Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – New York City Center’s thrillingly fresh gala revival of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s IN THE HEIGHTS explodes off the stage

• By drediman
• November 2, 2026
• No Comments

This past weekend, I had the great privilege of attending New York City Cener’s fall production of In the Heights. The 2005 musical was Lin-Manuel Miranda’s breakout show, which ultimately went on to win him coveted Tony Awards for Best Score and Best Musical (Miranda would of course go on to pen the mega-hit musical Hamilton, as well as sign a lucrative contract with Disney). Now more than two decades later, his early-career work comes back to New York for the first time in a thrillingly fresh revival helmed by director David Mendizábal. Although billed as a concert-style gala performance, the staging is in fact a quite fully-staged, next-generation re-examination of Miranda’s youthful hit (happily, it continues to proudly wears its various musical theater influences — namely Rent and West Side Story — like badges of honor). More importantly, the production, which explodes off the stage with vitality, hits like a full-blown Broadway musical, and I’m sure it’s being groomed for a potential commercial transfer to the Great White Way.

Overall, Mendizábal doesn’t quite take the literal and romanticized view of the show’s world that Thomas Kail, the musical’s original director, did. This less “fairy tale” approach works well today as we’ve seen, in hindsight since the musical premiered, the impacts of gentrification throughout Manhattan and beyond. As a result, in Mendizábal’s staging, the musical comes across more authentically than it ever did. That’s not to say that the production lacks exuberance and joy. Far from it — the production sustains an energetic momentum that makes the two-and-a-half hours fly by, largely due to the contributions of dance-maker Mayte Natalio, whose work is more rhythmically-driven and and less fluidly abstract than Andy Blankenbuehler’s celebrated original choreography (later this season, Blankenbuehler is slated to direct and choreograph the highly anticipated revival of Kander and Ebb’s Kiss of the Spider Woman, also at City Center). By taking the material at face value — including Quiara Alegría Hudes’s sentimental, occasionally trite book — this well-judged revival emphasizes its strengths, namely its tapestry-like portrait of a neighborhood in rapid transition, which imbues the high octane production numbers (e.g., “96,000”, “Carnaval del Barrio”) with a palpable sense of urgency. The scenic design by Rio Rakkulchon is dominated by a soaring replica of the George Washington Bridge, which also functions as an elevated platform for the orchestra, as well as an overlook for the performers. Under the baton of music director Alejandro Senior, Miranda’s score and Alex Lacamoire’s orchestrations have never sounded as richly alive as they do here. Leading a stellar orchestra, Senior allows the score to breathe, giving listeners the opportunity to fully appreciate the intricacies of the score and its layered references — both musically and lyrically — sprinkled throughout.

City Center’s In the Heights hands the show over to a new generation of fresh-faced musical theater performers, many of whom are likely to become the stars of tomorrow, very much like how the original production catapulted not only Miranda, but also the likes of Mandy Gonzalez, Karen Olivo, and Robin de Jesús into the public eye. With their dynamism, soaring vocals, and carefully-etched performances, we’re in good hands with the new crew, to say the least. As Usnavi, Matte Martinez channels Miranda’s nervous energy yet manages to shape a portrayal all his own. That being said, without Miranda as Usnavi, the revival comes off more like an ensemble piece — and that’s absolutely not a bad thing. If anything, the re-balanced focus on the overall community of the neighborhood serves the show. For me, particular standouts in the cast are Natalie Venetia Belcon’s Abuela Claudia, Ashley De La Rosa’s Vanessa, and Ishmael Gonzalez’s Sonny. Each builds on the work of their forebears, giving their respective characters compelling specificity and smoldering inner lives.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

IN THE HEIGHTS
Off-Broadway, Musical
New York City Center
2 hours, 30 minutes (with an intermission)
Through November 15