In The Heights – Interview with Lin-Manuel Miranda

Lakshmi Iyer

“In The Heights” is a musical set in the Washington Heights neighborhood of New York City. Based on the play written by the multitalented Lin-Manuel Miranda of “Hamilton” fame – he is an actor, playwright, singer and composer – in collaboration with Quiara Alegria Hudes for the screenplay, this is a film that truly embodies the immigrant experience in America. It’s directed by Jon Chu of “Crazy Rich Asians” fame.

The film is in theaters right now (released on June 11) and is also streaming on HBO Max until July 11.

The story centers around Usnavi, a young immigrant from the Dominican Republic who runs the corner convenience store and dreams of setting up a beachside restaurant back in his native country. He lives in the Latino immigrant neighborhood of Washington Heights where his friends all have their own aspirations and struggles.

India Post participated in a press junket for the film, interviewing the writer-producer and key members of the cast. Excerpts:

San Diego Red: With all the different cultures behind this movie, what was the message behind it?

Lin-Manuel Miranda: I think the goal, first and foremost, was to represent ourselves with joy. When I started writing this, I was 19 years old. I loved musicals. I hardly ever saw Latinos in musicals. It was sort of West Side story, couple of parts in chorus line, and that was really kind of it, unless you count Men Of La Mancha. 

So, I started writing “In the Heights” because I was writing what was missing. I wanted a life in this business, and I didn’t see our stories being told.  

And when I found Quiara who had just graduated from Brown, she had gotten her Masters in playwriting, and we started working on it together and that’s when it really took an evolutionary leap. 

And listen, I am first generation, my parents are Puerto Rican, my mom is half Mexican, my wife is Dominican and Austrian, so I don’t know what hyphen you apply to my kids. And Quiara is Puerto Rican Jewish, so when you grow up inheriting lots of different cultures, how on earth do you define yourself? How on earth (do) you define a home? And that’s the thing all the characters are struggling with some version of that question.

India Post (IP): It’s such a pleasure and honor meeting you. How much of you is in Usnavi, the central character?

Lin-Manuel Miranda: For me, Usnavi is more of an aspirational character really. And I got to play him for many years and that was really fun. But Usnavi is someone who grew up in his neighborhood, lives in his corner store and is really the central character in his community. All of these stories pass through his store. 

I was closer to Nina, someone who grew up in a Latino neighborhood; I had my Black and Latino friends in my neighborhood and then I went to a school all the way on the Upper East side where there were very few folks who looked like me. And I had to navigate those two worlds from a very young age, younger than Nina, when she experiences that culture shock of going to college. 

And the inadvertent side effect of that, “In The Heights”, even though it’s my first musical, it was also my first experience bringing all of myself to my work. 

Quiara coined it, as she always does, better than I could. It was like discovering the power of the part of me that loves musical theater, the part of me that likes Latin music, the part of me that loves hip hop and throwing it all at the work as opposed to musicals sounding like this, write a musical that sounds like the other musicals I’ve heard. And there is enormous power when you bring all of yourself into the room and I think Nina learns that over the course of the show. And I think Usnavi learns it in his way that he is important to the neighborhood staying the way he loves it. And I certainly share that with him.