t yet imagined, scribbling toward a
place we haven’t yet seen. Engage those kids, get them out of the margins, and there’s
no telling where they may lead you.
Siempre,
Lin-Manuel Miranda"
Source: http://www.hersheytheatre.com/pdf/in_heights_studyguide.pdf
In The Heights premiered off-Broadway in 2007. It opened on Broadway on March 9, 2008. It closed January 9, 2011, after 29 previews and 1,185 regular performances. At the 2008 Tony Awards, In the Heights won 4 Tony's, including best musical. (You can see their performance at the Tony's here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvVgm4imyj0)
After it's premier off-Broadway, the show won the Outer Critics' Circle Award for Outstanding Musical; Outer Critics' Circle Award for Outstanding Choreography; Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Musical; Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Choreography; Drama Desk for Outstanding Choreography; Drama Desk for Outstanding Ensemble Performance; Obie Award for Outstanding Music and Lyrics; Equity's Clarence Derwent Award for Lin-Manuel Miranda; Theatre World Award for Lin-Manuel Miranda.
If you want to learn more about the creation of the show, you can watch this documentary, part of PBS's great performances series, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDkRLXugO24