By Brian Pope
Pittsburgh Winter 2019 has (so far) been very unkind to residents. It’s par for the course but distressing nonetheless.
Unexpectedly though, the season and the city have been very kind to one Lin-Manuel Miranda in the last month. The almost EGOT-winning composer/lyricist/actor/producer/Drama Book Shop-owner extraordinaire is everywhere nowadays, from the big screen in Mary Poppins Returns, to the stage in Puerto Rico, where he is reprising the role he originated in a little show called Hamilton.
But at this point, Hamilton is such a cultural juggernaut that it has become a tired cliche to ironically refer to it as a “little show.” As a property, it is halfway to winning an EGOT of its own. January saw the “Angelica leg” of the Hamilton tour touch down in Pittsburgh and, in turn, transform the Benedum Center into the hottest club in the city, with lines of ecstatic patrons wrapped around Penn Avenue.
Coincidentally or not, Pittsburgh Musical Theatre has just opened its production of the show that kick started Miranda’s meteoric rise to icon status, In The Heights. PMT and Director Erin Krom have given Miranda’s culturally eclectic score the benefit of being performed by a spirited cast of talented singers, but emotionally, their Heights falls short.
Nina (Morgan Jade Kirksey) and Usnavi (TJ Newton)
Comparing In The Heights to Hamilton is like comparing an apple to an orange that you have to refinance your home to afford tickets to. But since I was lucky enough to see both in the same week, I’ll try anyway.
First, a contrast. The scopes of these two musicals are vastly different. Hamilton, of course, is a radical retelling of the ups, downs, battles, and betrayals that America’s Founding Fathers and Mothers faced in our nation’s infancy. In In The Heights, the characters’ financial woes and questions of identity are more relatable. Washington Heights is a very tight community in New York City where chosen and biological families of various nationalities (Puerto Rican, Dominican, Chilean, or a mix of these and more) mingle and gossip at Usnavi’s bodega, Daniela’s salon, and the Rosario family car dispatch.
It is here that Ms. Krom and her designers do the show and Quiara Alegría Hudes’ affecting book a disservice. The setting does not feel organic. Stilted staging and transitions turn the city that never sleeps into the city that always power naps as actors enter and exit awkwardly in prolonged blackout after prolonged blackout. Todd Nonn lights a drop of the George Washington Bridge beautifully throughout and creates an exciting fireworks illusion, but the visual stimulation ends there.
Kevin Kocher and Jonathan Sage’s clunky set pieces are constantly encroaching on Jerreme Rodriguez’s lively, hip-swiveling choreography. Some action takes place on stairwells on either side of the stage, but half of those scenes are nearly impossible to see if you are seated on an extreme side of the seating bank as I was. The neighborhood should be a living, breathing character in Heights, but here it is as if its understudy went on in its place without any rehearsal.
In addition to being a small business owner and reluctant role model to his precocious cousin Sonny (Austin Rivers), Usnavi (a winsome T.J. Newton) also serves as our narrator. He introduces us to a few of his friends and neighbors including his crush Vanessa (Samantha Sayah), his best friend Benny (Tru Verret-Fleming), and the neighborhood’s conscience Abuela Claudia (Bets Danko). Along with the impending Fourth of July celebration comes the arrival of barrio golden child Nina Rosario (Morgan Jade Kirksey). She is returning home from her first year at Stanford University harboring a secret.
Tough times for the barrio come in the forms of rising temperatures and a blackout, but the revelation that someone in the neighborhood has won the lottery inspires everyone to reexamine their dreams.
Nina (Kirksey) and Benny (Tru Verret-Fleming)
One thing that the casts of these two Miranda musicals undoubtedly share is raw ability. Four Tony Award wins (including Best Musical) and the ascension of Hamilton have made In The Heights a popular choice for productions of all scales and tributes of all manner. What this production sorely lacks aesthetically, it more than makes up for when Ms. Kirksey opens her mouth and lets out the first soaring note of “Breathe.” Nina is an inherently kind character, but her profound sense of self-doubt is never lost in any of Kirksey’s solos. Similarly, Ms. Sayah’s powerhouse vocals easily convince you that her Vanessa is truly meant for bigger and better things in life.
Mr. Verret-Fleming and Ms. Danko bring the acting chops to match their impressive voices. Alternately silly (“Benny’s Dispatch”), supportive (“When You’re Home”), and sexy (either of his duets about the sun), Verret-Fleming is a lightning rod of charisma. Ms. Danko performs her Act I showstopper “Paciencia Y Fe” with the gravitas of a Shakespearean soliloquy. In a pair of comedic supporting roles, Melinette Pallares (Daniela) and Victor Aponte (Piragua Guy) steal almost every scene they are in.
Vanessa (Samantha Sayah), Daniela (Melinette Pallares), Nina (Kirksey), and Carla (Jenna Perez)
Although the talent onstage at Pittsburgh Musical Theatre’s Gargaro Theater is huge, their production of In The Heights feels disappointingly small–more like a thoroughly staged concert where the character relationships take a backseat to the vocals. But don’t feel too bad for the performers. With any luck, we will get the chance to see them shine even brighter in a production of Hamilton someday.
In The Heights plays at the Gargaro Theater through February 3rd. For tickets and more information, click here.
Photography Credit (except banner): Melissa Wallace.
Brian Pope is a playwright and pop culture obsessive who has been writing for Pittsburgh in the Round since February of 2016. His plays have been produced by his own theatre company, Non-State Actors, as well as Yinz Like Plays?!, Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, and Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company. He’s also served as dramaturg for City Theatre’s 2018 Young Playwrights Festival and as both stage manager and actor for Alarum Theatre. When he’s not making or reviewing theatre, he’s actively pursuing his other passions, listening to showtunes and watching television.
Categories: Archived Reviews