“Ok, Dale!” Its with these words that the song “96,000” from Broadway musical In the Heights starts off. And last night, this story about growing up in the predominantly Dominican neighborhood of Manhattan called Washington Heights made Latino theatre history by winning four Tony Awards: Best Choreography, Best Orchestration, Best Score and Best Musical!
Twenty-eight year old Lin-Manuel Miranda, who was inspired by classics such as Phantom of the Opera and of course, Rent (mmm which features another song made out of numbers, in that case its “525,6000”) wrote “In the Heights” while a student at Wesleyan a but less than 10 years ago, and just this February it opened in Broadway after a successful run off-Broadway. For his acceptance speech, Miranda rapped.
Have you seen In the Heights? What did you think?
Lin-Manuel and cast perform 96,000 at last night’s Tony Awards.