Critics Rave About In The Heights
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Star Tribune
www.startribune.com/entertainment/onstage/78325202.html
With its sexy, arresting mix of music and story, In the Heights sends a valentine to an urban neighborhood.
The musical's gifted, gorgeous cast delivers the show's wit and humor with affection.
Twin Cities Metro Magazine
http://www.metromag.com/0p124b14be213/review-in-the-heights
It’s about time Broadway shook things up a bit. Finally branching out from cookie-cutter shows set in the early-to-mid 20th century, the theatrical world recently expanded its reach and embraced a new style, a new sound and a new demographic with the musical In the Heights. Representing more than America’s often ignored Latino community, the show portrays the real world via Brother Ali-type rapping, hip-hop dancing (complete with break dancing circles and some impressive pop-n-lock), and music that grooves with a driving beat and extreme dynamics…. Incredibly refreshing and raw, In the Heights takes real situations affecting real people and puts them onto the stage.
MinnPost
…this trip to the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan touched me in an unexpected way. Through Lin-Manuel Miranda's winning score and lyrics and terrific performances from stem to stern, "In The Heights" proved to be an absolute highlight of the season.
"In the Heights" triumphs through its own undeniable energy and charm — and while it's set at a different holiday, it's somehow perfect for the current season
How Was The Show
www.howwastheshow.com/index.cfm/action/reviews.view/reviewKey/1233
Broadway is taking another step in the right direction with the contemporary music and ethnic flavors of In the Heights … new and original – rare in musical theater produced these days – and authentically grounded in Latino culture – rarer still. This show even blesses us with today’s music and, for those of us who have a latent fascination with Latin rhythms, we are treated to every form of it imaginable, deliciously mixed with hip-hop and sprinkled with rap.
What makes this show rise above is choreography that dazzles and delights, but more importantly it makes all the right moves at the right time, merging dance and direction that creates a new whole altogether. I haven’t seen that understanding of choreography in a long time. Such an intelligent pairing of movement and storytelling!
Twin Cities Examiner
www.examiner.com/x-29077-Hennepin-Theater-District-Examiner~y2009m12d2-In-the-Heights-at-the-Orpheum
passions run freely as each character is faced with a major decision to preserve what they've always known, or take a giant leap to potentially change for the better
Twin Cities Daily Planet
www.tcdailyplanet.net/news/2009/12/02/theater-heights-orpheum
In the Heights feels snappy and fresh in a way that few major musicals do (or ever have); In the Heights feels like a celebration of an urban community rather than a report on The State of Our Cities. If Broadway (or, rather, Hennepin) is the street of dreams, In the Heights is a welcome acknowledgment that those dreams don't necessarily have to be fantasies.
