Kenny Ortega to Helm IN THE HEIGHTS Flick; Lin-Manuel Miranda to Star

Kenny Ortega will direct a big screen adaptation of the Tony Award winning musical In the Heights, according to Variety. The film will be the director's follow-up to Michael Jackson's This is It.  The film will be made by Universal Pictures starring the show's creator and leading performer Lin-Manuel Miranda.  The screenplay will be penned by the show's scribe, Quiara Alegria Hudes.

Meryl Poster will produce alongside the musical's producers, Kevin McCollum, Jeffrey Seller and Jill Furman Willis. 

It is believed that Ortega backed out of the Footloose remake to take on the In the Heights project, which he calls his "dream job." Read the full report in Variety here.

In the Heights opened on Broadway to wide critical acclaim on March 9, 2008, and continues to play the Richard Rodgers Theatre. In addition to winning the 2008 Tony Award for Best Musical, Lin-Manuel Miranda, the show's creator, won the Tony Award for Best Music and Lyrics; Andy Blankenbuehler won for Best Choreography; and Alex Lacamoire and Bill Sherman won for Best Orchestrations. The original cast recording won the 2008 Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album, and Universal Pictureshas acquired the rights to produce a feature film based on the smash hit musical.

In the Heights: Chasing Broadway Dreams, a "Great Performances" special chronicling the personal stories of composer/lyricist Lin-Manuel Miranda and the Broadway cast of In The Heights in the months leading up to opening night, premiered on PBS stations across the country in May 2009.

With a book by Pulitzer Prize finalist and Tony Award nominee Quiara Alegría Hudes and conceived by Lin-Manuel Miranda, In the Heights is directed by Joseph A. Callaway Award-winner and Tony Award nominee Thomas Kail. The music arrangements are byAlex Lacamoire and Bill Sherman. In the Heights also features Tony-nominated scenic design (Anna Louizos), costumes (Paul Tazewell), lighting (Howell Binkley), and sound (Acme Sound Partners).

In the Heights is produced by Kevin McCollum, Jeffrey Seller, Jill Furman Willis,Sander Jacobs, Robyn Goodman/Walt Grossman, Peter Fine, and Sonny Everett/Mike Skipper with associate producers Ruth Hendel and Harold Newman.

For more information and tickets to the Broadway engagement, visit www.intheheightsthemusical.com.