In the Heights is a musical with music and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda, and a

book by Quiara Alegra Hudes. The story is set over the course of three days,
involving an ensemble cast of characters in the largely Dominican-American
neighborhood of Washington Heights in New York City.
After productions in Connecticut (2005) and Off-Broadway (2007), the show
opened in a Broadway theatre production in March 2008. This production was
nominated for thirteen Tony Awards, winning four: Best Musical, Best Original
Score, Best Choreography (Andy Blankenbuehler), and Best Orchestrations
(Alex Lacamoire and Bill Sherman). It won a Grammy Award for Best Musical
Show Album. It was also nominated for the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
Miranda wrote the earliest draft of In the Heights in 1999, his sophomore year
of college. After the show was accepted by Wesleyan University's student
theater company Second Stage, Miranda worked on adding "freestyle rap ...
bodegas, and salsa numbers." It played from April 20, 1999 to April 22, 1999.
After seeing the play, three Wesleyan seniors and one alumnus, John Buffalo
Mailer, Neil Stewart, Anthony Veneziale and Thomas Kail approached Miranda
and asked if the play could be expanded to be on Broadway. In 2002, Miranda
and Mailer worked with director Tommy Kail and wrote five separate drafts of In
the Heights.