Thursday, February 04, 2010
Tony winning 'In the Heights' invites audience into pulsating excitement
Post Gazette: "Traditional and up-to-the-minute, exuberant and infectious, Tony winner 'In the Heights' invites you into an urban community pulsating with Latin rhythms and goes all out to entertain you during your stay."
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9 comments:
I've been hearing about In The Heights for awhile now, and this description definitely lives up to the standards everyone around me seems to have set for this production. All of the lively music and dance, if choreographed and performed well, will make or break the show in my opinion, but I have high hopes for a show with such spirit and fun.
And seeing a CMU grad in the flesh never hurts, either--sort of a reassurance that we have the opportunity to achieve some impressive feats with all of the skills we learn here.
I personally love latin culture, music and dance, so I have kept my eyes on this production since the show opened on broadway. I expected this show with exotic features of variety of latin music would bring new aspect to the broadway musical.
That having said, I saw this production the other night. Putting the vivid music and dance aside, the story is brimming over with bright ambition of characters and beautiful pure love between young couples, a married couple, parents and their child. The magnificent backdrop of the symbolic bridge gives vivid impression and the reality of to the story.
Kyle recreated the character of Usnavi better in that his youth and his own personality with affluent ambition and generous heart well matched to Usnavi in this story-telling. (His soft but clear voice is also suited to the character.)
After seeing this today, I have to say I was a little let down. Yes the choreography, lights and acting was great, but the whole thing lacked action- which as foundations taught me is what propells action and story. Instead it was a lot of exposition that was handed to the audience with some rather poor diction loosing some of the important story elements. I have to say though I hate writing like this that treats an audience as dumb and must instead say "I like this girl" rather then showing it through actions. Theater like this creates little reaction and emotional involvement. Instead it reads as expostition. Yes the whole thing was enjoyable but I wish they let us as an audience discover elements rather then just plainly stating them assuming we are to dumb to realize what is happening.
I feel like I must have seen a different show than this article describes. I don't agree with very much of it. Most of my issues were with the story itself. I feel like the lighting and set had to over-compensate, which became more of a distraction. It was very hard to really get into the story, because the exposition was misguided. I never felt like I learned enough about any one character until a while into the second act. On a much better note, however, it was really nice to see a recent CMU grad as Usnavi. It made it more enjoyable.
I went to see In The Heights yesterday with several classmates, and the show was wonderful. Growing up in a Mexican family, I saw my relatives in the characters played on stage. The songs and dancing were superb. I only with the sound designer had accounted for the acoustics of the Benedum when they loaded in. Most of the lyrics came across fuzzy.
Aside from that, and some confusing costume choices (namely, dressing Nina like a 12 year old from the suburbs)the show was fantastic. Usnavi was played SO well, it's hard to imagine that Beltran graduated so recently! The SOD MT program really turns out amazing performers!
I agree with most of the comments above. After seeing In The Heights the other day, I was...well...really surprised. I wasn't at all captivated by the story, other than some parts. It took a while to get into and I wasn't very attached to the characters until the very end. I didn't like the lighting because it was overdone, and although very appropriate for some of the more flashy numbers, it was completely unnecessary to use such extreme lighting for scenes that were depicting a lot of 'normal life.' However, I still had an amazing time. The color choices were fantastic, I loved the set, the choreography was phenomenal, and the lyrics and the music were fantastic. I loved the voices and the actors as well. Overall, didn't leave me with any lasting thoughts about morality and values and deep emotions, but I had a great time. The show was well put together and I approve.
I too was a bit disappointed after seeing this show. It was pretty hyped up before I went, and did not live up to my expectations. I found that the story was pretty weak. I did love the music, but that does not make up for the fact that the action in the show was lacking. It left little to the imagination as it spelled out every point instead of letting the audience interpret it for themselves.
My first exposure to In The Heights was through the music. Having listened to the soundtrack, I was interested in the story behind the music. So when the tour came to Chicago, I was so excited to figure out this story.
My first reaction was that I really enjoyed what I had just experienced. It was fun and I had a really good time. However, thinking further about it, I realized that beyond the music, there is really not that much more. I do not believe that there as anything major that I did not get from just listening to the music.
Nevertheless, the fact that it was fun cannot be ignored. Not all theatre must be life-changing. Having an afternoon or evening of fun is al so very important.
I saw 'In the Heights' in this week. Personally, I don't think this show is great show as article said. I think the story about outside culture,latin, in nearby main city was interesting. Also I really glad that they tried to make that kind of musical which is about simple minority culture. But in my opinion, music, dance, light, set were not artistic. I could not feel anything for that show.
For these reason, I cannot agree with this article.
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