Whats wonderful is the reunion and actually being back with this cast.
We spent so much time together not just the typical year you spend on Broadway butyearsworkshopping.
Janet [Dacal] and Chris have been with this since it started.
Credit: Joan Marcus
And so, it felt like family.
Whats amazing is how its only continued to grow.
I get messages from productions ofIn the Heightsall over the world.
Thats wild to me!
Theyre just a part of you growing up and Im just happy its in that phase of its life.
Its interesting to be talking about this show today amid all the current debate happening around immigration.
AndIn the Heightsis many different permutations of that story.
This is a topic that came up a lot whenHamiltoncame to Broadway as well.Yeah.
It keeps popping up in my work because I think Im in awe of it.
My grandmother, who was the basis for the character Abuela Claudia,passed away this past Christmas.
So its weird that I wrote her eulogy many years before she died.
What are you doing to us?
[laughs] in that way that means, I love you and I love this.
Theres nothing inHamiltonthats as hard as the dancing in those numbers, and Im very glad I survived them.
WhichHamiltonsongs do you think could fit intoIn the Heights, and vice versa?Oh, damn!
Thats a great question.
I think that When the Sun Goes Down could fit intoHamiltonpretty easily.
That was the last song I wrote forHeights, so thats why I see it on that continuum.
And fromHamilton,I could see Sonny singing the s out of My Shot.
Where do you think Usnavi would be now, 10 years on?I think hed still be there.
Hed find a way to make that corner store beloved and celebrated.
We just had a similar version of that story Coogans, up in my neighborhood.
Its this neighborhood bar that opened in 1985.
I think Usnavi would figure out his version of that.
