In the Heights

In the Heights is a musical about one corner of Washington Heights, a mostly Hispanic and Latino part of upper Manhattan. Across three hot July days, we follow Usnavi, who runs a small bodega, and the neighbors who drift through it. The show deals with family, ambition and what it means to belong, and with whether to stay or chase something bigger. Its dialogue moves between English and Spanish.

Lin-Manuel Miranda conceived the show and wrote the music and lyrics, and Quiara Alegría Hudes wrote the book. It is an original story, not an adaptation.

This production comes from New York City Center, which presents it as its 2026 Annual Gala Presentation: a new City Center production for a limited run, first announced as two weeks and later extended to three. The opening performance is a gala benefit honoring Miranda and Hudes, among others.

Usnavi narrates. On a sweltering July day he opens the bodega and introduces the people on his corner, among them Abuela Claudia, who came from Cuba as a child, raised him after his parents died and is a grandmother figure to the whole block. A hair salon run by Daniela and a car-service dispatch owned by Kevin Rosario sit close by.

Money and plans are on everyone's mind: a winning ticket was sold at the bodega, and the neighbors spend the day picturing the prize. Vanessa, who works at the salon, wants an apartment downtown, and Usnavi has liked her for years. His younger cousin Sonny, who cares about social justice, nudges her toward a date.

Nina, Kevin's daughter, broke new ground for her family by going to Stanford University. She comes home after her first year with news her parents will not welcome, and her return reopens things with Benny, who works at her father's dispatch and dreams of owning a business. The first act closes with a citywide blackout and fireworks over dark streets.

Miranda's score draws on salsa, merengue, hip-hop and soul alongside traditional Broadway sounds. Alex Lacamoire and Bill Sherman wrote the arrangements and orchestrations, and Alejandro Senior is the music director here. "96,000" is the number in which the block imagines the prize. Titles such as "Piragua," "Blackout" and "Carnaval del Barrio" point to street-level details: a shaved-ice cart, a power failure and a neighborhood party.

As of October 2026, Matte Martinez plays Usnavi, and Natalie Venetia Belcon, who won the 2025 Tony Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical for Buena Vista Social Club, plays Abuela Claudia. Ashley De La Rosa is Vanessa, Jaci Calderon is Nina, Aaron James McKenzie is Benny, Ishmael Gonzalez is Sonny and Linedy Genao is Daniela.

Miranda wrote the first draft in 1999 as a sophomore at Wesleyan University, and a student company staged an 80-minute one-act version in April 2000. Thomas Kail began working with Miranda in 2002, and Hudes joined as book writer in 2004. In July 2005 the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, in Waterford, Connecticut, presented the show at its National Music Theater Conference. It ran Off-Broadway at the 37 Arts Theater in 2007, with Miranda as Usnavi.

The Broadway production opened at the Richard Rodgers Theatre on March 9, 2008, and ended its run on January 9, 2011, having played 29 previews and 1,184 performances. A film directed by Jon M. Chu, with Anthony Ramos as Usnavi, arrived on June 10, 2021. Miranda's later musical Hamilton reunited Kail, choreographer Andy Blankenbuehler and Lacamoire.