Movies, Music, Theatre

Atención: You Can Audition to be ‘In The Heights’

Ten years ago, Lin-Manuel Miranda burst upon the scene with the Tony Award-winning musical In The Heights. That same year, Jon M. Chu directed his first feature film, Step Up 2 The Streets. A decade later, both have hit the Lotto with Hamilton and Crazy Rich Asians, vaunting them to A-List pop cultural icon status.

And in 2020, the two will team up to bring Heights to the silver screen! Alabanza!

If you recall, when production began on Crazy Rich Asians, Chu famously opened the casting online and eventually generated a database of basically 96,000 English-speaking Asian actors from around the world. Chu, Miranda, and screen/book writer Quiara Alegría Hudes are following a similar path by opening up In The Heights to a digital casting call. All you have to do is go here and send in an audition tape online. That’s it. Here, I’ll let Lin explain:

To audition, just breathe, then choose from one of the following roles (though these may not be the ones you’d be considered for). And if you know anything about Heights, you can probably figure out who’s who!

  • FEMALE ROLE #1 — Young, starry-eyed and intelligent (book-smart and street-smart). Must sing and dance well. Familiarity with speaking Spanish is ideal.
  • FEMALE ROLE #2 — A strong woman who is stylish, sassy and loves to gossip. Must sing and dance well. Familiarity with speaking Spanish is ideal.
  • MALE ROLE #1 — Completely streetwise, this teen is brilliant but also a total goofball. Must sing and dance well. Familiarity with speaking Spanish is ideal.
  • MALE ROLE #2 — Driven, charismatic, and full of energy. Puts on a brave face when times get tough. Must rap, sing and dance well. Familiarity with speaking Spanish is ideal.

So, don’t just stand there like a street light! Who knows — with a little paciencia y fe, you might be selling lottery tickets at the bodega with Anthony Ramos as Usnavi! Production begins in the summer of 2019 for a June 26, 2020 release. In other words… it won’t be long now!