in the heights

during this entire caesar process, a part of my heart has been in new york, with so many of my friends, rehearsing and opening the BROADWAY show, 'in the heights!'

8 or so years ago, johnny mailer and i watched a one-act performance of 'in the heights' at wesleyan, written by lin-manuel miranda. he was a KID at the time. a prodigy, yes, but a kid! after we started back house in new york, we invited him to come workshop the show with us, and he accepted. tommy kail, who started the company with me, really identified with the project and dedicated his considerable brain to the effort. what followed were years of readings, presentations, and workshops, 30+ new songs, most gone shortly after they came, and a whole lot of blood, sweat, and tears from many people to keep the train going forward.

fast forward to today, it's in previews on broadway, opening officially next month. it's unreal. tommy is the director, lin, of course, is still the composer and now the star, and so many more of my friends are involved intimately in the show- in the cast, or doing arrangements, etc... i am no longer officially involved (not for about 3 years now), but my heart and tear ducts are as twisted up in that beautiful play as anything else in my life.

'yahoo! broadway' has two really fun short documentaries about the show now. you can see a lot of tommy and lin, and hear some music from the show. it's so exciting, i can't get over it.

www.broadway.yahoo.com, follow links for 'in the heights.'