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In The Heights

In The Heights

Richard Rodgers Theatre
226 West 46th St., NYC

In the Heights tells the universal story of a vibrant community in Manhattan’s Washington Heights – a place where the coffee from the corner bodega is light and sweet, the windows are always open, and the breeze carries the rhythm of three generations of music. It’s a community on the brink of change, full of hopes, dreams and pressures, where the biggest struggles can be deciding which traditions you take with you, and which ones you leave behind.

Quick Facts about In The Heights:

In the Heights is a musical with music and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda and a book by Quiara Alegría Hudes. The story explores three days in the characters’ lives in the New York City Dominican-American neighborhood of Washington Heights. The score features hip-hop, salsa, merengue and soul music. The musical’s 2008 Broadway production was nominated for thirteen Tony Awards and won the Tony Award for Best Musical at the 62nd Tony Awards.

WINNER of 4 TONY AWARDS!
BEST MUSICAL
BEST SCORE
BEST CHOREOGRAPHY
BEST ORCHESTRATIONS
2008 TONY AWARDS

The Dream Makers:
Lin-Manuel Miranda created the musical at Wesleyan University and later presented a new version at the National Music Theatre Conference at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center in Waterford, CT. It then received a production at the off-Broadway 37 Arts Theater opening on February 8, 2007. Directed by Thomas Kail, with choreography by Andy Blankenbuehler and music direction by Alex Lacamoire, the cast featured Priscilla Lopez, Christopher Jackson, Mandy Gonzalez, Olga Merediz, Karen Olivo, Andréa Burns, Robin de Jesús and Lin-Manuel Miranda. It was produced by Jill Furman, Kevin McCollum, Jeffrey Seller and Sander Jacobs, (McCollum and Seller produced the hit musicals Rent[1] and Avenue Q). The off-Broadway production was nominated for nine Drama Desk Awards, winning two, and closed on July 15, 2007.

The Broadway production began previews on February 14, 2008,[2] with an official opening on March 9, 2008 at The Richard Rodgers Theatre. The Broadway production was again directed and choreographed by Kail and Blankenbuehler, with most of the off-Broadway principals repeating their roles. It has received favorable reviews praising its modern score, young cast, choreography and set. The show was nominated for thirteen Tony Awards, including Best Musical, book and score, as well as for direction and choreography. Of those thirteen nominations, it won four awards, including best musical, original score, choreography and orchestration.[3]

The producers announced on January 8, 2009 that the show had recouped its $10 million investment after 10 months.[4] The Broadway cast recording was released on June 3, 2008 by Ghostlight Records and won the 51st Annual Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album, besting the recordings of The Little Mermaid, Young Frankenstein and the revivals of Gypsy and South Pacific.

Quick Facts about Washington Heights

Ten blocks from the northern end of Washington Heights, in its Hudson Heights neighborhood near Pinehurst Avenue and 183rd Street in Bennett Park, is a plaque marking Manhattan’s highest natural elevation, 265 ft (80.8 m) above sea level, at what was the location of Fort Washington, the Revolutionary War camp of General George Washington and his troops, from whom Washington Heights takes its name.

There are a bunch of Parks in that area:
* Bennett Park – highest natural point in Manhattan.
* Fort Tryon Park – home to The Cloisters
* Fort Washington Park – home of the Little Red Lighthouse
* Highbridge Park – embodies the city’s history
* J. Hood Wright Park – between 173rd and 176th Streets and Ft. Washington
* Riverside Park – a waterfront park between West 72nd and West 158th Streets
* Mitchell Square Park, has the Washington Heights and Inwood World War I memorial by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney

Famous People from Washington Heights

* David Dinkins, Mayor of New York City 1990-1994.
* Pedro Alvarez (1987-), baseball player who was drafted second overall by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 2008 Major League Baseball Draft.
* Alex Arias (1967-), Dominican-American former Major League Baseball player.
* Rod Carew (1945-), former professional baseball player.
* Frances Conroy (1953-), actress.
* Don Dinero – Cuban-American Hip-Hop/Reggaeton artist.
* Jim Dwyer (1957-), columnist and reporter at The New York Times.
* Lawrence Fishburne (1961-), African-American, Academy Award nominated actor.
* Luis Flores (1981-), Dominican former NBA point guard.
* Lou Gehrig (1903-1941), German-American professional baseball player for the New York Yankees.
* Elias Goldberg (1886-1978), New York painter, most of his city paintings focus on the area of Washington Heights. Mr. Goldberg exhibited at the legendary Charles Egan Gallery.
* Alan Greenspan (1926-), 13th Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve.
* Jacob K. Javits (1904-1986), United States Senator.
* Henry Kissinger (1923-), former National Security Advisor and United States Secretary of State.
* Joshua Lederberg (1925-2008), geneticist who received the 1958 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for work in bacterial genetics, was born in Montclair.
* Stan Lee (1922-), Creator of Spider-Man, X-Men, The Incredible Hulk.
* Don “Magic” Juan (1950-), Dominican-American hip-hop/merengue/Reggaeton artist.
* Mims (1981-), Jamaican-American Rapper.
* Lin-Manuel Miranda (1980-), actor, and Tony Award-winning composer, and lyricist, best known for writing and acting in the Broadway musical In the Heights.
* Manny Perez – Dominican Actor, who has appeared in Third Watch.
* Freddie Prinze (1954-1977), Puerto Rican and Hungarian descent Stand-up comedian, best known for his 1970s TV series Chico and the Man co-starring Jack Albertson.
* Manny Ramírez (1972-), Dominican Baseball playe r for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
* Alex Rodriguez (1975-), Dominican-American Baseball player for the New York Yankees.
* Merlin Santana (1976-2002), Dominican-American actor also Tupac’s brother-in-law.
* Vin Scully (1927-), Sportscaster for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
* TAKI 183 – one of the originators of New York graffiti.
* Ruth Westheimer (1928-), “Dr. Ruth”, sex educator and sex counselor.
* Jerry Wexler (1917-2008), music producer who coined the term “Rhythm and Blues”.