After settling down onto a velvet seat of New York City’s Richard Rodgers Theatre, the lights flicker and the crowd quiets. A cordial voice flows from the concealed speakers beginning with “Good evening ladies and gentlemen.” After the introduction, I expect the music to begin, but another voice emerges. “Buenas tadres senores y senoras.” I smiled knowing that In the Heights was going to truly be both an American-and Latin-influenced experience.

Written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, this three-day story is set in Washington Heights under the silhouette of the George Washington Bridge. With his goal to return to his deceased parent’s homeland in the Dominican Republic, Usnavi serves coffee with a smile to the residents of Washington Heights from his bodega while shyly pursuing Vanessa, the woman of his dreams, with the help of his hilarious cousin Sonny. At the same time, Nina Rosario returns from her freshman year at Stanford to her parent’s Latino taxi dispatch. Though the business struggles, an African-American employee, Benny, succeeds in sweeping Nina off her feet into a relationship seen as unacceptable in the eyes of her father, Kevin. The neighborhood’s matriarch, Abuela Claudia, reveals a secret in the midst of the summer’s heat wave and heated relationships — a secret that affects the lives of those living in the Heights and even the lives of those watching in the audience.

The effectiveness of the production’s actors and actresses (casted by Telsey + Company) is what pulls us, the audience, into a personal relationship with those living in Washington Heights. We laugh with Sonny and Usnavi as they work and poke fun at each other in the bodega. We gasp with the neighborhood as Abuela Claudia reveals her secret. We worry with Benny and Kevin when the neighborhood blacks out and Nina cannot be found in the scattered light of the fireworks. We are even rejuvenated by the end of the musical when the block realizes where their true roots lay- with each other.

It is easy to see why In the Heights was the winner of Best Musical at the 62nd Annual Tony Awards and nominated for thirteen additional Tony Awards. From fast-paced hip-hop at the club to pensive moments on the fire escapes, the characters took a traditional story of love, loss, and the American Dream to a new level. As the cast took their final bows and I finally stopped whistling and clapping, a dose of Abuela Claudia’s pacienca y fe (patience and faith) was needed as I asked myself, “How quickly can I get back here to see this again?!”

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Footage of the “In the Heights” cast performing at the 2008 Performance 62nd Tony Awards: