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  • 1.  'In The Heights' as a high school production

    Posted 05-18-2014 11:42
    Hello All,

    I have listened to and heard many positive words on the production - In The Heights. I would like to create a roundtable discussion of people's reaction to this as high school theatre fare - I have noticed it has been produced in high school's across the nation, so would like to get more background on the piece. I personally think edgy material is educational theatre for our students. A couple of questions beyond your initial thoughts: Are the musical composition and score attainable?

    thanks for your time on this topic.

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    Thom Amundsen - Director
    Shakopee High School
    Shakopee, MN 55379

    tba@integra.net
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  • 2.  RE: 'In The Heights' as a high school production

    Posted 05-19-2014 07:03
    Our little school of 135 performed "In the Heights" this past fall as our all-school musical show, and it will go down in our history as "one of the best" experiences we've had. It is challenging, and tough on instrumentalists as well as singers, but the music is so genuinely accessible to young people, and its message, though perhaps a bit trite, is still one we want our young people to hear. At our all-school prom this past weekend, the seniors got "96,000" on the dj's playlist, and when the song began, everyone leapt to their feet and sang and danced each role, much to the amazement of the d.j.!  As a rural Vermont school, we're largely white, so we got to spend valuable time discussing gentrification, the immigrant experience, and Hispanic culture. We also got to talk with several actors from the Dominican Republic, whose encouragement for our pursuit of this project helped eliminate fears that we were trespassing where we didn't belong.  

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    Charles McMeekin
    Sharon VT
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  • 3.  RE: 'In The Heights' as a high school production

    Posted 05-19-2014 08:12
    We are a larger school of 1700 and did the show Spring 2013.  I will echo everything Charles said.  We are mostly a white school but had one student from Puerto Rico led us to connections in Hispanic community.  They sent us dance instructors to help with the culturally influenced choreography, brought people to help with authenticity and helped sell the show.  They were so excited that we were doing the show.  The students were still singing the songs this year.  It was very well received.

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    Derek Anderson
    Teacher
    Calvert County Public Schools
    Owings MD
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  • 4.  RE: 'In The Heights' as a high school production

    Posted 05-20-2014 08:33
    I'm going to be a slight voice of dissent here. "Heights" was the All-State show at the GA Thespian conference this year. It was spectacular to look at, spectacular to listen to. Charles called the message "a bit trite." I'd say that's being kind. My troupe and I, while amazed at the performers/sets/choreography found the book to be bland, and ultimately the show really didn't say anything.

    Personally, I didn't find the show edgy in the least bit. Yes, there's a physicality to the show, and two of the characters have (offstage) sex, but it almost seemed cliche'. Again, this is not a knock on the GA All-State production. They went well above and beyond what anyone has any right to expect from a HS production. It was really impressive. They pulled every ounce out of what was there. It's just a shallow well to draw from.

    In the end, we walked away thinking that here is a musical that isn't fluffy enough to escapist, but really isn't serous enough to make much of a statement. 

    That said-I can fully understand how this thing could be a monster hit. Ultimately, it's a feel good piece, an agreeable entertainment. 

    Your mileage may vary, and I fully understand if people think I'm utterly off my rocker here. Just a view from the other side of the table.

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    Scott Piehler
    Drama Director
    Lilburn GA
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    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: 'In The Heights' as a high school production

    Posted 05-20-2014 12:12
    So how was casting done in a primarily white school?

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    Sonja Brown, Theatre Teacher
    Phoenix High School
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  • 6.  RE: 'In The Heights' as a high school production

    Posted 05-20-2014 15:12
    "In The Heights" is our all state show this year.  We are performing at Festival on Saturday. When it was performed at our state conference it was well received.  The feedback was overwhelmingly positive.  I did have one troupe director who did not think it was appropriate.  She did not like the "dirty dancing" and the "material", but she thought the students did a great job. 

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    Paul Hampton
    State Director of Georgia
    Columbus GA
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  • 7.  RE: 'In The Heights' as a high school production

    Posted 05-20-2014 12:31
    I am a big fan of the show. I love the music (I run outside to it and "96000" comes on at about my two mile mark really giving me a lift that keeps me going on). 

    I love the dancing. I love the energy.

    I love the characters. I find them to be like the characters I grew to love in so much Southern literature (and they are by no means Southern!). All are special and unique. Some are fragile and others somewhat damaged. Some are strong and some are weak. The fact they are not Southern but I can identify with them so well speaks to their universality.

    I'm also a sucker for themes. I love the idea of finding family. I love the idea of respecting family. I love the idea of growth and maturity and struggling with a reality that doesn't always match aspirations. I love the idea of finding your true home. When Usnavi sings "I'm home" at the end, I choke up every time I see/hear it.
    I love the idea of standing up for one's beliefs, for honoring one's beliefs, and for acceptance. 
    I love the celebration of life through adversity, following dreams, working hard to find the American Dream while remembering and honoring your roots.

    And I'm a sucker for symbolism. Just as in Glass Menagerie, there is mention of a fire escape as symbolic for some characters' desire to escape to a better life (with some to discover that, like Dorothy, they were better off at home in their own backyard. 
    The Lottery serves as a symbol for a quick and easy way out, and when the power goes out, they sing about being powerless with multiple meanings.

    So. I would guess I find the show rich in meaning and character and charm and influence. This show has given me lots to think about and stays with me more so than other light musicals which I also enjoyed but for other reasons. For instance, I love Curtains. Fun and enjoyable, but it doesn't teach me a darn thing about the human condition the way In The Heights does. 

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    Frank Pruet
    EdTA Vice President
    Roswell GA
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  • 8.  RE: 'In The Heights' as a high school production

    Posted 05-21-2014 17:53
    Regarding the issue of IN THE HEIGHTS being performed at a high school with a largely white, or minimally or no Latino, population, I asked the show's composer-lyricist and original star Lin-Manuel Miranda, his thoughts on the issue.  He sent me the following: 

    "I directed West Side Story my senior year in high school. It consumed my young life, and it was not lost on me that I went to a high school (Hunter) with a very low percentage of Latino students. (You can read any number of articles about why that is in the Times every year).

    I had white and Asian Sharks, and my Bernardo was biracial. But they were FIERCE white and asian and biracial Sharks. And the joy for me became making West Side Story, the centerpiece of my life, a teachable moment in my school. Suddenly, my fellow high school students were grappling with notions of immigration and displacement, because it's a part of the show. I brought my dad to school to teach them Spanish vocab and Puerto Rican dialect coaching. It became a way for me to bring my culture INTO school, and talk about it. For someone who grew up speaking Spanish at home and English at school, this was enormous.
    So the joy of In The Heights runs both ways to me. When I see a school production with not a lot of Latino students doing it, I know they're learning things about Latino culture that go beyond what they're fed in the media every day. They HAVE to learn those things to play their parts correctly. And when I see a school with a huge Latino population do Heights, I feel a surge of pride that the students get to perform something that may have a sliver of resonance in their daily lives.
    Just please God, tell them that tanning and bad 50's style Shark makeup isn't necessary. Latinos come in every color of the rainbow, thanks very much.

    And I've said this a million times, but it bears repeating: School's the ONE CHANCE YOU GET, as an actor, to play any role you want, before the world tells you what 'type' you are. The audience is going to suspend disbelief: They're there to see their kids, whom they already love, in a play. Honor that sacred time as educators, and use it change their lives. You'll be glad you did."

    - Lin-Manuel Miranda


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    Howard Sherman
    New York NY
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    Original Message


  • 9.  RE: 'In The Heights' as a high school production

    Posted 05-22-2014 09:06
    I've heard Lin-Manuel Miranda give a version of this addressing putting on In the Heights or any other show in high school in another forum and it really has helped me "evolve" on the idea of color-blind casting. I did a production of West Side Story in the past that I would do differently now.

    I would add to his incredible encouragement here--remember that there really is no such thing as color-blindness--what we are in search of is the best possible performances even if the appearance or ethnicity of the actors subvert historical and geographic realities.

    That said, work into your rehearsal and preparation discussions with the students, schools and communities that address what the audience is bringing as expectations for particular characters and how you might make choices that serve or subvert the material at hand. For example, don't cast the one "villian" character in your show with the only African American student in your program or the one "sidekick" character with the only an Asian student without understanding the implications.

    I guess my point is that we have the opportunity to teach our students to celebrate and honor diversity, but by doing so we can't be "blind."

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    Jessica Speck
    Thomas S. Wootton HS
    Rockville MD
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    Original Message


  • 10.  RE: 'In The Heights' as a high school production

    Posted 05-22-2014 09:59
    To All,

    Thank you so much for this dialogue - I look forward to more discussion of this play and its societal impact. I work in a uniquely diverse outer ring suburb with a highly hispanic/latino population of student body - the impact would be fabulous in my eyes. Thanks for taking the time ...

    Please comment further if you can on vocal and instrumental challenges - greater or less than West Side Story for example.

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    Thom Amundsen - Director
    Shakopee High School
    Shakopee, MN 55379

    tba@integra.net
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    Original Message


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