Review: ‘In the Heights’ is the infusion of joy we needed

Before “Hamilton” there was “In the Heights," Lin-Manuel Miranda's heartfelt and joyous ode to his beloved Washington Heights, home to a blend of Latin cultures

“I am Usnavi and you prob'ly never heard my name,” declares bodega owner Usnavi at the start of “In the Heights,” Lin-Manuel Miranda’s contagiously joyous ode to his beloved Washington Heights neighborhood. “Reports of my fame are greatly exaggerated.” Um … maybe not for long. Projects by Miranda tend to attract a wee bit of attention. Even in the annals of musical theater, by nature filled with Cinderella stories, “In the Heights” has an amazing backstory. It began two decades ago when a college student at Wesleyan had extra time on his hands — his girlfriend was studying abroad — so he started to write a show. A show that represented the Latino immigrant experience as he, son of Puerto Rican parents, saw it. A show that melded the things he loved: hip-hop, Latin music and dance, rap, and of course musical theater. The kid was Miranda, and “In the Heights" eventually made it all the way to the Tony podium, winning best musical. Of course, Miranda’s own story was just beginning. “Hamilton,” his genre-bending phenomenon, was years away.