Queen Narcissa

Ok really, I was looking up, but it sounded good, right?

Last night’s performance of In the Heights (Best of Broadway Spokane) was undoubtedly among my flavorites. This thing had FLAVOR! Latina flavor. Hot, lyrical, rhyming flavor (is this where I’m supposed to say ‘flava” rather than flavor? I get so confused trying to be cool). Suffice it to say, I have a thing for tall, dark, skinny (or is it more proper to say thin?) men…so, of course, I have nothing but bueno to say about Usnavi…

Note: I’d use the cast and crew names, but somewhere between Darnell, my car, Atticus, the coffee stop, and the Design Spike office, I lost the program guide. Stop judging.

and his rhymin & stealin (whoa, hang on there…got off on a Beastie Boys track. Pardon me.) - well, hell, he made the show. There, I said it. I cussed. hehehe.

The stand outs for me (besides tall, dark and delicious) were Nina - oi, that voice. Let me repeat that. That voice. Talk about mad skills. From Breathe forward, I was sold on her. And the other stand out was Abuela Claudia and Paciencia Y Fe. Ball park, ball, knocked it out!

For those of you know me, you know my childhood was spent in a few barrios in Texas and Coney Island in Brooklyn (with a whole bunch of stuff in between). For a long time, I thought was gonna have a quinceanera only to be told by my mother that at best, I could look forward to Bat Mitzvah. As a result of the aforementioned, you know I totally identified with Vanessa (yikes) in It Won’t Be Long Now…the whole elevated train thing. And people sitting on their stoops, the corner store, the flavor and feel and the sounds. Kinda makes me miss the old hoods. And I digress, again!

Let me break it down quick and easy.

• Only one ADD attack during the second half shortly after half time. Something got slow somewhere. I mentally took to wandering. This means the production was well done, over all.
• I totally dig normal women on the stage. Cory totally dug Vanessa’s long legs but her voice, eh, not his thing.
• I want piragua. Now. It’s hot in my office.
• Benny’s dispatching was my favorite Benny part. 
• No Me Diga was suwheet. Really sweet. 
• I want a Carnival on my street. Please?
• Oh, and yes, some of the dialogue seemed halted. Not sure if it was intentional or not, and I just didn’t understand that.
• I do NOT get why Vanessa brings champagne but then tries to get Usnavi to hold off from opening it. Um, it’s hot in here. Open the d@mn bottle.

Some in our crew loved it, a few not so much. Some were meh. Some zoned out. Some cried, some leaked. Either way, I’m thankful I had the opportunity to see In the Heights. It may not be Fiddler on the Roof, but then again, I’m Jewish. What can I say? (Wow, I say that a lot, no?). For all of my blathering, I really enjoyed looking down on “In the Heights”

Yeah, I’m a streetlight, chillin’ in the heat!
I illuminate the stories of the people in the street
Some have happy endings, some are bittersweet
But I know them all and that’s what makes my life complete

Have you seen In the Heights? Will you?