In The Heights Musical

Characters
 Usnavi de la Vega is the narrator of the play's exposition and a major character
throughout; he is the owner of a small bodega in Washington Heights called De La Vega
Bodega. He was named after one of the first sights his parents saw when they arrived in
America, a ship with the sign "US Navy" on it. Abuela Claudia, the neighborhood matriarch,
"practically raised" him when his parents both died during his early childhood. He dreams of
moving to the Dominican Republic. He is in love with Vanessa.
 Nina Rosario is the first in her family (and from the Barrio) to go to college (Stanford
University), and everyone in the barrio admires her as the "one who made it out." However,
she returns home from school for the summer to reluctantly tell her parents that she has
become overburdened and dropped out. She is the typical "good girl" and always got along
with her parents. Now, though, she loses patience constantly over her father's over
protectiveness and his refusal to accept Benny, with whom she gets into a romantic
relationship.
 Benny works at the dispatch of Nina's father, Kevin. The only character in the play who
does not speak Spanish, Benny falls in love with Nina. He dreams of opening his own
business.
 Vanessa is Usnavi's love interest who works at Daniela's salon. She is stunningly
beautiful and catches the eye of every guy in the Heights, however she takes interest in
Usnavi. She lives with an alcoholic mother and dreams of getting out of the Barrio and
getting an apartment downtown, but cannot yet afford it.
 "Abuela" Claudia is the loving matriarch of the barrio who knows everybody and is like a
grandmother to all ("abuela" means "grandmother" in Spanish). She is the one who looked
after Usnavi when his parents died. She and her mother moved from Cuba to New York in
1943 while she was a child. She worked as a maid for several years but never earned the
money for her and her mother to travel home.
 Sonny de la Vega is Usnavi's sassy, superficially lazy, yet ambitious younger cousin
who works with Usnavi in the bodega. He is typically the jokester of the Barrio, but he also
has an intelligent and thoughtful side that yearns for social justice. Many fans believe that
Graffiti Pete and Sonny share a romantic relationship because of a post on Lin-Manuel's
Twitter.[41] This, however was confirmed as untrue, and just a joke between friends about
staging directions.[42]
 Daniela is the outrageously dramatic owner of the salon where the neighborhood girls
come to gossip. She is very bold and loud and loves to banter.
 Carla works at Daniela's salon along with Vanessa, and is Daniela's close friend; young
and pretty, but a little slow to get the others' jokes and innuendos, she is
of Chilean, Cuban, Dominican, and Puerto Rican descent.
 Kevin Rosario is Nina's overprotective father, who, coming from a long line of farmers,
has worked hard to resist following in his own father's footsteps. He now owns his own taxi
cab service: Rosario's.
 Camila Rosario is Nina's strong-willed mother, who wants what is best for Nina. She is
typically tolerant of Kevin's control issues, but in the course of the show, reveals her real
feelings.
 The Piragua Guy (Piragüero) is the owner of a small piragua stand that competes
with Mister Softee.
 Graffiti Pete is a graffiti artist. He is good friends with Sonny and is one of the few
characters who acknowledges Sonny's dreams. Lin-Manuel made the two of them kiss in a
joke over stage directions.[41][42] Usnavi believes Pete is a trouble-making vandal (constantly
referring to him as a 'punk'), until Pete reveals his amazing skills as an artist
Shows
o Synopsis
 

In the Heights

Music Lin-Manuel Miranda; Lyrics Lin-Manuel Miranda; Book Quiara Alegría Hudes

37 Arts Theater, Off-Broadway - 8 February, 2007; closed on July 15, 2007

Richard Rodgers Theatre, Broadway - 9 March, 2008

Synopsis

The story explores three days in the characters' lives in the New York City Latino
neighbourhood of Washington Heights. The score features hip-hop, salsa, merengue and soul
music. 

In the hispanic community of Manhattan's Washington Heights, bodega owner Usnavi is

dating Vanessa, who works in a beauty salon. He dreams of opening a bar in his home
country, the Dominican Republic. Nina loves Benny, a shy young man who has worked for
Nina's parents for years, but her father opposes their union because he wants Nina to finish
her education at Stanford University. She doesn't want her father to bankrupt himself paying
for the expensive school, but her father is prepared to sell his car-service business. "Abuela"
Claudia, who raised Usnavi after the death of his parents, wins $96,000 in a numbers game.

Story

Act 1 - It's before dawn and the stage is dark.

Alarm clock radios ring from scattered windows announcing a record-breaking heat wave
today, July 3rd. As the sun rises we see the silhouette of the George Washington Bridge
above the apartment buildings. Welcome to Washington Heights.

In the shadows a young man sprays graffiti onto a bodega awning, but his artistic reverie is
interrupted when the store owner, Usnavi, enters and chases him away. Usnavi opens his
bodega and supplies neighbours with their morning coffee and papers. We meet Abuela
Claudia, who raised Usnavi, and Sonny, his young cousin who helps with the store.
Everyone's stories and dreams pass through this modest store front: his friend Benny wants a
promotion, the ladies who work at the salon want some gossip, and Vanessa, Usnavi's love
interest, wants an apartment in a different part of town. Usnavi has a dream of his own: one
day to return to the island of his roots, the Dominican Republic.
As the morning rush subsides Nina Rosario enters, home at last from her freshman year at
Stanford. Usnavi is proud of her, and Abuela Claudia invites the neighbourhood star inside
for a visit. But in a moment alone, Nina reveals that she struggled at college.

Meanwhile Nina's parents seek an emergency loan from the bank to keep their struggling taxi
service afloat. They leave Benny, a young employee, in charge of the dispatch for the first
time. Nina enters looking for her parents but finds Benny showing off his skills on the
microphone.

At the hair salon across the street Vanessa has financial troubles of her own. Her mother
drank away the money for the bills, and now their electricity is shut off. Vanessa dreams of
escaping to a studio in the West Village: at the moment her only respite is a stop by Usnavi's
bodega. Usnavi works up the courage to ask her out and she accepts.

Nina is helping Benny on the switchboard when her parents return. She becomes nervous and
reveals to her parents that she lost her academic scholarship and dropped out of Stanford. Her
father, Kevin, is devastated that he cannot provide tuition without the scholarship.

Nina seeks comfort from her friend Vanessa, but the salon owner, Daniela. sits her down for
a makeover and gossip session. Daniela laments that this is her last day on the block. Due to a
rent increase the salon is relocating to the Bronx. The best "bochinche" of the day is yet to
come: someone bought a winning lottery ticket from Usnavi's bodega. Everyone on the block
dreams of how they'd spend the small fortune. ($96,000) Abuela Claudia emerges amid the
hubbub to feed the pigeons. She reflects on her childhood journey from Cuba to New York in
1943. remembering that her mother would say, "Patience and faith" along the journey. She
reveals that she holds the winning lottery ticket.

As the sun begins to set, Nina and Benny find themselves alone on the street. Nina admits
that she felt like an outsider at Stanford, and Benny says that being the only African-
American in a Latino-run business can be intimidating. The two take a tour of the
neighbourhood landmarks they grew up with. The stores close up for the evening as a piragua
guy continues selling flavoured ice.

At the Rosario household, Camila (Nina's mother) has been cooking. Neighbours are
enjoying the music and company when Kevin enters late, but with an announcement. He has
sold Rosario's Car Service to pay for Nina's tuition. His news is met with anger: Benny has
lost his job, Camila has lost her business. Nina vows not to accept the money. Nina follows
Benny to a dance club. apologising, but he is furious about Kevin's decision. Vanessa and
Usnavi enter the club and begin to dance. Tensions rise on the dance floor when, suddenly.
the power goes out. Vanessa and Usnavi are separated in the darkness. With fireworks
exploding in the sky, Nina and Benny find each other in the chaos and kiss.

Act 2 - The next morning

The light reveals Benny and Nina on his fire escape after spending the night together. Down
on the street, Usnavi's bodega has been looted. His awning is ripped and his cash register
gone. Abuela Claudia convinces Usnavi that together they should use her lottery winnings to
relocate to the Dominican Republic. Usnavi agrees to get rid of his corner store and pursue
his dream.
Nina's parents have been searching for her all night, and when they learn that she has been
with Benny. Kevin is furious. Kevin vows that Benny will never be a part of the Rosario
family because he is not Latino. The family is at a breaking point when Camila instructs them
to get it together before it's too late.

It's high noon and the neighbours are frustrated by the extreme heat and continuing power
outage. They muster enough energy for one last celebration before the bodega, the salon, and
the dispatch shut their doors forever. The celebration continues onto another block when
Kevin makes an announcement over the taxi radios: Abuela Claudia has passed away. The
neighbours reunite on the sidewalk, this time to hold a vigil in honour of the block's
matriarch. Usnavi and Nina look through boxes of Abuela Claudia's keepsakes—old lottery
tickets and photos from the block's history. As Nina discovers photographs from her own
high school graduation she decides to accept her father's sacrifice and return to Stanford. Her
parents agree to sell the business, even if it means Kevin must return to being a mechanic.

Across the street, as Daniela closes her salon forever, she reveals one last bit of juicy news.
She will cosign on Vanessa's dream apartment in the West Village, thanks to a little
convincing from Usnavi. Vanessa brings Usnavi a bottle of champagne to celebrate and asks
him to stay, but his mind is set on the Dominican Republic. Sonny laments that this is the end
of an era.

Benny returns his uniform and car keys to Kevin. He will start planning his own business
now. But he worries about his relationship with Nina: can they survive a long distance
relationship without the blessing of her father? Nina and Benny stand together as the sun sets.

The next morning Usnavi wakes up early to begin closing up shop. He sees the businesses
around him. Daniela's salon is closed. The Rosarió s Car Service sign is gone. In just a few
weeks he'll be gone too, and the block will be completely changed. But Sonny's not content to
leave without a trace. He has commissioned a graffiti mural of Abuela Claudia on the
bodega's grate, and Graffiti Pete has stayed up all night completing the portrait. Sonny rolls
down the bodega grate, revealing the memorial. Usnavi realises that this block is where his
roots are, this "island" is where he will stay. He is home.

Musical numbers

1. In the Heights - Usnavi, Company

2. Breathe - Nina, Company
3. Benny's Dispatch - Benny, Nina
4. It Won't Be Long Now - Vanessa, Usnavi, Sonny
5. Inutil - Kevin
6. No Me Diga - Daniela, Carla, Vanessa, Nina
7. 96,000 - Usnavi, Benny, Sonny, Vanessa, Daniela, Carla, Company
8. Paciencia y Fe (Patience and Faith) - Abuela Claudia, Company
9. When You're Home - Nina, Benny, Company
10. Piragua - Piragua Guy
11. Siempre (Always) - Camila
12. The Club/Fireworks - Company
13. Sunrise - Nina, Benny, Company
14. Hundreds of Stories - Abuela Claudia, Usnavi
15. Enough - Camila
 16. Carnaval del Barrio - Daniela, Company
17. Atencion - Kevin
18. Alabanza - Usnavi, Nina, Company
19. Everything I Know - Nina
20. No Me Diga (Reprise) - Daniela, Carla, Vanessa
21. Champagne - Vanessa, Usnavi
22. When the Sun Goes Down - Nina, Benny
23. Finale - Usnavi, Company 

Characters and original cast

(in order of appearance)

 Graffiti Pete — Seth Stewart

 Usnavi — Lin-Manuel Miranda
 Piragua Guy — Eliseo Román
 Abuela Claudia — Olga Merediz
 Carla — Janet Dacal
 Daniela — Andréa Burns
 Kevin — Carlos Gomez
 Camila — Priscilla Lopez
 Sonny — Robin De Jesús
 Benny — Christopher Jackson
 Vanessa — Karen Olivio
 Nina — Mandy Gonzalez