‘In the Heights’ in Columbia Heights

In the beginning, there was “In the Heights.”

Before there was “Hamilton,” composer-lyricist-writer-performer Lin-Manuel Miranda’s hip-hop- and pop-fueled musical take on the founding father — which vaulted him to the status of legend and super-achiever — there was “In the Heights.”

“Hamilton,” which swept up enough Tonys for Miranda to fill a truck, became such a hot ticket on Broadway that you had to sell your first-born to get on the list. Even Vice President-elect Mike Pence came to see it — and was importuned from the stage after the show for his trouble.

But before all that, Miranda had already made something of a splash on Broadway in 2008 with the Latin-flavored musical “In the Heights,” which came off a successful Off-Broadway run to snare 13 Tony Award nominations, winning three. The show focused its energetic attention on the residents of New York’s Washington Heights, then a largely Dominican neighborhood, with all the attendant struggles, fraught relationships, romances and striving.

Needless to say, it was a pretty big hit, with mostly favorable reviews. Charles Isherwood wrote in the New York Times that “when this musical erupts in its expressions of collective joy, the energy it gives off could light up the George Washington Bridge for a year or two.”

It went from Off-Broadway to Broadway (for three years, 2008 to 2011), then on a North American tour and eventually to the Philippines, Panama, London’s West End, Tokyo, Vancouver, Seoul and Peru.

 And now it’s in another Heights, Columbia Heights, at GALA Hispanic Theatre from April 20 to May 21, in a new production directed and choreographed by Luis Salgado.  

 The veteran performer and director and choreographer, who considers Miranda a friend, was in the original Broadway production, which he remembers fondly.

 “It’s a little like coming home to something familiar, that was and remains a part of you, for sure,” Salgado said. “But it’s also something brand new. It’s energizing, being here, in a neighborhood like this, doing this show. It’s a very mixed, energetic vibrant feeling here. It’s comfortable, you know.”

One of the differences, too — not unusual for GALA, but unusual for “In the Heights” — is that the production is in Spanish, with English surtitles.

“It’s a fair question, why, but I think if you look at the story — it’s about a neighborhood where most if not all of the people speak Spanish,” explained Salgado. “But it’s also a very universal kind of place. Some characters have come back to it, some want desperately
to leave it and there are love stories. It’s the story of a community, but the music has this universal drive to it, and so does the dancing. And there’s the character of Benny, who is the only character who doesn’t speak Spanish, and he has to find his way in that community. So that’s part of the story.”

The 36-year-old native of Bayamón, Puerto Rico, knows a little about the Latino immigrant experience, having moved to New York City in 2012. His Off-Broadway debut came in 2003 with “Fame,” and he worked in the film “Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights.” In 2005, he originated the role of Frankie Suarez in the musical version of “The Mambo Kings,” based on the novel by Cuban American writer Oscar Hijuelos. 

His second appearance Off-Broadway, in “In the Heights” came in 2007. Then he appeared as an American gangster in the Julie Taymor-directed film “Across the Universe.” In the Broadway production of “In the Heights,” he played Jose while serving as Latin American choreographer. In 2010, he was in the Public Theater’s outdoor production of Paul Simon’s “The Capeman” and had the role of Malik in the adaptation of Pedro Almodóvar’s “Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown” at Lincoln Center, starring Patti LuPone and Brian Stokes Mitchell and directed by Bartlett Sher. Also on Broadway, he appeared as Rizzo in the musical adaptation of “Rocky.”

 As a director and choreographer, he’s developed new shows such as “Song of Solomon,” “Zuccotti Park” and “Zapata! The Musical.”

 Not only that, but he’s the founder and CEO of R.Evolución Latina, which includes the Dare To Go Beyond workshop series. He is also a guest teacher at Broadway Dance Center and Steps on Broadway and a faculty member at Alvin Ailey.

 “Dancing is in my blood, sure,” he said. “It’s about the essence of show business.”

 “This [“In the Heights”] is about both diversity and about universality,” he said. “It’s drama, there’s conflict in the community, among the characters, about who they are and what they want, and there’s this vivid vitality in the community, too. And it’s very much a part of who we are today in the United States.” 

“In the Heights” in the Heights. Imagine that.