In the Heights: Life Affirming!
By Chris Parkinson
Ok let me make it clear straight from the get go – this is a must see. In the Heights is theatrical prozac – everything just feels better, colours look brighter and people around you smile. It’s not the tunes – they’re nice, the musicianship very good, but I can’t remember any – it’s quite simply the excellence of every member of the cast. There is not a duff one among them. Yeah there’s Jade Ewen – utterly tunefully gorgeous – and the beatifically charismatic (and charismatically beautiful) Lily Frazer – but this is a show where it’s simply not fair to select any one member of the cast or chorus for praise above another. They all work hard (and Victoria Hamilton-Barritt is heavily pregnant for goodness sake!) and yet make seemingly effortless entertainment. They all have a turn at singing lead – and they all make it look effortless.
Forget those so called talent shows you see on tv – they’re for the blinkered couch potato that knows no better – every one of these guys will quite simply delight you. And they are all so bloody beautiful, damn it, telling their uplifting tale of young love and friendship in a community on the brink of change.
They dance and sing and jump and grind and dance and sing and jump and grind and they don’t even break a sweat – how?
This is an outbreak of cheerfulness delivered by a radiant team. They show what real talent can achieve – and make it just a little bit harder for mediocrity to get away with it on our stages.
If we gave stars, we’d happily give lots.
In the Heights
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