"In the Heights"

Performances: 1,184.
Open / Close: March 9, 2008 – January 9, 2011
Theater: The Richard Rogers Theatre.
Tony Awards: Nominated for 13, won 4, including Best Musical. Lin-Manuel Miranda didn’t win for Best Actor but did for Original Score and essentially did for Best Musical. The other nominated actors from the show were Robin de Jesus who played Sonny and Olga Merediz who played Abuela Claudia.
Fun Fact: Thomas Kail, who directed “In the Heights” and would later direct “Hamilton,” more recently directed the “Fosse/Verdon” TV series and the 2023 Broadway revival of “Sweeny Todd.”

Podcast

Over the past 20 years or so, a handful of shows have revolutionized what can be done on Broadway. You could point to “Hamilton” as one of the biggest of those but that revolution actually started with “In the Heights,” which remains my favorite of the two. Call me a traditionalist at heart but I love that it’s a warmer and more personal show. And fantasizing about winning the lottery is simply more relatable that worrying about building a new nation.

Speaking of warm, my guest for this conversation is the always personable Fernando Rivadeneira who played the Piragua Guy in the Richmond production of “In the Heights” back in 2018. We chat about his discovery of this show and the joy of experiencing the many iterations of it, including the movie version. I loved revisiting the songs of the show – and discovering aspects of the production I never knew about like the associated web series, Legally Brown. If you’ve never heard of it before, it’s a really fun watch.