The Little Theatre of Alexandria

There are so many things to talk about and discuss when it comes to In the Heights. I could sit here and type for two hours, so I'll try ad focus on my experience as Usnavi with the community. Usnavi grew up learning and adapting to many cultures. His whole journey is about finding out where and what home is. While he tries to figure that out he also has to make sure he is making progress in his life. That is a path I am all too familiar with. I have many homes: Home is with my Mama and siblings, home is down at JMU with all of my best friends, and more recently I have found a home at LTA. My definition of home is a place where you can be yourself and be surrounded by people you love. That's exactly what Usnavi is looking for (not knowing he's had it all along). Usnavi also struggles with many financial issues because he does not come from a family of wealth, education, or experience in America. Everything he knows he's learned from those around him and his other influ...

Meet Julio Diaz, Assistant to Music Director/Spanish Diction Coach/Keyboard 2 Player for LTA's In the Heights. In the Heights is the first musical that I was able to identify with since I came to the U.S. in 2001.  I came from Peru where I was never exposed to musical theatre.  I was able to learn about theatre at my time at George Mason University's School of Music and under the tutelage of my great friend Chris Tomasino, music director for In the Heights.  It was so special for me to find a musical that uses familiar music genres that I grew up listening to in Peru.  The characters and the story were also familiar to me.  As a Latino man, I've been so used to the struggle of coming to the U.S. not knowing how to speak English, having to work two jobs while going to school, and being the first in my family to go to college.  These characters depict the stories of many Latinos in the U.S.  I've seen some other musicals in which Latinos are portrayed ...

How did you first hear about the show? I first heard about In the Heights while watching the 2008 Tony Awards.  The awards show presented an abbreviated version of the opening number and 96,000.  My initial reaction was not positive.  I could not understand what the show was about, plus it was in rap and hip hop - what?!  I was speaking about the show with my friend, Julio Diaz and he was so excited about the show.  He told me I would really like it and encouraged me to purchase the cast recording and listen to it.  I did and months later while working on a project at work, I decided to listen to the recording.  I was half listening to the show when I got to the middle of the second act and was totally surprised by an event.  I finished listening to the show and decided when I got home that evening, I would read the synopsis of the show while listening again.  When I finished the show the second time, I was in tears.  I admit I wear my ...

When I turned in to the 62nd Tony Awards broadcast in June 2008, I hadn't heard of In the Heights.  I was living in Austin, Texas, and had just finished my master's degree in Latin American studies.  In the Heights was nominated for 13 awards, including best musical (which it won), so the cast preformed a medley of the opening number ("In the Heights") and "96,000".  I went insane.  It was so powerful, so energetic, so different, and just so good.  Later that night I found a recording of the performance was already up on youtube so I made my three roommates watch it again.  The next day I bought the cast recording on iTunes and it basically played nonstop for the next 6 months. For me, this was the right musical at the right time.  For my master's thesis, completed just weeks before, I had written about migration and urbanization in Latin America.  I had spent the previous summer interviewing rural migrants in Peru - speakers of a different lang...

Being a part of In the Heights illuminates the differences that Hispanic people encounter depending not only on where they reside when they come to the US but also how their families decide to acclimate. During the 1950’s when my father came from Puerto Rico to go to medical school in upstate New York, he was eager to shed any image of himself as “ethnic” or Hispanic. He wanted to integrate into mainstream American life. My only exposure to his culture was when we visited family once or twice a year in Puerto Rico throughout my childhood. Most of my relatives there were eager to speak English (my grandparents were both English teachers in their hometown) and so my siblings and I didn’t become fluent in Spanish. At the time, this distancing was a more comfortable approach for my father. I think as time has passed, he’s realized that we all would have been better off embracing his roots more. Indeed as he gets older his desire to return to PR seems to grow! I often lament not having mor...

In The Heights is a show about more than just a group of immigrants in the big city (in this case New York City), it is a show about how immigrants have shaped this country and how, through hard-work, resilience and endless energy, have transformed (and improved) our great nation! I am the proud son and grandson of Latino immigrants. My mother and grandmother (my Abuela) came to the U.S. from Montevideo, Uruguay in the late 60s. They both had to adapt quickly in a foreign land.  My grandmother came over at the age of 50, didn't speak a word of English and had always been a housewife.  She quickly had to learn a new language, learn to drive a car and develop a trade to get a job.   When I look back, it's absolutely remarkable to me how much she and my mother both accomplished in such a short time, and how strong, adaptable and resilient they had to be to succeed here.   And succeed they did!   In The Heights strikes so man...

What does it mean to be "In the Heights"?  I'm home!  Truly.  I have two viewpoints of Washington Heights:  my parents' and my own.  My parents moved to Washington Heights from Puerto Rico to join their respective extended family members that had already made "The Heights" their home.  When my parents married, they moved into a six-story walk-up, a beautiful building.  In their entrance, the building's number was inlaid in the floor tiles.  There was a marble staircase with ornate wrought iron railings.  The apartment had fourteen-foot ceilings with crown molding and chair railing.  The bathroom had classic white subway tile and a cast iron claw foot tub.  The apartment was a short two block walk from the subway station and three blocks from their church.  The corner bodega was run by my mother's uncle and my father's cousin.  It was a true community made up of friends and family (and I had a lot of family).  My paren...

We sat down and asked LTA veteran director Frank Shutts his thoughts, visions, and hopes for this summer’s production of the 2008 Tony-awarding musical In the Heights which opens on July 25 and runs through August 15.   Frank was very excited about this production; we think you’ll see why… I have waited five years to share this BREAKTHROUGH musical with the LTA audience!   In the Heights first came to my attention in 2010 when I saw the original production on Broadway.   I was so taken by it that I called home afterwards to discuss it but was so excited that I had to hang up and call back later.   This is definitely one show that you will talk about when it is over and not just throw the program in the back seat of the car and drive home unmoved!   This musical has as a lot of heart! It is the story of a tight-knit community in northern Manhattan where the George Washington Bridge connects New Jersey and New York, commonly called Washington Heights. ...