Coming off the prodigious success of Crazy Rich Asians, filmmaker Jon M. Chu collaborates with Hamilton‘s Lin-Manuel Miranda for In The Heights, a musical about the diverse neighborhood of Washington Heights in New York City.
The film is based off a Broadway play of the same name, with music and lyrics by Miranda and writing credits to Quiara AlegrÃa Hudes, who wrote the original musical stage play and book, as well as Marc Klein.
Today, Warner Bros. released the first official trailer for the film, and it already looks like it’s going to be a hit!
In The Heights is all about dreaming big. In the height of the hot New York summer, the film centers around a tight-knit community largely made up of Hispanic-Americans. At the center of the tale is Usnavi (Anthony Ramos, of Hamilton fame as well), a dreamer who is saving up for a better life.
Just from the trailer alone we can hear Lin-Manuel Miranda’s signature flow matching Jon M. Chu’s cinematic eye, vibrant with color and exuberant with emotion. The film features a combination of singers, film/television actors, and theater actors. Alongside Ramos is singer/songwriter Leslie Grace, as well as Corey Hawkins (BlacKKKlansman), Melissa Barrera (Vida), Olga Merediz (Broadway’s In the Heights), Daphne Rubin-Vega (Broadway’s Rent), George Diaz IV (Broadway’s Matilda the Musical), Stephanie Beatriz (Brooklyn Nine-Nine), Dascha Polanco (Orange is the New Black), and Jimmy Smits (the Star Wars series).
IN THE HEIGHTS is in theaters June 26, 2020
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