In The Heights

♪[music][ramos] washington heights in uptown manhattanhas a unique and rich history of latino culture.dominicanos, puertorriqueños, cubanos, and many morecall it home.- ♪ i am usnavi and you've probably never heard my name ♪♪ reports of my fame are greatly exaggerated ♪- ♪ morning, usnavi ♪♪♪[singing in spanish][ramos] "in the heights" follows usnavi,a dominican bodega owneroriginally played by lin-manuelalong with his family and friendsas they navigate their own challenges and big dreams.now, it is not just making history on stage, but on screenin latino representation.so you tell me, are we going to be speaking english, spanish,or spanglish?- ah... whatever. i think spanglish is alwayswhere i land. [chuckles]- [laughing][speaking in spanish]- [speaking in spanish]i always wanted it to sound...[speaking in spanish]♪ but they press through the mess, bounce checks ♪♪ and wonder what's next in the heights ♪- ♪ i buy my coffee and i go ♪♪ i buy my coffee and set my sights ♪♪ on only what i need to know ♪♪[ramos] the story about washington heights,a largely latino neighborhood in new york city,broke barriers when it first premiered on broadwayover a decade ago.- i want to thank all my latino people.this is for abuelo wisin and puerto rico.thank you.[people cheering][ramos] it also propelled lin-manuel miranda's careeras one of the biggest actors and composersof his generation.- ♪ lights up on washington heights ♪♪ up at the break of day i wake up and i got ♪♪ this little punk i gotta chase away ♪♪ pop the grate at the crack of dawn ♪♪ sing while i wipe down the awning ♪♪ hey, y'all, good morning ♪♪[miranda speaking in spanish]- [speaking in spanish][both speaking in spanish][miranda speaking in spanish]so i had a great time.[ramos speaking in spanish]and he said the following, and i wanna just say itin english. he said... anthony, he said,"i've never seen anything like those 75 latinosin the middle of the street dancing and singing about prideand where they come from."- ♪ my mom is dominican-cuban my dad is from chile and pr ♪♪ which means i'm chile-domini-curican ♪♪ but i always say i'm from queens ♪- and i remember that, at some point, once you saidthat we're so used to asking for less,saying, "please, just let us make our little movie."and the director, in this case, said, "no, this is gonna bea big movie." what happened? what has changed?[miranda] well, personally,we had a little more power than we had.[speaking in spanish]so he was showing it could be done,and showing that he could make an excellent big-budget movie.[speaking in spanish]- ♪ with ninety-six gs ♪♪ i'd start my life with a brand new lease ♪♪ atlantic city with a malibu breeze ♪- ♪ and a brand new weave ♪- ♪ or maybe just bleach ♪♪[miranda] and this chu deserves the biggest canvasthat we can give him.[speaking in spanish]he always picked the version that could've been bigger.[speaking in spanish][ramos] just like much of lin-manuel miranda's work,"in the heights" does not shy away from politics.the 2008 musical brought the issues-facing communitiesof color to a mainstream audience.while those are still a part of the story's fabric,the movie has made some changes that better reflectthe nation's latino community today,such as references to dreamers.- they're talking about kicking out all the dreamers.let's gonna make some noise.- [speaking in spanish]- [speaking in spanish]it's always a good time...[speaking in spanish]we're the fastest growing population.[speaking in spanish]we're 25% of the movie-going audience,so start showing us to ourselves.because the hope is that anthony goesand becomes a movie star.that leslie grace goes and becomes a movie star.and then we have a generation of latino talentthat hollywood knows and that the world knows,and that influences the next wave of latino stories.in ten years or in five years, i want people to say,"what was such a big deal about 'in the heights',"um, because there are so many latinos.that would be... that would be great.- ♪ in fact, can we sing so loud and raucous ♪♪ they can hear us across the bridge in east secaucus? ♪- ♪[singing in spanish]- ♪ from puerto rico to santo domingo ♪♪ wherever we go, we rep our people and the beat go ♪- ♪[singing in spanish]- ♪ vanessa, forget about what could've been ♪♪ dance with me one last night in the hood again ♪♪- epa!