The first trailer for the long-in-the-works adaptation of In the Heights, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s first Tony-winning musical, has arrived.
The film adaptation, the planning of which predates Miranda’s Hamilton musical, was finally brought to the big screen by Crazy Rich Asians director Jon M. Chu, working off a screenplay by the musical’s original playwright Quiara Alegría Hudes as well as music and lyrics by Miranda, who makes a blink-or-you’ll-miss-it cameo in the trailer as a snow cone dealer.
In the Heights stars Hamilton vet Anthony Ramos as Usnavi — Miranda’s role in the Broadway staging — as he navigates his life in New York’s Washington Heights. Although the musical arrived on Broadway in 2008, the film updates the story to present day, focusing on the struggle of DREAMers in the Trump era.
“Lights up on Washington Heights…The scent of a cafecito caliente hangs in the air just outside of the 181st Street subway stop, where a kaleidoscope of dreams rallies this vibrant and tight-knit community,” Warner Bros. said of the film. “At the intersection of it all is the likeable, magnetic bodega owner Usnavi (Anthony Ramos), who saves every penny from his daily grind as he hopes, imagines and sings about a better life.”
In the Heights, out June 26th, 2020, “fuses Lin-Manuel Miranda’s kinetic music and lyrics with director Jon M. Chu’s lively and authentic eye for storytelling to capture a world very much of its place, but universal in its experience,” Warner Bros. continued. The movie primarily filmed in Washington Heights, the studio noted.
The film had been in the works for over a decade, with Universal initially pulling the plug on their adaptation in 2011; following the success of Hamilton, the Weinstein Company acquired the rights to the musical in 2016, however that company’s downfall resulted in Warner Bros. ultimately bringing the movie to cinemas.
