50 Years On Broadway, Just Down The Street

Just a block and a half apart, in the heart of New York’s theater district, two outstanding shows span 50 years and much more than time. They are In the Heights, reigning Tony winner for best musical,and a new revival of West Side Story. Named for the Manhattan neighborhoods in which they are set, Washington Heights and the West Side (Hell’s Kitchen?), they present particular views of Latino life in a city of dreams.

In the Heights offers optimism tempered with street smarts delivered with upbeat music set to literate lyrics in the form of resonant rap. It all works. The neighborhood is in the middle of a heat wave. The lights go out; they are powerless. But the real power is not the electrical current. It is in the lives of the neighborhood, a community built on caring for each other as they struggle and strive for something better, only to realize that in this little barrio they have all the important comforts of home.

West Side Story’s saga is more familiar, the Romeo and Juliet inspired forbidden love between a Puerto Rican girl and an Anglo boy. Maria and Tony fall for each other but prejudice and hate turn their attraction into tragedy.

One of the innovations of the current revival is that actors use Spanish for scenes where it would naturally be spoken, unlike previous versions where English was substituted. Translations will be available for the audience members who need it. Lin-Manuel Miranda, who wrote the music and lyrics for In the Heights—and starred in the original production—is helping out with the new West Side Story to make the English and Spanish flow seamlessly, as it does during In the Heights.

Each show, in its own way, captures the spirit of its time. For the Jets and Sharks of West Side Story, tragedy is the only means for change, the mistrust and hatred run so deeply. But 50 years later, life in Washington Heights is hard but filled with hopefulness. The barrio’s smart girl is off to Stanford, and neighborhood businesses struggle but survive; and there’s always the Lotto. All you need is paciencia y fe (patience and faith).

The music and lyrics for both shows sparkle. The styles are quite different but appropriate for the times in which they are set and the tales they tell. Bernstein and Sondheim have a worthy successor in Miranda who started writing In the Heights while a student at Wesleyan University.

During these trying times we need a lift. The movie industry thrives while much of the economy continues to crumble. I’m fortunate that I visit New York often and get to the theater regularly. Few shows I’ve seen in the last ten years rise as high as In the Heights. It is a rousing diversion during this troubled chapter in history. That its creator is helping with West Side Story’s revival, just down the street, serves as a fitting footnote to a fifty year journey of just a few blocks.