Review: 'In the Heights' Concert Revival Earns NYT Critic's Pick at City Center

New York City Center's gala presentation of "In the Heights" has been named a New York Times Critic's Pick. The concert staging of Lin-Manuel Miranda and Quiara Alegría Hudes's 2005 musical opened under director David Mendizábal. Matte Martinez leads the cast as Usnavi, the bodega-owner protagonist Miranda himself originated.

The Times review describes the production as "frequently ecstatic" and likens the experience to "driving through the streets of New York with the windows down." That sensation comes from the score itself. Miranda's music embeds the sounds of the city: quotations from the merengué bop "El Tiburón," snatches of salsa standards, and the tinkle of the Mister Softee ice cream truck. At City Center, the reviewer writes, it sometimes felt as if the whole theater were driving an uptown stretch of Broadway, changing radio stations.

How does the revival relate to 'Hamilton'?

The review notes an aural déjà vu that goes beyond ordinary revival nostalgia. Even audiences who missed the 2008 Broadway production or the 2021 film can hear that "Hamilton" sits directly on top of the prosodic structures of Miranda's earlier score. At its best, the critic writes, "In the Heights" sounds as if it has been around forever.

Who carries the show?

The story opens on a punishing July morning in a mostly Puerto Rican and Dominican neighborhood. Usnavi's refrigerator is broken. His cousin Sonny is unreliable. The heat is sweltering, and, in the critic's phrase, Usnavi literally has no chill.

The cast breakdown as given in the review:

• Matte Martinez as Usnavi, scampers and boxer-shuffles so his quick footwork reflects a skittering heart; the role must balance charm with goofiness opposite bombshell Vanessa.
• Ishmael Gonzalez as Sonny, called the show-stealer; his stage-left "I'm over here sweeping" sashay is described as "better than a cold Coke in summer."
• Ashley De La Rosa as Vanessa.
• Natalie Venetia Belcon as the honorary abuela Claudia, moonlighting from her Tony Award-winning role in "Buena Vista Social Club."
• Linedy Genao as the gossipy salon-owner Daniela.
• Aaron James McKenzie as car-service driver Benny.
• Jaci Calderon as Nina, the academic star just home from Stanford.

What drives the plot?

Nina's parents have yet to learn she has taken a leave from Stanford, undone by financial and educational pressures. On this steamy morning, her eyes turn to Benny and something else kindles. Sonny senses romance building, in the review's image, like pressure in a fire hydrant, and bum-rushes Usnavi into asking Vanessa out.

The takeaway: a Critic's Pick stamp for a 20-year-old musical that New York's paper of record hears as both the seed of "Hamilton" and a score that already sounds permanent.