IN THE HEIGHTS

Drama Theatre, Sydney Opera House, July 24

7/10

This was Lin-Manuel Miranda’s apprenticeship. He wrote the first draft of In the Heights at 19, nine years before it revolutionised musical theatre on Broadway in 2008. While rap had been used in musicals before, Miranda suddenly made it the most succinct way of characters communicating information in the idiom’s history. Hamilton took him another six years to perfect. In terms of exhaustively refining ideas, Miranda is to musicals what James Joyce was to fiction.

Ryan Gonzalez. Photos: Daniel Boud.

But if Hamilton is his Ulysses, In the Heights falls well short of being his A Portrait of the Artist as Young Man. Here, the dazzling way with words – the Byronic genius for rhyme schemes – is almost exclusively in evidence in the rapping of protagonist Usnavi (Ryan Gonzalez), who runs a bodega in New York’s Hispanic-centric Washington Heights.

Directed by Luke Joslin, this production is descended from the show’s 2018 Sydney premiere at Hayes Theatre. The crucial difference is that back then we hadn’t seen Hamilton here, and once you have, the apprenticeship status of In the Heights is glaring in the sometimes-ham-fisted songwriting, half-baked emotions and soppy Act Two book (by Quiara Alegria Hudes).

But there are also many delights, such as how economically Miranda and Hudes delineate a dozen characters at the outset. Another is Gonzalez who, while not quite a charismatic, is still a hugely engaging, welcoming and convincing portal into the show. A third is Lena Cruz’s singing as Abuela Claudia, evading the shrillness that besets too many of her colleagues. A fourth is Amy Cambell’s choreography, which defines character and fizzes with energy simultaneously (and loves being on a much larger stage than the Hayes), and a fifth is Janet Dacal’s sassy, scene-stealing performance as the street-smart hairdresser, Daniela.

Janet Ducal. Photos: Daniel Boud.

Several of the rest are adequate rather than compelling, and while Mason Browne’s raw, construction-zone-like set design works well, the sound is a significant problem. The voices are too brittle and the volume too great, with the consequence that the all-important lyrics are often lost. Meanwhile the rhythm section feels blunt, lacking the snap the show demands, as does the sometimes-flat trumpet.

While the Hayes experience was more intense, the more expansive choreography offers compensation, and, were the sound problems addressed, fans of Hamilton should definitely see where it all began.

Until August 25.

https://www.sydneyoperahouse.com/musical-theatre-cabaret/heights