In the heights film

Thanks. I feel honoured to be going. Mind you I am going to get there early as someone commented earlier about giving away more tickets than seats.
I remember the days of queueing for hours outside Thames Studios or BBC only to be told "no more seats". I stopped going in the end as it was more trouble than it was worth.

Last night I went to a preview screening of the film and it didn't disappoint.
Its definately a film that needs to be seen on a big screen and perfect for the summer.
I have been told that there is some tweaking from the stage musical but as I have only seen it once and it was a few years ago at Southwark Playhouse I dont really remember it too well and what the changes are.
So nice to see a film that does not rely on Hollywood "A" listers so you just get an insanely good cast. I actually prefer the music to this compared to Hamilton as I love the mixture of Hip-Hop and Salsa/Merengue.
As you can imagine the dance numbers are absolutely spectacular and stunning.
There must have been a cast of thousands especially for the dance numbers.
It was well attended, bearing in mind that there had to be a gap of 2 seats between each party and as I got there early was even able to nab one of the posh seats.
Would definately be going to see it again.

One strange thing is that 4 people walked out 30 mins before the end. If you don't like it why sit through 2 hours before deciding its not for you....

Lin Manuel Miranda is going to be on The One Show in a minute.

Just got from seeing this. It's late and I'm already in bed so will write a full review tomorrow night, after work but needless to say, this was sensational! So dynamic! Wow!

I prefer In The Heights to Hamilton.

I will watch this eventually but I don’t feel safe in a cinema atm.

Having seen this live twice- at Southwalk and Kings Cross- I have the Broadway Cast recording and having seen the trailers, I went into this with high expectations and I was not disappointed.

I've actually been thinking about this all day.

This was dynanic and just a joy to watch. I was grinning from ear to ear.

Despite seeing this twice- I don't remember it with such intimacy that I could tell you what songs were in what order but what I can tell you is there there is a character cut- Nina's mother and the ending has changed.

Personally I missed her. However those not familiar with the piece, will not even know the difference.

The dancing- truly excellent. But as great as they are, these are not dancers bodies. There are people off all shapes and sizes, young and old- brown, white and black. There are big boobs, moobs, large thighs, bums and tattoos and afros and braids in varying forms and it's beautiful and wonderful.

The choreography is sharp and slick, with stylised movement- especially on the train in a song sung by Abel Claudia.

There is salsa, merengue, very fast and dazzling!

I personally am not a huge fan of hip-hop but let's not forget this is Lin-Manual Miranda. Speaking on which, not only is he in this as Piraguero. Those of you observant enough will recognise the Hamilton alumni. Apart from Miranda himself, there is Anthony Ramos, the guy who competing in the ice-cream van is the General from Hamilton.

There is also a scene where Kevin Rosario is on the phone and the hold music is from Hamilton.

In reality, there may be more Hamilton alumni in this film but at times there was so much happening, it was sensory overload and at times there was so much happening, it's easy to miss.

Both the nail bar/salon sequence and 96,000 are both visual highlights. There is so much going on, it's hard to understand how with all those people how they could co-ordinate that many people, let alone block it out and then to film it.

For anyone squeamish, look out for the contortionist twisting his arms in the water. It made me cringe.

There is also some very clever, unexpected graphics!

The cast-Look out Daphne Ruben-Vega (the original Mimi from Rent) as Daniella and Stephanie Beatriz (of Brooklyn Nine-Nine fame) as Carla. Both are brilliant!

Also look out for a cameo from Marc Anthony.

But the film belongs to Anthony Ramos. Some shots are so close you can see his freckles! He is not ashamed to look foolish and he males his rapping seen effortless.

There is humour, pathos and I found the whole experience truly uplifting!

Well .... I saw this tonight.

I was disappointed. The cast is great and it looks super - but it all falls a little flat. The singing was obviously all done in a studio beforehand... and there are no breaths/etc and it doesn’t look or sound natural, more like a lip sync recording. It’s all a little “plastic” if that makes sense and a tad over produced.

Next up the book / changes. The story is thin anyway, but there were many times during the film where I was, well, bored. It’s almost 2 1/2 hours and it sadly dragged. I didn’t like the abstract drawing in mid air, that idea was never followed through. That said, the group street dance sections and montages are magnificent (though perhaps a tad busy and again over produced). The rap to pop to Latino melodies of this musical pre Hamilton are glorious as we all know. The music and dancing is what saves it - it was after all a wonderful stage show but this stage to screen version sadly lost its magic for me.

Coming to the original stage show.... I was angry that they ramped up all the social division, politics and race issues too. Why? At one point I thought it was like watching social justice the musical. Also when was it meant to be set? 2015? 2020? Would there really be no white, Arab, Russian or Asian people living in the far upper east side area Washington Heights? Not ONE? Really? I thought this obvious Latino division meets ghetto made the film divided / especially the downtown scenes “where she met the white folk” and added sub text to characters journeys. Cringe. Empowerment and the fight for inclusivity I’m afraid can come across that you’re just fighting discrimination with discrimination. Ugh.

For these book changes I sadly felt that it became a racially loaded musical about immigration, xenophobia (both ways), socio-economic tension in modern day NYC and racial division that it never EVER was on stage.

Such a shame as the cast were superb. The book should have been left alone.

I don’t understand your points regarding race whatsoever. Did you see the stage production - the London King’s Cross cast were the same diverse combination of ethnicities which you describe in the film. I personally find it baffling that you were even trying to look for a white actor.

I recall this now, thanks! I’d forgotten Usnavi ironically. For what it’s worth, I think you’re absolutely correct. Every other post from that user is centred around one of two subject matters: racism or bloody ice castles.

Themes of race have always been present in the show. The film does give a few more references to the theme, granted, but not in a way that smacks you over the head. For myself I didn’t see an issue.

Stories which address the problems surrounding racism and immigration are only an issue to those with discriminatory attitudes, underlying or otherwise. Watching these stories only bring that fact to the surface.

Oh, it’s not necessarily an issue - just a change that’s kinda typical of Hollywood. Can’t have anything be an underlying theme that the audience picks up, instead, it must be explicitly stated in the most literal way.

Lots of people will love it. Some will dislike it because of their own politics. And some who go to the cinema just looking for a fun colourful musical and to get away from the doom-and-gloom of the past 18 months will find it tedious.

Hmm, the thing is cutting the interpersonal conflict also cuts a lot of the dramatic tension. I think that’s why it drags between dance numbers.

The dance numbers really are fab and deserve to be seen on the big screen, though.