When Your'e Home: The In The Heights Movie

 The year was 2021, and movies were still getting back on their feet. Some companies decided to skip the wait for theaters and just drop them on streaming services, some decided to charge prices for a limited time for this, and others just released movies on both platforms and for no fee. One such film in this dual-release format was the long awaited musical movie adaptation of "In The Heights" having only one trailer before everything shut down in early 2020. This movie was not controversy-free, a film claiming to represent all aspects of Hispanic culture, but leaving out several ethnicities and Afro-Latinos from the cast. The movie might have performed well on streaming but when it came to the big screens it bombed financially, receiving mixed to positive reviews. 

When this film first dropped on HBO MAX back when it was called that and not just MAX, I loved it. I watched it about four or five times, and it was only available for about a month until it was added much later for a longer stretch. The story had some changes and kept some things the same, so I was left seeing this not so much as a full-on adaptation, but rather keeping some of the music, and doing its own thing. As time passed and a rewatch or two after some time away, I found myself liking some parts of the movie, loving some parts, and being confused by others. Some aspects I found way better from the stage version, and other decisions where I felt like something was attempted to be fixed that was not broken to begin with. 

For example, songs are removed which makes sense to help the movie fit a run time, but even with that this movie runs at over two hours, and some storylines are cut down or removed, but this involves things not making sense or characters being killed off for no reason. Some of the story changes work incredibly well, and some of them are being kept work but some don't. They change the song order as well, sometimes working and sometimes not. For example, the lottery ticket plot from the original flows naturally and becomes an interesting plot point, but isn't even addressed, changing the order and meaning of my favorite song "Paciencia y Fe" into this look back at Abuela's death right before she dies, but then why have the lottery ticket in the movie at all? Killing off Nina's mother leads nowhere, and then there's Benny.

Much like the stage show, so much is going on, there are so many plots, and some of them are never resolved, mainly Benny's, you never know his outcome, and he is a character you spend over half the movie with. The plot can be heartwarming, and touching, as well as have real moments, but then also be baffling at the same time. They add Sonny's father for one scene and all it does is pad out the run time, some of the emotions hit a strong chord, but then some don't like Usnavi's fight with Vanessa during the blackout. For every good change or good performance, there is one in the writing and plot that leaves me beyond confused. Some lyric changes also baffled me and did not fit as they reference songs the characters did not sing, or songs that were cut. 

The instrumentation is also a mixed bag, sometimes it fits perfectly and other times it is way too soft, and tries to be different. But what do I like about this?

The performances and acting are phenomenal, and most of the music is incredible. The songs are well shot, well performed, and have amazing choreography. The way they are filmed, using a solo, duet, or ensemble is incredible, most of the songs hit it right out of the park. Even with my qualms with this version of "Paciencia y Fe" in terms of the changes made and where it is placed into the plot, I love the way it looks, it is shot wonderfully and is gorgeous, made into a visually striking scene. And that goes for so many of the songs, the actors knock them all out of the park, "In The Heights", "Benny's Dispatch", "Breath", "It Won't Be Long Now", "96,000", "When You're Home", "The Club", "Blackout" and "Finale" all stand out. There are a couple numbers I am simply okay with but most of them, are unforgettable. 

The visuals are so impressive. They are gorgeous, this is a very well shot movie, and even with the moments I may disagree with, this movie looks so good. Every song and dance looks great, the emotion driven home, and the movie just pops in terms of set, setting, and the visuals. The movie looks great, and sounds great. I often find myself watching this film once a year for the high moments over the lows, and the musical numbers are a high point. The movie drives home emotions well in some ways, and works, just too much is going on for everything to stick a landing, and some things do not even get a landing to stick. I enjoy the comedy, the day to life and down to earth nature of the plot and storyline of the movie. I enjoy how the movie is very emotionally driven and is just about people working, going to school, living life and how they feel. Whether in relationships, with friendships, or on their own, even through their own found family and community. 

The musical numbers are so impressive that I love seeing them, sometimes even rewinding to watch them over from the top. This musical also came at the right time, things were uncertain and life was far from going out with friends or even going to the movies. Get a well shot, great looking, and great sounding musical movie day one as the movie heathers, was much needed. It is a visually stunning movie that makes every song stand out, both through the music itself and the great visuals that accompany it. Whether changing to setting to the surreal to convey the emotion on a different scale, or doing a giant dance number in a public pool, each one hits, and can be a great listen on their own as an album. 

The acting is incredible as well, emotion-packed, whether comedic or serious, the acting is amazing. I just wish the material was better, there are more than seven plot lines going on in this movie, two romances, lots of dreams, and multiple emotional conflicts, to the point where as mentioned earlier they are not all resolved. But there is still plenty of good in the movie, great acting, great music, and it is visually a marvel in scenes both big and small, well acted too. The editing is also fantastic, the visuals re amazing, in shots both long and short of all kinds. 

I would say watch the movie at least once and perhaps listen to the soundtrack alongside the Broadway version. Funny enough the Broadway version also has too many plot points, but much like that the music is incredible, and it is fun to see where Lin Manuel Miranda started. This movie has enough good music, some good acting, a couple of the plots are well done, and is charming enough for a watch, at least one, I think I can find myself watching this every once in a while, sometimes all the way through, and sometimes just for the musical performances. 

In The Heights: (The Orignal Cast Album And Seeing It Live)

 Before there was a musical movie adaptation, there was a musical for the movie to make that adaptation of, there was just a musical. A musical about a bodega owner, a man who worked at a taxi dispatch, a woman just wanting to move on, some salon owners, a woman who has dropped out of college, her parents, one of them who may or may not be a tad racist, and an elderly grandmother who watches over the entire neighborhood and loves to play the lotto. A musical about dreams, friends, family, and what it means to be home. A show packed with lessons sometimes big and obvious, sometimes, simple and small being tucked away within the span of a couple lines or a short song. I listened to this original Broadway cast recording all the way through many times, and sometimes just picked my favorite songs, and even saw a live performance of it in 2019.  So before we hit the big screen, I am going to dive into the original that started it all. 

The music in this show has incredible range on all fronts, whether it is the big and grand opening, the emotion-packed solo songs, or super energetic group numbers. Some songs are quiet and soft, many of them super energetic whether using one singer, a couple, the whole ensemble, or a little bit of all of the above, starting small and growing to a big energetic spectacle, the variety songs might not always bring a winner but when it does, it really does. 

Having seen this show live in 2019, listened to the album countless times, and watched the movie more than once, I am very familiar with the narrative and the music. 

My favorite songs are "In The Heights", "Breath", "Benny's Dispatch", "It Won't Be Long Now", "96,000", "Paciencia Y Fe", "When You're Home", "Blackout", "Sunrise", "Hundreds Of Stories", "Carnival de Barrio", "What You Know", "Champagne", "When The Sun Goes Down", and "Finale". There is so much range in the songs, whether it is the tempo or style, ranging from solos to duets, to a mix that begins as a solo and grows to having the whole ensemble making a big and grand group number. I love the music of this show so much, there is so much emotion in the music, whether it's comedic or heartfelt, a love song, or a song about chasing your dreams, the emotional range is also amazing in this show.

This show just captures the feeling of the season of Summer, aside from lyrics that point out the time of year such as "We start July..." (thus why I am spending the end of June and most of July covering this musical and such), there is so much about the heat and weather, being home, seeing family, and even seasonal favorites like frozen treats and fireworks. The show has such a good feeling through its music of being home, it really knocks it out of the park with many of the songs that hit close to home with their relatable emotions and characters, each member of the cast feeling like someone you know or even see yourself in. 

Unfortunately as amazing as this show is, there are some low lows to accompany these high highs.  One massive problem is the amount of things going on in this show, there are two love stories, family drama, a huge cast each with their own dreams, a motherly figure who watches over them all, wanting to leave, and more. Even as the story pushes into act two, more plot points and storylines are added as the narrative keeps going, never stopping, and leaving some things paper thin or even worse, unresolved. There are a couple stories that take time, and get the audience invested in them, but then just have no ending, and it feels like time wasted. This also spans into some of the music, giving each character a minimum of one song, leading to some songs feeling unearned and just there to fill the space, not giving them much purpose, the world and environment are almost too fleshed out. What I mean is one of the strongest points of this show also ironically leads to one of its weakest. The world feels so alive to the point that the characters, storylines, and environments feel real, and they should since Washington Heights is a real place, putting a fictional story with real themes in a real location, but it sometimes feels bloated and has so much going on that you can only be so invested because ones attention is being pulled in so many directions, sometimes even multiple storylines are addressed in one scene. 

These flaws are very glaring, but the amazing music, and the good charecter moments do outshine the bad. There are plenty of strong character-driven moments, especially with Nina, Benny, Usnavi, and Abuela Claudia. Their songs carry emotional weight, whether light-hearted or emotion-packed to great lengths to make this show memorable. One could even say, great heights. Not all of the music shines but the ones that do stand head and shoulders, making great listens in the context of the show or on their own. The show has a set identity and sticks with it, standing strong in many areas narratively, with some amazing music to carry those moments. Soft and quiet, or big and grand, using the whole ensemble in many skilled ways. This show is at least worth a listen, and you will see this a great listen during the summer, or all year round. This show captrures the perfect summer feeling with so many great high energy numbers, and has so many moments that make this a good time still overall. I recommend seeing it live at least once or giving it a listen once, definitely before the movie, starting with the Broadway cast album. Turn the lights up on this tale of Washington Heights, and you just might see why this musical feels right at home, especially during the summer season. 

The 77th Annual Tony Awards

 It's that time of year again, the time when I talk about the Tony Awards, my favorite performances, and the show as a whole. Hosted once again by Arianna Debose after she absolutely crushed it last year this year.. has a lot to talk about so let's dive in shall we? I will not recap it beat for beat but rather what stood out to me, both good and bad. But first congrats to all the winners and "The Outsiders" for winning best musical. 

The funny part is the amount of obstacles I had to overcome just to watch this year. First I paid for a month of Paramount Plus like I usually do, but this year the version that held the Tony Awards was not both versions but rather the more expensive AD-free package. Secondly that I missed some of the performances and awards presented due to a severe storm warning and alert in my state so I missed an award, a speech or two, and basically all of Suffs. But from what I did see, this was an okay show this year, very middle of the road. 

In terms of hosting Ariana Debose did a good job, the opening number had a good message but also was a bit of a mixed bag. She did well with the hosting duties but the set this year was super odd. The set was super minimalistic and barren aside from two giant Tony Awards on display, which helped some performances but made some of them a tad head-scratching. For example "Water For Elephants" just had all these steel beams and "Suffs" just walked in place on a barren patch of stage while "Hell's Kitchen" and "The Outsiders" took advantage of the said environment and added a couple backdrops and really set the scene. 

Some of the performances were amazing, while some were just okay, the speeches were very inspiring and it was great to see awards going to all sorts of shows instead of a clean sweep. After watching the awards and performances the shows I find myself wanting to see and hoping for a tour are, Merrily We Roll Along which I already love among many other great Sondheim works, Hell's Kitchen, and The Outsiders. The show did it's job because I wanted to listen to many of the albums from these shows and find new favorite songs and stuff to add to my playlists, and maybe even want to see some more than just the ones listed. 

Of the speeches, I loved Jonathon Groff's and was so happy he won. Kecia Lewis, Shania Taub, and Daniel Radcliff just to name a few, all of the speeches were great, and it was nice to see the wins passed around multiple shows instead of a clean sweep. The only show that semi-swept was Merrily Which cleaned up in all but one of its nominations, but seeing a Sondheim show win especially one that was once so universally despised is nothing short of amazing and earns no complaints. Of the performances my liberties were "Hell's Kitchen", "Merry We Roll Along", "The Outsiders" and "Tommy" but I will never turn down a giant epic performance of pinball wizard. If it was any other song I would have been just fine with it, but Pinball Wizard sealed it for me. 

There were a couple of baffling moments as well, whole groups of winners filmed out in the lobby, some performances taking place in the lobby like Jay Z, Brooke Sheilds wearing crocs, the lack of set, and talk of the insiders tipping the winner of the night to "The Outsiders" due to its large number of producers. With all that aside it was just an okay night, with some enjoyable performances, and I want to see "Hell's Kitchen", "Merrily We Roll Along" and "The Outsiders" as soon as possible, one great aspect of the Tonys is showing people shows they can go and see. I have the albums to all three of these shows as well as "Illonoise" and "Suffs" saved to my library now, for future reviews, and to find new favorite songs to listen to on repeat and add to my playlists. I found some new stuff to listen to, saw some great performances, saw some shows I want to see live now, and saw some great speeches. An all-around fine night.

The Hamildrops

 Since I just finished talking about The Hamilton Mixtape, I decided to talk about the Hamildrops while I was on the topic. Beginning in December of 2017 and releasing once a month in 2018 except in the month of July of 2018, once a month a new Hamilton cover or song inspired by it was dropped. This was an intended sequel to the Hamilton Mixtape which was just discussed on this blog so why not go through them.

the eleven songs featured as they did not do a song in July are:

The Benjamin Franklin Song: The Decemberists 

Wrote My Way Out: Nas, Dave East, Lin Manuel Miranda, Aloe Blacc

The Hamilton Polka: Weird Al Yankovic 

Found/Tonight: Ben Platt, Lin Manuel Miranda

First Burn: Ari Afsar, Julia Harriman, Lexi Lawson, Rachelle Ann Go

Helpless: The Regrettes 

Boom Goes The Canon: Mobb Deep

Rise Up Wise Up Eyes Up: Ibeyi

A Forgotten Spot (Olvidado) : Lin Manuel Miranda, Zion y Lennox, De La Ghetto, Ivy Queen

Dear Theodosia Reprise: Sara Bareilles

Cheering For Me Now: John Kander, Lin Manuel Miranda 

As you see a couple can be found on the Hamilton mixtape but were given extensive music videos namely Wrote My Way Out And Theodosia Reprise though this time the song is performed by a different musician, since Sara Barellis did not perform it in the mixtape,  so only one song carries over. Looking at the other ten songs all of these are a great extension of the Hamilton Mixtape and a great to listen to alongside it, after it, or on its own. 

Many of these songs really stand out on their own, whether it is covered in a way that stands out in a whole new way like The Hamilton Polka or a punk rock version of Helpless. All of these are great listens, all in different styles, some fast-paced and energetic others slow and relaxing. Cheering For Me Now sounds like a big showstopping number in the style of a traditional musical. Found/Tonight is an excellent mashup of two musicals in such a soft and sweet way, same with Dear Theodosia Reprise being soft and amazing. A Forogtten Spot (Olvidado). being energetic and entirely in Spanish, and then there is  First Burn.

Using all of the other Eliza actresses to do a remix of one song I already love to the moon and back, is simply amazing. The instrumentals, the harmonies, and the new lyrics all work together to make a song that really keeps the strong emotion of the original while shining in a way all its own. 

I love all of these songs and they are worth at least one listen, but I find myself tuning into them for a great change of pace with an amazing variety in so many styles. From rock, to pop, to polka and more. All of these songs are great listens alongside the mixtape when you want some Hamilton fun in a different way. These both are great supplementary material for people who have listened to Hamilton over and over, taking what worked and making something new while keeping why we loved the songs, to begin with. Whether it was using a couple lyrics or the entire song but in a different style both the mixtape and the Hamildrops are wonderful listens full of different genres while the emotions behind the music stay relateable 

The Perfect Balance Of The Hamilton Mixtape

I was just in the mood to talk about this, that's it. We all love Hamilton and this is much like the month Hamildrops that came out monthly for a year's time, which was an added surprise. Seeing other artists take on Broadway songs and add a new style and flare while keeping the themes of what made the songs great. Only holding on to some of the lyrics or the chorus but then adding new lyrics and stories around these well-known songs. Harkening back to days when Broadway hits would be performed by popular musicians outside of the theaters and even with some slight changes, and has been here and there such as the Sara Bareilles Waitress album or Owl City performing "Waving Through A Window", but not as common of an act as it once was. So I wanted to dive into this and see what made this mixtape truly something worth listening to, and why it works on levels for theather fans and music enjoyers at the same time. The Hamildrops will have their time to shine another day in another post, for today I am going to focus on just the Hamilton Mixtape. 

For the musical enjoyers, it has demos of early songs that didn't make it into the final show from the rough drafts of the long process the show underwent, but also cut songs. That alone is worth preserving to get a peek into pieces of the show that didn't end up making the cut but were originally there. 

The remixes are amazing when "My Shot" greets the listener right after the intro, showing what this album is made of. Showing plenty of remixes that stand on their own, building off of a chorus or lyric to make something new. Singing about immigration, struggles, creating, working hard, and many other themes that make for great inspiration and a great listen. Hearing some of the songs as covers is also great to hear different musicians takes on the songs we love from the show even with multiple artists on one song.

The different instrumentals show how the lyrics can even fit into different styles, how the instruments in "Satisfied" or "It's Quite Up Town" sometimes the song stay the same or make only slight changes to fit a broader topic or audience like in "Wait For It".  So on top of cut songs which are a cool piece of history to have in this historical musical mixtape, there are also covers and remixes. So many of the songs also just flow into each other so well that you hear pieces of the previous song as it flows into the next, which is one of the reasons why I rarely put this on shuffle. 

Sometimes songs can be slowed down to change their style entirely or change a lyric of two. 

My favorites and go-to listens are always "My Shot", "Wrote My Way Out", "Congratulations",  "Immigrants We Get The Job Done", "It's Quiet Up Town", "Burn" and "Who Tells Your Story" with only one song in the album that I skip "You'll Be Back" and often comedic and amazing song in the show is ruined by Jimmy Fallon, yes some of this is due to me thinking he is not funny already but it just doesn't work. There are so many songs that have so much heart in this album whether it is performing the song in a new way or adding something with pieces of something great to make some just as great in a new way, then there's this. It is just him being goofy and I feel like anyone else could have captured the comedy and charm of the song while still making it fun without being this obnoxious. Every other piece of music presented here is great. 

Overall this is one of my favorites to pop in every once in a while, when writing, running errands, or just relaxing, this album is a must even for new Hamilton fans who caught it on Disney Plus due to the word of mouth and the pro shot, this is simply amazing. I love going to this for creative inspiration and to just unwind, it is an album packed with variety and all the songs but one is worth your time. Seeing songs that did not make it in, seeing new takes, and whole new songs, this album has a bit of everything. 

The New Wicked Trailer

 A new trailer for the first half of a two-part musical epic has dropped, and I am here to talk about it once again, the movie comes out around Thanksgiving and lasts almost four minutes long, what did I think? Well, let's defy gravity and dive into it shall we?

The trailer this time was one step forward and two steps back, now that it is done trying to hide the fact it is a musical, we got two songs and what seemed like a couple dance numbers. Most of the trailer for this musical movie consisted of talking and showing big scenic and dramatic shots and building up the story. We got a few looks into "Popular" and then another peek at "Defying Gravity" maybe some shots of "What Is This Feeling?" or "I'm Not That Girl" but only in visual not in song, the former two being the only ones displayed in the trailer we were presented today in a musical format.

I will say it feels like this trailer showed the entire plot of the first movie, it showed the beginning, some plot, and what seems to be dire straights. Revealing the villain's hands already and their identities, showing the characters growing close and apart, all while one song played. If any more trailers come I feel like we will have seen even more of the film. The only thing that seems held close to their chest is the music and performances, showing two solo performances and no group numbers. 

That interests me as the director's previous musical film "In The Heights" when it was given a trailer seemed to show the big group aspect and save the duets and solo far for the movie, which I find interesting just to see the differences. Mostly plot and dialogue were shown and now the stage was set, with only small morsels of "Defying Gravity" and "Popular" that felt like blink-and-you-miss-it showings. I wish more of the musical aspect was shown instead of showing only about ten seconds and trying to focus on being this big and grand, epic story. 

This trailer has me still cautiously optimistic, it shows promise and the visuals are very striking, it just seems that it is trying to be something more than a musical, and trying to have these big, emotional, epic moments. The only problem is a big epic story with emotional moments already exists, it's called the stage version. 

Are Biopics Musicals?

 We have seen countless movies based on famous people's lives but one trend is musicians, whether it is Whitney Houston, Bob Marley, Elton John and so many more. But it is not just the big screen the stage has seen shows cataloging the life of musicians and featuring songs from their career, such as Cher, Carole King, and Gloria Estefan which I have seen. So today I wanted to ask, do biopics count as musical movies?

Biopics have been on a range of famous people and historical figures but I wanted to focus specifically on those concerning musicians, as those are where songs and music are shown the most. There are plenty of musicals on stage, at least one per year if not more that either tells the story of a musician's life while showcasing their music, such as Tina Tuner, but those are different than musicals where they use popular music to advance a story. Though both are classified as jukebox musicals, Mama Mia or Moulin Rouge use popular music and fit it into places that push the plot along in a fictional story that uses the music to convey its emotions, almost like fitting pieces into a puzzle. 

The movies mainly show musician' struggles and how they overcame the odds to be where they are now while showing how their popular songs came to be, and are performed, much like how musicals of that same vein do. In terms of plot either one could be on stage or as a movie and have a vast amount of similarities, but there is one major difference.

Most of these biopic movies do not stop the movie to show the song, they will show a small snippet of the song and only have one or two songs performed in their entirety. Whereas on stage the songs are numerous and the show stops to shine a light on them and let either a shorter or the whole song be performed depending on the moment in the show. Many Broadway shows try to put in as many songs as possible from the musician's career shorter versions of the songs are performed to give a fun sample of the song you know and check it off the list. When I saw "On Your Feet" which is the Gloria Estefan musical, many of the songs were cut down to put in as many as possible, same as when I reviewed the album for the Carole King musical, "On Your Feet" even having a medley at the end to add even more songs. 

When I watch these movies based on famous musicians it seems the focus is more on them as a person outside their music career and how the music got made. It seems to focus more on the events surrounding the song and then gives you a small version of it. Most of them end with concerts which then are the big emotional focal points and showcase multiple songs in a rapid fire way. Emulating the excitement of seeing a concert live to help balance with all the emotional storytelling shown in the movie and show the song in its entirety as a reward for watching where the lead is in their life now and for going through the struggles presented in the film.  

On stage, the balance comes from trying to not be just a concert, but rather present a story in the musical format. The stage version has to find the story and song balance, while still having enough times where the music can shine and so it can be labeled as a musical. The live stage musical has a different set of standards than a movie, it is just interesting to see the similarities and how the two have as much in common as they do different. I hope to keep exploring this idea and topic, diving deeper, and keep searching around until I have a definitive answer or opinion. Until then I say they are different until proven otherwise. I say this because the music is often not used as much in a movie as it is on stage, and is often shown as a reward rather than move the plot along.