Lights will go up in Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium when the New York barrio makes its way to Ohio University on Saturday.
In the Heights, the award-winning musical, tells the story of the Washington Heights community, a group of Latin Americans in Manhattan trying to find a home.
The story is told through different styles of rap, hip-hop and Latin rhythms, said Robert Ramirez, who plays Sonny, a worker in the corner store during the summer.
“The show is really cool in how you can tell a story in complete rhyme, and really fast too, but it’s still clear and easy to understand,” Ramirez said.
The Performing Arts Concert Series brought the musical to Athens because of its young appeal, said Andrew Holzaepfel, associate director of the Campus Involvement Center.
“Lin Manuel-Miranda started writing this in college, so it is largely directed to a younger demographic,” he said. “We wanted to have a show that could draw a larger audience, especially during the spring.”
Ramirez added that he believes the title and type of music for this show make some people timid about coming to the show.
“The characters in the show make it really easy for people to grasp onto something, whether it’s Abuela (Grandma) and the struggles she had coming to America or Nina and her struggle through college,” he said. “The concepts and realities are real.”
About 1,000 tickets have already been sold. The goal was to sell 1,100 by the end of the night.
“The show cost $25,000 to bring in, but I think the ticket sales will be enough to cover the cost,” Holzaepfel said.
In the Heights took home four Tony Awards when it opened on Broadway in 2008: Best Musical, Best Original Score, Best Choreography and Best Orchestrations.
“It’s one of the most amazing musicals ever written, and I will fight that to the death,” Ramirez said. “This is the one of the best musicals to see as your first show, because it changes your perception on what theater is. It’s not Oklahoma.”
ao007510@ohiou.edu
