BWW Reviews: IN THE HEIGHTS at the 5th Avenue Theatre

 The 5^th Avenue Theatre continues its celebration and love of the American Musical with the National Tour of one of the freshest new shows to come along in awhile, "In the Heights".  And while the tour of this fresh show seemed to come across a bit stale, the show still demonstrates that good new musical theater is out there and doesn't need to be based on a movie.

The show focuses on the residents of Washington Heights, a primarily Dominican northern neighborhood of Manhattan.  The people here only just make ends meet and the neighborhood businesses are barely holding on.  We have Usnavi and his cousin Sonny who run the corner grocery store and their Abuela Claudia (who's not really their Abuela but raised them and is kind of the matriarch of the neighborhood).  Then we have the Roasrios, Kevin and Camila who run a car service and their Daughter Nina who is home from College with some distressing news.  And Benny who works for the Rosarios but also has feelings for the prodigal daughter Nina.  And Vanessa who works at the local hair salon and just longs to get out of Washington Heights and move uptown much to the dismay of Usnavi who can't stop mooning over her, even long enough to ever ask her out.  Add into that the $96,000 winning lottery ticket that is floating around the neighborhood somewhere and there's your story.  But the show is less about the plot points which are fairly simple and more about the incredibly rich characters and wonderful and plot driving songs created by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Quiara Alegria Hudes.  It's encouraging every time I see a show with such well written characters and music that actually moves the story.  Some people still understand good structure.

But this is not strictly an old style musical.  Yes, there are standard musical theater elements to the songs but they've been infused with a decidedly Latin hip-hop rhythm and are a welcome bit of diversity to the truly American art form.

So with all this going for it, why did it feel stale?  Good question.  I still felt for the characters, enjoyed the songs, tapped my foot and even teared up a little at the end.  But it just felt like it was missing that little extra spark to push it over The Edge.  I've heard the cast album many times and even on the recording the performers come across with more energy and passion that what I saw.  I can only assume that these performers have been on tour a little too long and have just begun going through the motions.  And while they're good motions, without that drive the show loses something.

There were some sparks of goodness.  Joseph Morales as Usnavi and Chris Chatman as Sonny were funny, lovable and heartfelt.  And the Rosarios, Natalie Toro, Daniel Bolero and Arielle Jacobs had some stunning moments as a proud family with truths being told.  But even that seemed to be laden down in a show with all the right moves in all the right places but lacking the excitement and newness that the show once had.  The voices were lovely (when we could understand what they were saying.  The 5^th Avenue still has issues with the orchestra overpowering the performers) but didn't blow me away.

All in all, a good show and completely worth seeing for the songs and characters alone.  It truly is an excellent addition to the American Musical.  I just wish this cast had been able to retain their excitement for being a part of it.

"In the Heights" plays at the 5^th Avenue Theatre through October 17^th.  For tickets or information contact the 5^th Avenue box office at 206-625-1900 or visit them online at www.5thavenue.org.

Photo Credits: Joan Marcus

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