Higher calling
IN THE HEIGHTS Cert PG ★★★ In cinemas now
For fans of musical theatre, a home streaming release of the original Broadway production of Lin-manuel Miranda’s Hamilton was one of the few highlights of 2020. Now, after a year of delays, a movie adaptation of the actor-composer’s debut stage show In The Heights is finally making it to the big screen.
It couldn’t have arrived at a better time. The musical seems to thrive in troubled times (Busby Berkeley’s lavish set pieces took root in the Depression era) and this relentlessly optimistic film invites us to shut out the world for 143 minutes of
exuberantly staged song and dance. Since the film is a celebration of New York’s Latin American community, it’s tempting to compare it to West
Side Story, soon to be revived by Steven Spielberg.
But there are no gangsters or “rumbles” going on here.
In the “barrio” of Washington Heights, every problem can be danced out with your lovely neighbours.
Our guide is Usnavi (Anthony Ramos), a corner shop owner who’s been saving up to open a beach bar in the Dominican Republic.
On stage, this was Miranda’s part, but the writer, perhaps exhausted by his meteoric rise, has settled here for a cameo role as a bloke who flogs iced drinks.
As Usnavi spells out his “small dream”, he introduces us to the film’s many supporting players, including Jimmy Smits’s taxi firm owner and young lovers played by Leslie Grace and Corey Hawkins.
For British audiences unfamiliar with Latin slang, Miranda’s hip hop rhythms can be hard to keep up with. But, whenever you get lost in the soapy subplots, you know there will be a catchy lyric or a big set piece to cling on to.
For me, the highlight was a spectacular sequence in a vast lido where everyone seems to be having a great time and director Jon M Chu lovingly tips countless swimming caps at Mr Berkeley.
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In this exuberant film, every problem can be danced out with your neighbours