On Wednesday June 16th, I saw the national tour of In The Heights for the third time. I had seen the tour twice before in Minneapolis but this was my first time seeing it in Tempe. I had been waiting months to see Heights again.I walked into the theatre so excited some could have thought I had never seen the show before. After walking less than 500 feet I saw a familiar face at the merchandise stand. Of course I had to buy something. I couldn’t decide what so I added a new T-shirt with the show’s logo and the Bodega T-shirt to my collection of Heights merchandise. I chatted with the merchandise lady (I knew her name and then I forgot it. I feel bad about that!) for a few minutes. She remembered me from when I saw the show twice in Minneapolis. She told me who was going to be on in certain roles and that it was going to be a great show. Across the hall they were selling Tony Awards Playbills and I knew I had to have it so I bought it. I already knew that it was going to be a good night. Then again when isn’t it a good night when you are seeing In The Heights?
When I got to my seat I opened my Playbill to pass time. After I finished looking at my Heights Playbill I checked out my Tony Awards Playbill. Then before I knew it the pre-show announcements had started. Wilkie Ferguson was on for Benny and I was excited. Other understudies that were on for the leads were Joseph Morales as Usnavi, Genny Lis Padilla as Nina and Kristina Fernandez as Carla. Also the ensemble had a few swings (Daniel Cruz, Morgan Matayoshi, and Kevin Santos). I knew right when Graffiti Pete (Jose-Luis Lopez) came out and was tagging the Bodega the show was going to be amazing. The opening number was incredible. It was the same yet completely different. I had never seen Joseph Morales as Usnavi so it was fun to see his spin on the role. Genny Lis Padilla was an incredible Nina. Her “Breath” was beautiful. Wilkie was wonderful as Benny. He and Genny were a perfect together. Kristina Fernandez was incredible as Carla. She and Isabel Santiago who plays Daniela were great together. I always loved the line “She’ll do anything for you but she won’t support your mother’s malfunction.” And Kristina said it perfectly. Also it was my first time seeing Sabrina Sloan as Vanessa and my goodness she is a powerhouse! I enjoyed her as Vanessa so much. The rest of the cast was also incredible; they never cease to amaze me. I love all of Sonny’s one liners and Shaun Taylor-Corbett nailed them all! I could continue and write a scene by scene review of the show but I will spare you (Sort of…). The show was amazing as I thought it would be. I found new love for the song “Piragua (Reprise)”. I think I found new love because it is so catchy and David Baida’s little dance during the song is so funny. I also really enjoyed the new lyrics in “96,000”. I found the reactions of some audience members funny when they heard Sonny say “What about immigration? Arizona be hatin’. Racism in that state has gone from latent to blatant!”
After the show I went to the Stage Door to get autographs and tell the cast what an amazing job they had done. I was so excited when the first person out of the Stage Door was Lin Manuel-Miranda. I guess you could say I got a little star struck. It happens to the best of it. All I could say was “Can I get a picture?” Even though I didn’t say much Lin was so nice and I was just glad I got to meet him and get a picture with him. After Lin a good number of cast members came out. I chatted with them and told them that they were amazing. I got the question “Is this your first time seeing the show?” a lot. I then explained I had seen it twice before and would be seeing it to more times that week. Most replied with a smile and said something like “That is real dedication”. My favorite reply was from Isabel Santiago she asked if it we came out here for vacation and I explained my family had a house not far from the theatre and she said “I really need one of those!” I don’t know why but it made me laugh a little. The cast members I met that night were Oscar Cheda (Ensemble), Daniel Bolero (Kevin), Jose Luis-Lopez (Graffiti Pete), Isabel Santiago (Daniela), Sabrina Sloan (Vanessa), Shaun Taylor-Corbett (Sonny), Wilkie Ferguson (Benny) and Genny Lis Padilla (Nina). Even though he wasn’t in the show that night I got to see Kyle Beltran again.
All in all it was an amazing night. The show was incredible. The cast was nice and I got to see my favorite show again!
“Daniela: Carla what’s my rule?
Carla: She’ll do anything for you but she won’t support your mother’s malfunction”
Daniela: DYSfunction
Vanessa: My lights are gonna be out all week!
Carla: What would Jesus do?
Daniela: Do I look like Jesus to you?”
