In the Heights, King’s Cross Theatre

Lin-Manuel Miranda is America’s new Poet Laureate. When I first saw his fledgling opus IN THE HEIGHTS on Broadway it struck me that here was the moment where all the existing catergories previously used to define musical theatre ceased to mean anything. Here was a Rap opera, a play, a fable, a Latino dance fest all rolled into one. It was the happy ending that West Side Story never had, it was street theatre with a level of sophistication unimaginable for that genre. Listen hard to Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Rap as voiced by the sensationally dynamic Sam Mackay (in the role of Usnavi – geddit – originally played by Miranda himself). He’s got it all covered and the references to popular culture – from It’s a Wonderful Life to the lyrics of Oscar Hammerstein – just spill from his storyteller like stuff he’s absorbed but hasn’t yet processed. It’s a breathless stream of consciousness and it gives voice to generations of Hispanics struggling to put flesh on their dreams.

In the Heights is an explosion of such passions played out between the “platforms” of the King’s Cross Theatre which in itself gives the phrase “wrong side of the tracks” a whole new meaning. It’s all about rhythm, rhythm, pulsing, bodily rhythm where Phil Cornwell’s terrific band seems perpetually headed for self-combustion and the entire ensemble (fabulous one and all) dare not keep their feet on the ground for fear they will melt into the sidewalk. And if you really think you can sit still through all of this soul fever you are sorely mistaken. “96, 000” is surely the best ensemble dance number in decades.

There are “arias” too amidst the jive-talking – moments where charcters like Josie Benson’s Camila can say “Enough” and Eve Polycarpou’s big-voiced Abuela Claudia – earth mother to this block of Washington Heights – can invoke their own traditions and vent through them. It’s been a long time since I saw so many performers really mean what they are singing.

In the Heights is a must-see for anyone who cares about where the all-embracing thing that is musical theatre can go and right now on Broadway Miranda is retelling American history from his own perspective (what other is there?) in the London-bound and by all accounts astonishing Hamilton. He is a force, for sure, and like I say, a poet.