REVIEW: IN THE HEIGHTS Returns To The Sydney Opera House For A Restaging.

Wednesday 24th July 2024, 7:30pm, Drama Theatre Sydney Opera House

Joshua Robson Productions (formerly Blue Saint Productions) brings Luke Joslin’s (Director) production of Lin-Manuel Miranda (Concept, music and lyrics) and Quiara Alegria Hudes (Book) Tony Award Winning and Pulitzer Prize Finalist musical IN THE HEIGHTS, back to Sydney Opera House. Previously staged in the Concert Hall in 2019, after a premiere season at Hayes Theatre in 2018, this season sees the work occupy the Drama Theatre stage with a predominantly new creative team supporting Joslin.

Lin-Manuel Miranda’s breakout musical before HAMILTON, IN THE HEIGHTS, tells the story of the northern Manhattan community of immigrants that Miranda’s family grew up in.  While Miranda grew up in Inwood, he centers the stories on Washington Heights, a neighborhood that has seen ebbs and flows of new generations of migrants from different countries, focusing on the period when it was home to Puerto Ricans, Dominican Americans and Cubans that ran small business that were feeling the pinch of big businesses and gentrification.  As the central character of Usnavi highlights, the stories of the inhabitants need to be kept alive and IN THE HEIGHTS does this, sharing the hopes, dreams, and determination of people that have sought a better life in the United States. 

For this production, Mason Browne has adapted Simon Greer’s 2018 set for the broad letterbox stage and choreographer has upped the ensemble dancers again to seven to make use of the extra space and ensure a feel of a busy community surrounding the central characters.  Keerthi Subramanyam has updated the costuming to add a more contemporary feel to the work though the high-end looking footwear of the ensemble may not be that representative of a community that is generally struggling to make ends meet and the default to jeans is incongruous with the storyline that indicates a summer heatwave. 

This season sees Olivia Vasquez reprise her role as Vanessa, having performed in both the 2018 Hayes season and 2019 Concert Hall season.  Similarly, Alexander Palacio and Richard Valdez return for a third time as Kevin and Piragua Guy respectively and Ryan Gonzalez reprises his 2018 performance as Usnavi.  The returning cast and the new cast are all vocally strong performers, but this production lacked some of the nuance and sensitivity of previous productions, particularly missing the heart and humor central to the stories and relationships.  This was in part due to Victoria Falconer’s music direction and Dylan Robinson’s sound design that only had one level of loud.  The Drama Theatre is an awkward space for musical theatre with this production not being unique in having sound balance issues.  The overblown sound, that verged on painful at times, also reduced the impact of Miranda’s clever lyrics, leading the work to be an exercise in singing rather than storytelling and missing many of the quick jokes woven into the songs.

If the sound design and balance issues can be rectified and the performers can lean into their characters backstories and emotions more, this production of IN THE HEIGHTS can have the impact of earlier seasons.  It has the potential, but it needs a few tweaks to live up to the reputation of both its predecessors and it’s Broadway original. 

https://www.sydneyoperahouse.com/musical-theatre-cabaret/heights

Photos: Daniel Boud

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