In The Heights!
By Christina Muttavanchery ('23)
The NRHS drama production of In The Heights has really brought out the community's support! If you were one of the few individuals who didn't get to see the musical, I must say you missed out. But before I catch you up on what you could've experienced, let me give you the rundown of the story before NR put on its own rendition.
In The Heights was a musical first performed on July 23, 2005. Its playwright was Quiara Alegría Hudes and its lyricist, Lin-Manuel Miranda. However, many people aren't aware of the original musical (which they should definitely check out), believing it to only be the viral movie that was released in June of 2021.
The main cast of the movie included Anthony Ramos as Usnavi, Melissa Barrera as Vanessa, Leslie Grace as Nina, and Corey Hawkins as Benny. The movie was directed by Jon M. Chu, famous for his work in Crazy Rich Asians, Step Up 2: The Streets, and Step Up 3D. The screenplay was created by Jon M. Chu and included the original musical playwright, Quiara Alegría Hudes. The movie also had a guest appearance of Lin-Manuel Miranda as the Piragua Guy.
I remember my own expectations for the movie being extremely high, especially after the audio of the song "Blackout" created a trend on TikTok. As I assumed, it was amazing.
Photo courtesy of Forbes
NRHS's production has definitely broke records and raised future standards for musicals and plays to grace the school's stage. The environment of the musical was out of this world. Every night, the auditorium was packed! Families and students excitedly sat while waiting to see our own Usnavi, Vanessa, Nina, and Benny come alive!
Usnavi was played by Jordan Baez ('24), Vanessa by Maddie Miley ('23), Nina by Naila Rosario ('23), and Benny by Eddie Cigna ('23). Alongside them was a great team of actors, some of which had moments of stealing the spotlight! They include characters like Camila Rosario (Katie Russo ('23)), Carl (Jaslyn Martinez ('23)), Abuela Claudia (Emily Lichtbraun ('24)), and the Piragua Guy (Vincent Verzi ('24)), who can all sure as heck sing, and took the audience aback when they did. They were able to command silence from the audience, while awestruck faces were mesmerized by the upbeat music which made everyone want to get up and dance with Sonny (Ronny Sanchez ('23)).
One of the many backbones of the musical is the crew. After speaking with a few members, I can't even imagine the time and patience that went into making sure everything went smoothly (microphone checks, costumes/quick changes, etc.). We also can't forget about the amazing set built! The set is an extremely crucial piece of what's able to transport the audience into the musical's universe.
My favorite songs from the musical have to be "Blackout" and "No Me Diga!" I loved "Blackout" because of the beautiful chaos on the stage. By this I mean, A LOT was happening on stage (multiple voices singing at once and overlapping, no lights of course, and the characters were anxiously looking for each other in the dark while calling out each other's names). For "No Me Diga," it was one of the songs I was most excited to see, and I think Jaslyn Martinez as Carla and Makayla Rivera ('26) as Daniela were hilarious. Both had amazing vocals which left me astonished. It was very much one of those rare moments that had me thinking after the show!
Overall, I had an amazing time at this show, though it is pretty bittersweet that it's the last NRHS musical I'll see before I graduate. I want to say good job to everyone who was a part of the musical, and thank you for a great show! I'm excited about the future of NRHS' drama productions and the new heights they can certainly reach!
All photo courtesies of Evan Wasserman ('23)
