"When You're Home"

This past Sunday, I had a major fangirl moment.  It's not a secret that my favorite musical is In the Heights and my favorite composer is the brilliant Lin-Manuel Miranda.  So when I found out that a production of Heights was playing at a local theatre, I just had to go.  The verdict?

Amazing.  Absolutely incredible, especially for a community production.  The cast really did a great job bringing the life and culture of the Washington Heights barrio to the stage.  It was an indescribable feeling, being able to see a show that I've essentially memorized back and forth.

Some of the standout performances, in my opinion, were:
- Andres Alejandro Ponce (Usnavi).  It's not easy to play a role that Lin-Manuel Miranda so carefully crafted and is very much a representation of him.
- Chelsea Crane (Vanessa).  A classical vocalist and music teacher, I would recommend her to anyone.  Her voice fit perfectly with Vanessa's songs and that couldn't have been an easy task.
- Janice Rivera (Camila). A somewhat minor character, I felt like I was watching and hearing Priscilla Lopez herself.  "Enough" was exceptional.
- Tahara Robinson, Jacqueline Salvador, Janice Rivera, Christy Fischer (Daniela, Carla, Vanessa, Nina).  I've never been the biggest fan of "No Me Diga", but their performance brought a life to the song that I've never heard before.

Currently listening to: "First Impressions" First Date OBC