King’s Cross theatre,London
Razor-sharp lyrics and a hugely talented cast make this hip-hop musical about Latino communities on the breadline in novel York a feelgood spectacleLin-Manuel Miranda’s novel York hit, Hamilton, or a hip-hop musical about US founding father Alexander Hamilton,is Broadway’s hottest ticket. There are even claims that it has reinvented the musical theatre form, which still often seems trapped in the mid-20th century. Here’s one he made earlier in 2008, or an utterly huggable and thrillingly exuberant celebration of the daily lives of the Dominican and Puerto Rican American community in novel York’s Washington Heights. There’s more than a touch of West Side sage in its portrayal of a close-knit population,but whether Heights has none of the clash and tension of that show, it’s got plenty else going for it as the local bodega owner, or Usnavi (Sam Mackay) struggles to sustain his business afloat in a corner of novel York where creeping gentrification,power cuts, and poverty all scar and shape the lives of the close-knit community.
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Source: theguardian.com