Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsMagnificent!
Reviewed in the United States on June 19, 2021
I have long been a fan of Lin-Manuel Miranda and Quiara Alegria Hudes’s In the Heights. While I acknowledge the genius of Miranda’s Hamilton, I like In the Heights so much better. And thus, I eagerly awaited the release of the film version of the show, delayed a year because of the pandemic. This book, timed to release with the movie, In the Heights: Finding Home, by Miranda, Hudes, and Jeremy McCarter, is a treasure. It chronicles the creation of the show and then goes on to detail the filming of the movie. Any way you read it, it is remarkable, but I detail my method: First, since the book is filled with all the lyrics of the show’s songs, I read the lyrics as I listened to the Broadway cast recording. Then I went back and read Lin’s side notes on the lyrics, bits of information that enlighten and entertain. In the notes, we see what he was thinking when he wrote the lyrics, how he felt at the time, his observations of performers who have sung them, how the lyrics were used in the film, and friendships that were formed over those very words. Next, I read the actual text of the book, and along with that, the recuerdos, memories from creators and cast members. The text is rich and organized song by song, tied to the message of each song. We go on the magnificent journey of a young nineteen-year old Puerto Rican immigrant, steeped in traditional musical theater and contemporary hip-hop, as he begins a creation that blossoms from a single idea to a world-wide hit. The “intermission” of the book tells of the Tony Awards night when the show was validated by the Broadway community. And then the “second act” is the fight from selling the show to filmmakers, to the casting, and on to the creation of the movie. The book was to end with a description of a joyful premiere, but Covid-19 got in the way. And thus, the book poignantly ends with how those involved—and all of us—have dealt with a pandemic that shut the world down and, indeed, devastated so many lives. The new song Lin wrote for the ending credit of the film called Home All Summer is a fitting end to the book and a fitting soundtrack to our lives. Anyone who loves this show, loves Broadway, or sees the film will revel in this book!