In the Heights (2005) takes place in Washington Heights in New York city over the 4th of July weekend and explores the tight-knit, Latino community present there. The musical has been praised for its depiction of the Latino narrative on a Broadway stage – a narrative that was written and is told by actual Latinx actors (Isherwood). Latinx characters are not often seen on the stage or if they are, they are a tokenized friend, not a leading character. Miranda ignored all of these conventionalities and created a musical infused with the cultural hybridity of a Latinx community. The characters have distinct cultures – some hailing from Puerto Rico, others from Cuba, and the musical recognizes this instead of clumping them all together (Heinze 145). Similar to Hamilton, Lin-Manuel infuses hip-hop and rap into this musical, along with salsa, to capture the vibrant and diverse culture that exists in this community. The musical did receive some criticism because the community seemed too happy and utopic, but it has been explained that this was Lin-Manuel’s way to show the world that not all minority communities are impoverished like they are stereotyped to be (Heinze 146).

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Click on the videos below to see and listen to some of the show!