"In the Heights" Makes Up for Shortfalls With Pure Broadway Spectacle

Elise Santora and Arielle Jacobs in “In the Heights.” Photo by Joan Marcus

Review by Scott Garrepy

You can certainly find things about In the Heights (at the 5th Avenue through October 17; tickets $22-$100) that are less than perfect, but what this production lacks in story and character, it makes up for in execution and format. In the Heights works best when you stop trying to understand every single spoken or sung word and let the show wash over you. It was sometimes hard to parse every bit of composer and lyricist Lin-Manuel Miranda’s clever rap lyrics, which give the show a contemporary accessibility without seeming gratuitous.

As shopkeeper Usnavi, earnest Joseph Morales does sometimes have a hard time getting the Eminem-style rap heard over the music–and all the background vocals. But when he does hit stride with the wordplay, you get a sense of why this musical is striking a chord with so many theater-goers: it’s a musical that infuses what is arguably the defining musical style of our time with Latin rhythms and time-honored Broadway belting.

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In the belting category, Arielle Jacobs’ Nina brings it home. In her opening song, “Breathe,” she had complete dynamic control and emotional punch that brought me along with her as she steeled herself to face the undeserving praise of her unsuspecting family and friends before she tells them she dropped out of Stanford. Jacobs is the real deal, and her performance was the most technically polished–and affecting–of the production.

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The surprise for me was the performance of Oscar Cheda, the understudy for the actor who typically plays Kevin, Nina’s father, a taxicab company owner. His performance in “Inutil (Useless)” was one of the most touching moments of the show. He brought the right sense of wounded pride to this character’s realization that he doesn’t have the financial wherewithal to pay for his daughter’s Stanford tuition. (He’s probably in good company.) You could sort of tell that he doesn’t get to play this role eight times a week, so he had the emotional reserves to make that moment special.

As Usnavi’s love interest, Vanessa, former American Idol contestant Lexi Lawson, sang well, especially on “96,000,” one of the show’s big numbers. She’s a pro, having played the lead female role of Mimi Marquez in the recent tour of Rent. Maybe it’s the character, but I really found myself not caring if she got that apartment, or if her power turned back on, or if she connected with Usnavi. There was a real emotional disconnection with me. Maybe she could get that turned back on with her power. As Abeula Claudia, the neighborhood grandmother who raises Usnavi and gives the neighborhood its moral and spiritual center, Elise Santora rises above the noise with her performance of “Pacienca y Fe (Patience and Faith).” Manipulative? Sure. Effective? Absolutely.

The dancing in this production was spot-on. As someone whose guilty pleasure is watching America’s Best Dance Crew, I was glad to see the dancers could bring hip-hop to the musical theatre stage without parody or lack of authenticity. Sets were simple but evocative of the Washington Heights neighborhood as at least as I would imagine it to be, with the tagged bodega next to the “Salon Unisex” and the George Washington Bridge in the background.

In the Heights is light on narrative, particularly at the end. The finale seems to come a bit gracelessly, as if our meter ran out. But when the multi-layered ensemble numbers wash over you–or a father pulls you into his fear of inadequacy–you take it for what it is: (as the late Seattle Opera Director of Education Perry Lorenzo used to say) “one swell night at the theatre.”