In the Heights Movie Version June 10, 2021 Release

In the Heights photo courtesy Warner Bros.

The eagerly awaited film adaptation of In the Heights will premiere simultaneously on HBO Max and in movie theaters on June 10.

It features a score by Lin-Manuel Miranda, and a story about Washington Heights, where he grew up.

The screenplay by the musical’s original book writer, Quiara Alegría Hudes, and an all-star cast including Miranda and Jimmy Smits, in a Jon M. Chu film production, for Warner Bros.

NYCOTC Editor Evelyn Kanter grew up in Inwood, north of the Heights, when both neighborhoods were a conglomerate of European immigrants and refugees from Italy, Ireland, Germany and Austria, before they became dominated by newer immigrants primarily from Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. 

In the Heights features: 

Anthony Ramos as Usnavi,

Corey Hawkins as Benny,

Melissa Barrera as Vanessa,

Leslie Grace as Nina,

Olga Merediz as Abuela Claudia,

Daphne Rubin-Vega as Daniela,

Jimmy Smits as Kevin Rosario,

Lin-Manuel Miranda as Piragua Guy.

The movie version of the award-winning Broadway show was scheduled originally for in June 2020, but plans were scuttled by the coronavirus pandemic.

Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote the first draft as a student. After a few years off-Broadway performances, it opened on Broadway in 2008 (Hamilton opened in 2015, also in the Richard Rodgers theater), and was nominated for 13 Tony awards, winning four. The show has also played in London’s West End and on tour across the US.

Unlike the film version of Hamilton, which is an edited version of a live Broadway performance, the film version of In the Heights is an actual feature film shot on location in NYC, and on special sets, in  2019. The stage version did not have swimming pools or dancing on the walls.

When and How to Watch

In the Heights premieres in theaters and on streaming service HBO Max on June 10, and available for streaming for one month after that.

Of course, it will also be available to rent or buy online and on Blu-ray and DVD.  HBO plans to bring it back to HBO Max in the fall.

HBO Max does not offer a free trial, so have to subscribe $9.99 a month version with commercials, or upgrade to the commercial-free plan at $14.99 a month.

NYCOTC Tip:

• If you currently subscribe to HBO via your cable or satellite provider, it may include HBO Max without paying extra.
• Check this  CNET article for what you need to know.  But, essentially, you’ll need to watch on a smart TV,  streaming device  or a Comcast Xfinity box using the HBO Max app and your home internet connection..

Evelyn Kanter is a native New Yorker who has written for the NY Times, NY Daily News, NY Post, New York Magazine, and is a former on-air reporter for WCBS Newsradio 88 and WABC-TV Eyewitness News. 

NYCOTC Editor Evelyn Kanter also is the author of several NYC and Hudson Valley guidebooks, including my latest, 100 Things to Do in NYC Before You Die.

Purchase autographed copies by emailing evelyn@nyconthecheap.com

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