by Jerome Espinosa Baladad

Created on: November 03, 2010

“In The Heights” in its Broadway production blazed another viable path for other productions that are not typically featuring the usual type of musicals we see on stage. In this production, you won’t see much of the usual guys with the accustomed formula found in most Broadway musicals, or for that matter other productions for some time to come. This time, it’s all about the Latino perspective (or those of other immigrants) with a little tweaking on the storyline, to accommodate what’s typically expected by most Broadway enthusiasts and fans.

This writer was gratefully treated by one of his friends who happened to be also a Broadway producer in his spare time. We saw this musical the Saturday before the Tony Awards night, when it eventually won the 2008 Best Musical Award (together with awards on “Best Score, Best Choreography, Best Orchestrations”). During that performance, this writer noted how the air was feeling “magical.” It’s as if the actors on the stage (plus the brave producers) were being lifted up and prepped up to be recognized for the accomplishment they’ve done for their hard work and perseverance on Broadway, and for theatrical arts (for that matter).

This writer would, then, always have a regular companion who’d watch Broadway shows with him. But with “In The Heights,” this companion wasn’t really that enthusiastic in watching – he actually didn’t care much about this show. This writer wondered silently. He can only theorized now, as “In The Heights” actually signaled the arrival of a new phase in Broadway. Of course, there were other pioneering shows before, but this musical simply “confronted head on” the issue of featuring and making a musical about the lives of others who work and lead generally ignored lives in Manhattan. It chose to deal with a topic most artists would like to ignore or forget in their desire to cater to the “whims and caprices” of the powers-that-be in Broadway.

The storyline itself is basic enough – you can actually read similar storylines in New York Times or other dailies that would involve “poor families” and the “small tragedies” happening in their lives. This writer lived for a while in the same area up in what they call “upstate Manhattan,” and actually saw how others lived up there. It’s not the most fashionable or the stereotyped,

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