In The Heights: Finding Home

Goodreads synopsis:

In the Heights: Finding Home reunites Miranda with Jeremy McCarter, co-author of Hamilton: The Revolution, and Quiara Alegría Hudes, the Pulitzer Prize–winning librettist of the Broadway musical and screenwriter of the film. They do more than trace the making of an unlikely Broadway smash and a major motion picture: They give readers an intimate look at the decades-long creative life of In the Heights (Goodreads).

Lit Girls Take

Reading In the Heights: Finding Home truly is like coming home. Finding Home tells the making of the Broadway show, and the recently released movie, through the stories of the people who helped shape it. From Lin Manuel Miranda, to cast members of far-flung productions, the stories of “the people in the street”, managed to highlight an already remarkable tale. So to that end, I will share with you all my three distinct experiences around In The Heights. 

First Time

When I was 17 my parents took me to Kids Night on Broadway. It was the last year I was eligible for the promotion and we saw In The Heights. Needless to say, I was blown away. Washington Heights seemed to be the mirror of where I grew up, just across the Spuyten Duyvil Creek from Manhattan in Riverdale, The Bronx. 

Anyone who knows New York knows that Riverdale and The Heights couldn’t be more different. Still, there was something about the community that felt familiar. The dynamic between Nina and her parents reminded me forcefully of my own family. Maybe it was the only child connection that I felt, but I too could see the GWB from my window. The funny thing was, it wasn’t until years later, when I was sitting, playbill in hand, at a performance of Hamilton, did I realize that I had seen the show with the original cast! 

Keeping it local

My second Heights experience was years later in Arlington, Virginia of all places. Now living and working in the Nation’s capital has severely jaded me. Despite having a job I love and a great place to live, it’s hard to exist here without wondering how far humanity has fallen. My friend, a teacher at a local high school, invited me to come with her to see the school musical. I’d been to some productions before and these kids were amazingly talented. Not only that but the teachers could be in the show as well!

A true community mentality that leant itself perfectly to this particular show. Broadway sets and choreography aside, this production of Heights is easily one of my favorites I’ve ever seen. When the young man playing Usvavi sang “I’m Home”,  I was full-on crying. Maybe because, like Lin Manuel, he really was home, in his theatre with his family, friends, and community supporting him. Maybe there is still hope for humanity after all. After reading Finding Home, I know this was exactly what Miranda had in mind when he licensed a school version.  

Lessons Learned

My most recent Heights encounter was this past summer, when I read this book (and watched the film, of course). Like most of the world, having been home for 18 months had taken its toll. So when I received a notification from the LitBar Bookshop in the Bronx about their virtual launch event for this book I was on board immediately. Putting the book in the context of that discussion added an extra level to my reading which coincided with an emotional life event.

My parents had finally sold our house, which had been our family home for 23 years. While I had been living on my own for many years, cleaning out the house felt like a walk down memory lane. Add to this the loss of my grandfather, my last living grandparent, and it made for an emotional read. Reading about finding home, not just for Lin Manuel (or Usnavi) in Washington Heights, but for the cast and crew of the many productions of the show, allowed me to leave my home with a full and hopeful heart. 

Home is what you make of it. I’m lucky enough to have so many homes. The home I have with my parents will always be there, even if the house is new. I have a home in DC with my friends and neighbors. I have a home with my sorority sisters, no matter where or when being with them is always right. And I have a home with my best friends, who are more like family and who I can always count on to just let me be me. I think Lin-Manuel Miranda knows this, maybe better than anyone. He loves Washington Heights so much he wrote a musical about it, and in doing so shared a part of his home with the world.