Review: SPEAKEASY'S 'IN THE HEIGHTS' HEATS UP BOSTON

IN THE HEIGHTS

Conceived by Lin-Manuel Miranda; music and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda; book by Quiara Alegria Hudes; directed by Paul Daigneault; musical direction, Nicholas James Connell; choreography, Larry Sousa; scenic design, Jenna McFarland Lord; costume design, Elisabetta Polito; lighting design, Karen Perlow; sound design, Eric Norris; stage manager, Amy Louise Spalletta; assistant stage manager, Dawn Schall Saglio

Cast in order of appearance:

Sean Jones, Graffiti Pete; Diego Klock-Perez, Usnavi; Anthony Alfaro, Piragua Guy; Carolyn Saxon, Abuela Claudia; Jasmine Knight, Carla; Merissa Haddad, Daniela; Tony Castellanos, Kevin; Nicloe Paloma Sarro, Camila; Jorge Barranco, Sonny; Jared Dixon, Benny; Alessandra Valea, Vanessa; Santina Umbach, Nina; Christian Bufford, Sara Crane, Lauren Csete, Melanie Porras, Chris Ramirez, Adrian Ruiz, Ensemble

Performances and Tickets:

Now through June 30, SpeakEasy Stage Company, Roberts Studio Theatre, Stanford Calderwood Pavilion, Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont Street, Boston; tickets start at $25 and are available at 617-933-8600 or online at www.BostonTheatreScene.com

There's something lost and something gained in SpeakEasy Stage Company's eager-to-please production of Lin-Manuel Miranda's Tony Award-winning musical In the Heights. While the small stage of the Roberts Studio Theatre cramps some of the original's explosive choreography and thus dampens a bit of the famed New York City neighborhood's pulsing multi-cultural spark, there's also a newfound intimacy that allows the characters to emerge more fully and winningly. The effects of gentrification on the hard-working immigrant American residents who form the vibrant community of Washington Heights become more personal than political here, with the audience readily able to see and feel the bittersweet mix of hope and sorrow that comes with moving out and moving on.

Despite its contemporary hip-hop, rap, jazz, and Latin underpinnings, In the Heights is really as old-fashioned a musical as Fiddler on the Roof or The Wizard of Oz. There are songs of love, loss, home, family, tradition, and the pursuit of a dream. Neighbors cheer for you when you're up and pull for you when you're down. In the Heights, as in Anatevka or rural Kansas, everybody knows your name - and your business - and you celebrate life and longing together, because even when outside influences change your neighborhood forever, there's still no place like home.

Various folks who live and work in the teeming city block of In the Heights are facing decisions about their futures as rents are on the rise, franchises threaten local Mom and Pops, and the younger generation struggles with the pressures that come with opportunity. Fuel is added to the fire when, during a sweltering Fourth of July carnival, one of the residents hits the lottery for $96,000. Speculation and vicarious fantasies abound, revealing everyone's innermost wishes and dreams. All is set to an irresistible score that at times combusts with passion and joy.

The community's unofficial mayor and sometime narrator is local grocery store owner Usnavi (an endearing Diego Klock-Perez), an orphaned young man who watches out for his cocky teenaged cousin Sonny (a delightful Jorge Barranco) and his "adopted" widowed grandmother, Abuela Claudia (Carolyn Saxon). Usnavi also has eyes for the beautiful Vanessa (a captivating Alessandra Valea), but his puppy-dog shyness and sense of responsibility to his self-appointed charges keep him from pursuing her in earnest. Vanessa's beauty salon co-workers Carla (an innocently funny Jasmine Knight) and Daniela (a savvy and good-naturedly sarcastic Merissa Haddad) encourage her to take the lead with Usnavi. Meanwhile, the owners of a local limo service Camila (Nicole Paloma Sarro) and Kevin (Tony Castellanos) are at odds over how to pay for their daughter Nina's (Santina Umbach) college tuition. When Nina comes home for the summer, she finds herself torn between returning to Stanford, where she feels like a fish out of water, or staying with Benny (Jared Dixon), the young man whom her parents like enough to employ but not enough to allow their daughter to date.

Amidst the swirl of a heat-induced utility blackout, a sexually charged West Side Story-like dance at a local nightclub, and holiday fireworks both figurative and literal, one man - Piragua Guy (the lovable Anthony Alfaro) - steadfastly goes about his business selling flavored ices from his pushcart. Like a one-man crusade against the corporate forces that are encroaching on his livelihood and his way of life, he is the proverbial fiddler, hanging onto his traditions as a means of maintaining his balance between the old world and the new. New landlords may come and old storefronts may go, but as long as Piragua Guy still owns the streets, the Heights is still a place called home.

Director Paul Daigneault emphasizes the sentimentality of Quiara Alegria Hudes and Lin-Manuel Miranda's very likeable musical, giving In the Heights a friendly, small-city feel - more Boston than New York, if you will. This treatment invites the audience (seated above the playing area) to become part of the community, serving as tenement dwellers watching - and vicariously experiencing - the day-to-day lives of their neighbors being played out on the streets below. Gang violence is not a real threat in this barrio, and the spray-paint vandalism perpetrated by Graffiti Pete (Sean Jones) is more eccentric than hurtful. The powerful, enduring relationships between family and friends are what dominate this production, and the superb multi-cultural cast wrings every emotional nuance out of the book and score.

The heat gets turned up whenever the cast sings and dances, and music director Nicholas James Connell and choreographer Larry Sousa have added tremendous spark to the many musical numbers. Latin rhythms, sexy percussive beats, and an energetic combination of hip-hop and salsa moves turn songs like "Carnaval del Barrio" and "96,000" into sultry explosions of pent-up frustrations or celebration. More pensive power ballads, such as Nina's "Breathe" and Camila's "Enough," express the fears, dreams and disappointments of a daughter and mother.

A special note of congratulations should be given to the entire company, creative team, and sound designer Eric Norris for making every word of In the Heights intelligible. Diego Klock-Perez articulates every syllable of his rap patter narrations with effortless wit, charm, grace and clarity. The rest of the cast does no less. In this age of over-amped synthesizers and electronic auto-tuning, how refreshing it is to hear natural voices sing exquisitely.

In the Heights has been extended twice, but must end on June 30. If you're spending your summer in the city, why not cool down with some hot performances?

PHOTOS BY CRAIG BAILEY/PERSPECTIVE PHOTO: The Company of In the Heights; Diego Klock-Perez as Usnavi and the Company; Anthony Alfaro as Piragua Guy; Alessandra Valea as Vanessa and the Company

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