It seems like only yesterday when national treasure and lyricist genius Lin-Manuel Miranda graced the Richard Rodgers Theatre as Usnavi in the Broadway production of In the Heights. Now, 13 years later, the Tony Award-winning musical is finally premiering on the big screen next month. 

Directed by Jon M. Chu, with a screenplay written by the original writer of the musical’s book Quiara Alegría Hudes, In the Heights tells the story of Usnavi (Anthony Ramos), a charismatic bodega owner in Washington Heights who saves every penny from his daily grind as he has a sueñito — aka little dream — of getting out of the barrio and living in the Dominican Republic, where his family was from. Right off the bat in the film, we get a glimpse of life in the small Latinx community, especially the people that Usnavi interacts with on the daily — his cousin Sonny (Gregory Diaz IV); “Abuela” Claudia (Olga Merediz); the ladies of the beauty shop — Daniela (Daphne Rubin-Vega), Carla (Stephanie Beatriz), and Cuca (Dascha Polanco); taxi company owner Kevin Rosario (Jimmy Smits) whose daughter Nina (Leslie Grace) is studying at Stanford; Usnavi’s best friend Benny (Corey Hawkins); Usnavi’s crush Vanessa (Melissa Barrera), an aspiring fashion designer who wants to move to Manhattan; and, Piraguero the Piragua Guy (Lin-Manuel Miranda). Although it is a huge cast, each of them gets their own time to shine, especially Miranda’s Piragua Guy, which is always a delight to see Miranda do anything.