TONYS 2008 Q&A: IN THE HEIGHTS

Nominated for 13 TONY Awards -- including Best Musical and Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) -- 'In The Heights' features Latin, Salsa and Hip-Hop-infused music, conceived and written by emerging superstar Lin-Manuel Miranda.

'In The Heights' is the quintessential New York musical, about a vibrant and tight-knit community at the top of the island of Manhattan. The music pulses with the hopes and dreams of three generations as they struggle to forge an identity in a neighborhood on the brink of transition. BroadwayWorld.com got some quotes from the talented nominees on how they felt, how the emotional the musical is for the audience, and the magic of the Tony Awards!

Best Orchestrations Nominees Alex Lacamoire & Bill Sherman: Alex on how they all heard the news of the shows 13 Tony nominations.

We were all together on that little island in the, middle of Times Square, we were just about to do our first national appearance on a show, on Good Morning America, and they told us, right before we went live! It was a very New York moment, it feels good, and it just feels right. From Lin's head to here! It's so wonderful to be recognized, it's a thrill, and hey it's nice to be talking to people about it all, ha!

Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical Nominee Olga Merediz: Olga on the musical's emotional connection to the audience.

It's interesting, because there are no special effects, it's a simple family story. It's a contemporary American story with a Latino theme, but it is a New York City story about, love and community, and identity, home, where the home really is, andI think that is the success of it, it's a simple family story. And the music is just fantastic; those characters are so full of love, and so genuine.

 

Best Musical, Original Score & Leading Actor in a Musical Nominee Lin-Manuel Miranda: Lin-Manuel on the thrill of the  creative journey of In The Heights.

I am in shock at 13 nominations, I have to say. I read the slip of paper someone handed to me that had the nominations, and I said out loud, "Yes, yes, yes…, until I said yes 13 times….and then I gave it to my Mom to make sure I counted it all right! It's just a thrill, I'm so glad that our entire design team was recognized, because you know, it's such a collaborative effort. Having so many of those collaborators nominated, is just so wonderful. It's crazy, I started writing this sinceI was 19, and I didn't write because I thought we were going to Broadway, I wrote becauseI really needed to write this show. And I kept singing, "In Washington Heights..." in my head, and I sounded like a crazy person! But now when you sing it, it's Oh you're singing that song from that show, but before it was just a voice in my head! But I just had to get it out, and I don't take any of it for granted, it's been eight years of work, and we are very happy.

Every time you go out there is an audience, and there's people you've never see before and you go, Oh, well I gotta tell these people the story, and so that keeps it fresh for me, every day, and it's really simple as that. I love that we are in the Richard Rodgers, which is such an intimate theater, and you can literally see the faces of the people you're talking to, and you see them laugh, and you them gasp, and you see them cry, that keeps it fresh, every day.

Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical Nominee Robin de Jesús: Robin on the feeling of being nominated.

I still can't believe it! I'm the kid who taped the Tony awards, and I would have to use two VHS tapes because it would run out in the middle! I would have to label them parts one and two! Then five minutes later I would go back and watch them again and realize I didn't label them  correctly!

Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote the first incarnation of In The Heights his sophomore year at Wesleyan University, CT. Off-Broadway, In The Heights: received 9 Drama Desk nominations, including Best Music, Best Lyrics, and won the award for Outstanding Ensemble Performance; received the Lucille Lortel Award and Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Musical; received the Obie Award for Outstanding Music and Lyrics; received a Theater World Award for Outstanding Debut Performance and the Clarence Derwent Award both for Mr. Miranda's performance.

 

The Tony nominated musical was conceived by Lin-Manuel Miranda; book by Quiara Alegría Hudes; music and lyrics by Mr. Miranda; Orchestrations by Alex Lacamoire and Bill Sherman; 'In The Heights' is directed by Thomas Kail and choreographed by Andy Blankenbuehler; music director, Alex Lacamoire. 'In The Heights' is currently playing at the Richard Rodgers Theatre in New York City. The show's three lead producers, off and on Broadway, are Kevin McCollum, Jeffrey Seller and Jill Furman.McCollum and Seller are also the producers of Rent and Avenue Q.

Tickets for In The Heights range from $21.50 to $111.50, and can be purchased at the Richard Rodgers Box Office or at www.ticketmaster.com. Lottery front-row tickets ($26.50) are available two-hours before curtain.

 

For more information, visit www.intheheightsthemusical.com.