There may be no better time or place to stage In the Heights than during the sweltering height of a South Florida summer. As the residents of Washington Heights (in New York, Ny) endure oppressive temperatures and rising costs, the world outside Lake Worth Playhouse seems to echo the one unfolding onstage. Yet, even in the heat, this community dances, sings, loves.
Featuring music and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda and a book by Quiara Alegría Hudes, In the Heights follows a few days in a predominantly Latino neighborhood in Upper Manhattan. Usnavi (Giuseppe Fusca), the owner of a small bodega, dreams of returning to the Dominican Republic. Vanessa (Camila Peña Colina) longs to escape, too, while Nina Rosario (Jessie Dez-Gomez) returns from Stanford carrying hurt and a secret. Around them, parents sacrifice, young people fall in love, businesses close, and neighbors consider what it means to leave home behind.
For South Florida audiences, these questions carry particular weight. Ours is a region shaped by migration, multilingual families, and communities that have built new homes while maintaining deep connections to the places they left. Lake Worth Beach, in particular, is an ideal setting for a musical that treats Latin identity as the foundation of its own theatrical language. At a time when immigrant communities are too often reduced to political abstractions, In the Heights insists upon individuality and joy.
Director Debi Marcucci’s production embraces that joy from its opening moments. The neighborhood feels alive, its residents spilling into the streets to argue, flirt, gossip, work, and dream. The musical’s large ensemble sequences require tremendous coordination, and the cast meets the challenge with contagious energy. Choreographer Kassie Meiler fills the stage with movement that reflects the intimacy of community, while music director Rachal Solomon helps the cast navigate Miranda’s exhilarating mixture of hip-hop, salsa, merengue, soul, and traditional musical theater.
The score remains one of the production’s greatest pleasures. The opening title number introduces an entire neighborhood, while “96,000” transforms a shared fantasy about winning the lottery into a portrait of each character’s private desires. As Nina, Dez-Gomez brings vocal strength and emotional vulnerability to “Breathe,” capturing the exhaustion of a young woman who believes she has disappointed everyone who invested in her future. Susy Diaz delivers “Paciencia y Fe” with a growing power, allowing Abuela Claudia’s memories to expand beyond one woman’s life into a tribute to generations of sacrifice.
Watching this man sing about selling his business, his everything, simply to protect his family shook something within me that I had never felt before hearing the song. Bravo’s voice carried Kevin’s determination, but also the quiet devastation beneath it; perhaps with something a little more from Bravo himself. The performance revealed how love can dismantle the self. It was an extraordinary moment of emotional clarity. Bravo, Bravo.
In the Heights asks what we owe to the people and places that made us. Home can sustain us, confine us, disappoint us, and call us back. Lake Worth Playhouse’s production understands that complexity while still giving audiences the ecstatic music and movement they came to see. In the heat of a South Florida summer, this Washington Heights neighborhood feels remarkably close to home. The Lake Worth Playhouse production runs through August 2, 2026.
