New Musical In the Heights to Scale Off-Broadway

By: Jul. 31, 2006
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Kevin McCollum, Jeffrey Seller and Jill Furman have announced that In the Heights, an original musical, will begin previews in January 2007 and open in February 2007 at Off-Broadway's 37 Arts (450 West 37th Street).

With music and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda and a book by Quiara Alegria Hudes (Elliot, A Soldier's Fugue), In the Heights will be directed by Thomas Kail (Freestyle Love Supreme, artistic director of Back House Productions) and choreographed by Andy Blankenbuehler (Barbie in Fairytopia, Burleigh Grime$).  Alex Lacamoire is music director and music arrangements are by Alex Lacamoire and Bill Sherman.  Lin-Manuel Miranda also stars in the role of Usnavi.

In the Heights is "an original musical about two days in the life of Washington Heights, a vibrant immigrant neighborhood at the top of Manhattan. From the vantage point of Usnavi's corner bodega, we experience the joys, heartbreaks and bonds of a Latino community struggling to redefine home," state press notes.

Miranda received the Georgia Holof Outstanding Lyricist Award for his work on In The Heights at the 2005 Eugene O'Neill Music Theater Conference. Along with Anthony Veneziale and Thomas Kail, he is a founding member of Freestyle Love Supreme, a hip-hop comedy group that has toured the Aspen Comedy Festival, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and the Melbourne Comedy Festival. Miranda has written a number of musical pieces for commercials, including political ads for Fernando Ferrer and Eliot Spitzer, and contributed original music to ads for Promesas, a youth center for homeless teens in New York.  In 2004, he and Shockwave won  the first annual Vocal Warrs freestyle battle contest at the Bowery Poetry Club. .

In the Heights will feature scenic design by Anna Louizos (Avenue Q), costumes by Paul Tazewell (The Color Purple), lighting by Jason Lyons (Barefoot in the Park) and sound by Acme Sound Partners (Avenue Q).  Producers McCollum and Furman recently brought The Drowsy Chaperone to Broadway, while Seller, with McCollum, produced Rent and Avenue Q, among others.

Complete casting will be announced shortly.



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