In the Heights Off-Broadway Reviews

A sweet breeze does move through the director David Mendizábal’s frequently ecstatic concert revival, led by Matte Martinez as Usnavi, the bodega-owner protagonist originally played by Miranda himself. Usnavi needs to be charming enough to anchor ...

A sweet breeze does move through the director David Mendizábal’s frequently ecstatic concert revival, led by Matte Martinez as Usnavi, the bodega-owner protagonist originally played by Miranda himself. Usnavi needs to be charming enough to anchor the show, yet goofy enough to seem like a hapless stumblebum around the bombshell Vanessa (Ashley De La Rosa). Martinez embodies this tension: He scampers and boxer-shuffles, making quick footwork reflect his skittering heart.

It’s a pleasure to hear this Tony-winning score again, and to see a new generation of performers bringing their distinctive stamp to it. (And a new generation of theatergoers embracing it so enthusiastically as well.) It’s apt that Martinez waits...

It’s a pleasure to hear this Tony-winning score again, and to see a new generation of performers bringing their distinctive stamp to it. (And a new generation of theatergoers embracing it so enthusiastically as well.) It’s apt that Martinez waits until the curtain call to put on an ivy cap like the one Miranda famously wore as Usnavi. This is a revival that tips its hat to its roots but strives to forge its own path. In that respect, though, it only partially succeeds.

“In The Heights” was a pioneering work, and remains a popular one. Is it a musical for the ages – the way, say, “Hamilton” will be? Even its librettist, Quiara Alegría Hudes said recently “I love it, but it’s that youthful inspiration ...

“In The Heights” was a pioneering work, and remains a popular one. Is it a musical for the ages – the way, say, “Hamilton” will be? Even its librettist, Quiara Alegría Hudes said recently “I love it, but it’s that youthful inspiration piece born before you have the tools.”The audience becomes engaged in the difficulties that Nina (Jaci Calderon) has with her father, for her having dropped out of Stanford and for her romantic relationship with Benny (Aaron James McKenzie); Usnavi’s ambivalence about staying in the neighborhood, and his awkward romantic aspirations for Vanessa (Ashley De La Rosa); Vanessa’s frustrating search for a downtown apartment in order to escape for the neighborhood; the closing of the beauty salon owned by Daniela (a riotous Linedy Genao.) But the jump from one to the next is a little dizzying, more illustrative than deeply developed, and each a bit too quickly and conveniently resolved. Still, much of the score is tuneful, and if it feels more sentimental and optimistic than the reality has ever dictated, that optimism, in the face of the current circumstances in the country, feels like an act of defiance.