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The heights referred to in the title of the Broadway musical In the Heights is Washington Heights, a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan adjacent to the George Washington Bridge largely occupied by working-class Hispanics, many of them from the Dominican Republic and other islands in the Caribbean. Lin-Manuel Miranda, who stars in the show and is also given a credit for conceiving it as well as writing the songs, clearly knows the neighborhood intimately. When, at one point, a character reminisces about the subway trains, the IRT 1 and 9, that serviced the area, his character, Usnavi, quickly points out that the 9 has been discontinued. Usnavi, the owner of a bodega (a small grocery) who dreams of returning to the Dominican Republic, is not only knowledgeable about local transportation. In the introductory song "In the Heights," as he introduces the many other characters in this ensemble piece, rapping over salsa music, he uses words such as "exacerbated" and at one point, speaking of the high temperature, notes, "It's gotten too darn hot like my man Cole Porter said." Usnavi is, in other words, a bit too well educated to be what he claims, and the mixture of closely observed street life with erudition is typical of the show's writing, just as Miranda's music, while infused with Latin and hip-hop elements, is also informed by contemporary show music writing. There's no doubt he's familiar with Stephen Sondheim as well as Jonathan Larson, whose Rent is a major influence, even if it's about an entirely different neighborhood of Manhattan. Like Rent, In the Heights follows the lives of a group of characters whose aspirations and experiences have something of a soap opera quality, though the intention is to provide a panoramic view of a bustling community. There is the sense of that neighborhood's falling apart: several of the characters want to leave, others are being forced out. (At one point, Usnavi predicts that in five years the whole city will consist of nothing but rich people and hipsters, a forecast people have been making for a century or so.) But while they're still on the hot streets, they sing and dance and interact with each other, and Miranda has captured their stories well. The large cast, also including Mandy Gonzalez, Karen Olivo, and Olga Merediz in principal roles, does well by the score on this double-CD cast album, which runs 89 minutes.
© William Ruhlmann /TiVo
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Joel Moss, CoProducer - Andres Levin, Producer - Lin-Manuel Miranda, Vocals, MainArtist, CoProducer - Alex Lacamoire, CoProducer - Bill Sherman, CoProducer - Kurt Deutsch, Producer - 'In The Heights' Original Broadway Company, Vocals, MainArtist
© 2008 Sh-K-Boom Records. ℗ 2008 Sh-K-Boom Records.
Joel Moss, CoProducer - Andres Levin, Producer - Mandy Gonzalez, Vocals, MainArtist - Lin-Manuel Miranda, CoProducer - Alex Lacamoire, CoProducer - Bill Sherman, CoProducer - Kurt Deutsch, Producer - 'In The Heights' Original Broadway Company, Vocals, MainArtist
© 2008 Sh-K-Boom Records. ℗ 2008 Sh-K-Boom Records.
Joel Moss, CoProducer - Andres Levin, Producer - Mandy Gonzalez, Vocals, MainArtist - Christopher Jackson, Vocals, MainArtist - Lin-Manuel Miranda, CoProducer - Alex Lacamoire, CoProducer - Bill Sherman, CoProducer - Kurt Deutsch, Producer
© 2008 Sh-K-Boom Records. ℗ 2008 Sh-K-Boom Records.
Joel Moss, CoProducer - Andres Levin, Producer - Karen Olivo, Vocals, MainArtist - Lin-Manuel Miranda, Vocals, MainArtist, CoProducer - Alex Lacamoire, CoProducer - Bill Sherman, CoProducer - Kurt Deutsch, Producer - Robin de Jesús, Vocals, MainArtist
© 2008 Sh-K-Boom Records. ℗ 2008 Sh-K-Boom Records.
Carlos Gomez, Vocals, MainArtist - Joel Moss, CoProducer - Andres Levin, Producer - Roger Moreira, Composer - Lin-Manuel Miranda, CoProducer - Alex Lacamoire, CoProducer - Bill Sherman, CoProducer - Kurt Deutsch, Producer
© 2008 Sh-K-Boom Records. ℗ 2008 Sh-K-Boom Records.
Joel Moss, CoProducer - Andrea Burns, Vocals, MainArtist - Andres Levin, Producer - Mandy Gonzalez, Vocals, MainArtist - Karen Olivo, Vocals, MainArtist - Lin-Manuel Miranda, CoProducer - Alex Lacamoire, CoProducer - Janet Dacal, Vocals, MainArtist - Bill Sherman, CoProducer - Kurt Deutsch, Producer
© 2008 Sh-K-Boom Records. ℗ 2008 Sh-K-Boom Records.
Joel Moss, CoProducer - Andrea Burns, Vocals, MainArtist - Andres Levin, Producer - Christopher Jackson, Vocals, MainArtist - Karen Olivo, Vocals - Lin-Manuel Miranda, Vocals, MainArtist, CoProducer - Alex Lacamoire, CoProducer - Janet Dacal, Vocals, MainArtist - Bill Sherman, CoProducer - Kurt Deutsch, Producer - 'In The Heights' Original Broadway Company, Vocals - Robin de Jesús, Vocals, MainArtist - Seth Stewart, Vocals, MainArtist
© 2008 Sh-K-Boom Records. ℗ 2008 Sh-K-Boom Records.
Joel Moss, CoProducer - Andres Levin, Producer - Olga Merediz, Vocals, MainArtist - Lin-Manuel Miranda, CoProducer - Alex Lacamoire, CoProducer - Bill Sherman, CoProducer - Kurt Deutsch, Producer - 'In The Heights' Original Broadway Company, Vocals, MainArtist
© 2008 Sh-K-Boom Records. ℗ 2008 Sh-K-Boom Records.
Joel Moss, CoProducer - Andres Levin, Producer - Mandy Gonzalez, Vocals, MainArtist - Christopher Jackson, Vocals, MainArtist - Lin-Manuel Miranda, CoProducer - Alex Lacamoire, CoProducer - Bill Sherman, CoProducer - Kurt Deutsch, Producer - 'In The Heights' Original Broadway Company, Vocals, MainArtist
© 2008 Sh-K-Boom Records. ℗ 2008 Sh-K-Boom Records.
Joel Moss, CoProducer - Andres Levin, Producer - Lin-Manuel Miranda, CoProducer - Alex Lacamoire, CoProducer - Eliseo Roman, Vocals, MainArtist - Bill Sherman, CoProducer - Kurt Deutsch, Producer
© 2008 Sh-K-Boom Records. ℗ 2008 Sh-K-Boom Records.
Joel Moss, Producer - Andres Levin, Producer - Lin-Manuel Miranda, CoProducer - Alex Lacamoire, CoProducer - Bill Sherman, CoProducer - Kurt Deutsch, Producer - 'In The Heights' Original Broadway Company, Vocals, MainArtist
© 2008 Sh-K-Boom Records. ℗ 2008 Sh-K-Boom Records.
Joel Moss, CoProducer - Andres Levin, Producer - Lin-Manuel Miranda, CoProducer - Alex Lacamoire, CoProducer - Bill Sherman, CoProducer - Kurt Deutsch, Producer - 'In The Heights' Original Broadway Company, Vocals, MainArtist
© 2008 Sh-K-Boom Records. ℗ 2008 Sh-K-Boom Records.
Joel Moss, CoProducer - Andres Levin, Producer - Mandy Gonzalez, Vocals, MainArtist - Christopher Jackson, Vocals, MainArtist - Lin-Manuel Miranda, Vocals - Alex Lacamoire, CoProducer - Bill Sherman, CoProducer - Kurt Deutsch, Producer - 'In The Heights' Original Broadway Company, Vocals, MainArtist
© 2008 Sh-K-Boom Records. ℗ 2008 Sh-K-Boom Records.
Joel Moss, CoProducer - Andres Levin, Producer - Olga Merediz, Vocals, MainArtist - Lin-Manuel Miranda, Vocals, MainArtist, CoProducer - Alex Lacamoire, CoProducer - Bill Sherman, CoProducer - Kurt Deutsch, Producer
© 2008 Sh-K-Boom Records. ℗ 2008 Sh-K-Boom Records.
Priscilla Lopez, Vocals, MainArtist - Joel Moss, CoProducer - Andres Levin, CoProducer - Lin-Manuel Miranda, Vocals, Writer, CoProducer - Alex Lacamoire, CoProducer - Bill Sherman, CoProducer - Kurt Deutsch, CoProducer
© 2008 Sh-K-Boom Records. ℗ 2008 Sh-K-Boom Records.
Joel Moss, CoProducer - Andrea Burns, Vocals, MainArtist - Andres Levin, Producer - Lin-Manuel Miranda, CoProducer - Alex Lacamoire, CoProducer - Bill Sherman, CoProducer - Kurt Deutsch, Producer
© 2008 Sh-K-Boom Records. ℗ 2008 Sh-K-Boom Records.
Carlos Gomez, Vocals, MainArtist - Joel Moss, CoProducer - Andres Levin, Producer - Lin-Manuel Miranda, CoProducer - Alex Lacamoire, CoProducer - Bill Sherman, CoProducer - Kurt Deutsch, Producer
© 2008 Sh-K-Boom Records. ℗ 2008 Sh-K-Boom Records.
Joel Moss, CoProducer - Andres Levin, Producer - Mandy Gonzalez, Vocals, MainArtist - Lin-Manuel Miranda, Vocals, MainArtist, CoProducer - Alex Lacamoire, CoProducer - Bill Sherman, CoProducer - Kurt Deutsch, Producer - 'In The Heights' Original Broadway Company, Vocals, MainArtist
© 2008 Sh-K-Boom Records. ℗ 2008 Sh-K-Boom Records.
Joel Moss, Producer - Andres Levin, Producer - Mandy Gonzalez, Vocals, MainArtist - Lin-Manuel Miranda, Vocals - Bill Sherman, Producer - Kurt Deutsch, Producer
© 2008 Sh-K-Boom Records. ℗ 2008 Sh-K-Boom Records.
Joel Moss, CoProducer - Andres Levin, Producer - Lin-Manuel Miranda, CoProducer - Alex Lacamoire, CoProducer - Eliseo Roman, Vocals, MainArtist - Bill Sherman, CoProducer - Kurt Deutsch, Producer
© 2008 Sh-K-Boom Records. ℗ 2008 Sh-K-Boom Records.
Joel Moss, CoProducer - Andres Levin, Producer - Karen Olivo, Vocals, MainArtist - Lin-Manuel Miranda, Vocals, MainArtist, CoProducer - Alex Lacamoire, CoProducer - Bill Sherman, CoProducer - Kurt Deutsch, Producer
© 2008 Sh-K-Boom Records. ℗ 2008 Sh-K-Boom Records.
Joel Moss, CoProducer - Andres Levin, Producer - Mandy Gonzalez, Vocals, MainArtist - Christopher Jackson, Vocals, MainArtist - Lin-Manuel Miranda, Vocals - Alex Lacamoire, CoProducer - Bill Sherman, CoProducer - Kurt Deutsch, Producer
© 2008 Sh-K-Boom Records. ℗ 2008 Sh-K-Boom Records.
Joel Moss, CoProducer - Andres Levin, Producer - Lin-Manuel Miranda, Vocals, MainArtist, CoProducer - Alex Lacamoire, CoProducer - Doreen Montalvo, Vocals, MainArtist - Bill Sherman, CoProducer - Kurt Deutsch, Producer - 'In The Heights' Original Broadway Company, Vocals, MainArtist
© 2008 Sh-K-Boom Records. ℗ 2008 Sh-K-Boom Records.
Andres Levin, Producer - Lin-Manuel Miranda, Vocals, MainArtist - Kurt Deutsch, Producer - 'In The Heights' Original Broadway Company, Vocals, MainArtist
© 2008 Sh-K-Boom Records. ℗ 2008 Sh-K-Boom Records.
Andres Levin, Producer - Karen Olivo, Vocals, MainArtist - Lin-Manuel Miranda, Vocals, MainArtist - Kurt Deutsch, Producer - Robin de Jesús, Vocals, MainArtist
© 2008 Sh-K-Boom Records. ℗ 2008 Sh-K-Boom Records.
Andrea Burns, Vocals, MainArtist - Andres Levin, Producer - Christopher Jackson, Vocals, MainArtist - Karen Olivo, Vocals - Lin-Manuel Miranda, Vocals, MainArtist - Janet Dacal, Vocals, MainArtist - Kurt Deutsch, Producer - 'In The Heights' Original Broadway Company, Vocals - Robin de Jesús, Vocals, MainArtist - Seth Stewart, Vocals, MainArtist
© 2008 Sh-K-Boom Records. ℗ 2008 Sh-K-Boom Records.
Andres Levin, Producer - Mandy Gonzalez, Vocals, MainArtist - Christopher Jackson, Vocals, MainArtist - Kurt Deutsch, Producer - 'In The Heights' Original Broadway Company, Vocals, MainArtist
© 2008 Sh-K-Boom Records. ℗ 2008 Sh-K-Boom Records.
Album review
The heights referred to in the title of the Broadway musical In the Heights is Washington Heights, a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan adjacent to the George Washington Bridge largely occupied by working-class Hispanics, many of them from the Dominican Republic and other islands in the Caribbean. Lin-Manuel Miranda, who stars in the show and is also given a credit for conceiving it as well as writing the songs, clearly knows the neighborhood intimately. When, at one point, a character reminisces about the subway trains, the IRT 1 and 9, that serviced the area, his character, Usnavi, quickly points out that the 9 has been discontinued. Usnavi, the owner of a bodega (a small grocery) who dreams of returning to the Dominican Republic, is not only knowledgeable about local transportation. In the introductory song "In the Heights," as he introduces the many other characters in this ensemble piece, rapping over salsa music, he uses words such as "exacerbated" and at one point, speaking of the high temperature, notes, "It's gotten too darn hot like my man Cole Porter said." Usnavi is, in other words, a bit too well educated to be what he claims, and the mixture of closely observed street life with erudition is typical of the show's writing, just as Miranda's music, while infused with Latin and hip-hop elements, is also informed by contemporary show music writing. There's no doubt he's familiar with Stephen Sondheim as well as Jonathan Larson, whose Rent is a major influence, even if it's about an entirely different neighborhood of Manhattan. Like Rent, In the Heights follows the lives of a group of characters whose aspirations and experiences have something of a soap opera quality, though the intention is to provide a panoramic view of a bustling community. There is the sense of that neighborhood's falling apart: several of the characters want to leave, others are being forced out. (At one point, Usnavi predicts that in five years the whole city will consist of nothing but rich people and hipsters, a forecast people have been making for a century or so.) But while they're still on the hot streets, they sing and dance and interact with each other, and Miranda has captured their stories well. The large cast, also including Mandy Gonzalez, Karen Olivo, and Olga Merediz in principal roles, does well by the score on this double-CD cast album, which runs 89 minutes.
© William Ruhlmann /TiVo
About the album
- 1 disc(s) - 27 track(s)
- Total length: 01:42:49
- 1 Digital booklet
- Main artists: Lin-Manuel Miranda
- Composer: Roger Moreira
- Label: Ghostlight Records
- Genre: Soundtracks Film Soundtracks
© 2008 Sh-K-Boom Records. ℗ 2008 Sh-K-Boom Records.
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