In the Heights | King’s Cross Theatre, London, 2015–2017
Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Tony Award-winning musical celebrating the vibrant Latino community of Washington Heights, Manhattan transferred to London’s King’s Cross Theatre, officially opening on October 13, 2015. With music and lyrics by Miranda (who would go on to create Hamilton) and book by Quiara Alegría Hudes, In the Heights tells the story of bodega owner Usnavi and his neighbors over three sweltering summer days, exploring themes of community, identity, gentrification, and the definition of “home” for immigrant families.
Directed by Luke Sheppard with choreography by Drew McOnie and musical supervision by Tom Deering, the production became one of the most successful musicals at King’s Cross Theatre, initially scheduled for a four-month run but extending multiple times until closing on January 8, 2017. The production earned four Olivier Award nominations including Best New Musical, with Lin-Manuel Miranda making a surprise visit to the final performance. The show features Miranda’s infectious blend of hip-hop, salsa, merengue, and soul, creating a musical landscape that reflects the cultural hybridity of contemporary New York Latino communities.
Set and Costume Design Vision
takis’ design captures the vibrant street life of Washington Heights, creating an urban landscape where fire escapes, storefronts, apartment windows, and the gated security of Usnavi’s bodega define the neighborhood’s physical and emotional geography. The design must accommodate rapid transitions between multiple locations—the bodega, Nina’s apartment, the Rosario’s car service, the salon, the club, the swimming pool—while maintaining the sense of a tightly-knit community where everyone’s stories intersect.
The costume design reflects the cultural specificity and contemporary fashion of the neighborhood’s predominantly Dominican and Puerto Rican residents. From Usnavi’s casual bodega-owner aesthetic to Nina’s polished college-student wardrobe, from the salon girls’ coordinated looks to the male ensemble’s urban streetwear, the costumes capture how fashion becomes a form of cultural expression and personal identity.
The design embraces vivid color palettes—the warm oranges, yellows, and reds of Caribbean aesthetics; the bold patterns and textures of Latino fashion; the flags, murals, and graffiti that mark neighborhood space as culturally specific. The overall visual approach creates a world that feels authentically rooted in a specific New York neighborhood while allowing the show’s themes of belonging, aspiration, and cultural pride to resonate universally.
The choreography demands costumes that support extensive dance sequences spanning multiple styles—hip-hop, Latin dance forms, club dancing—while maintaining visual coherence across the large ensemble.
Creative Team
- Set and Costume Designer: takis
- Director: Luke Sheppard
- Choreographer: Drew McOnie
- Musical Supervisor: Tom Deering
- Music and Lyrics: Lin-Manuel Miranda
- Book: Quiara Alegría Hudes
Production Context
In the Heights premiered off-Broadway in 2007 before transferring to Broadway in 2008, where it won four Tony Awards including Best Musical, Best Original Score, and Best Choreography. The show established Lin-Manuel Miranda as a major voice in musical theatre, demonstrating how hip-hop and Latin musical traditions could drive sophisticated theatrical storytelling while centering Latino experiences rarely depicted on Broadway stages.
The London production at King’s Cross Theatre represented the show’s West End premiere, arriving after a critically acclaimed sell-out UK premiere at Southwark Playhouse in 2014. King’s Cross Theatre—a purpose-built temporary venue in an area undergoing significant regeneration—provided an apt setting for a show about gentrification and community change. The production’s success, extending from its initial four-month run to over a year, demonstrated British audiences’ appetite for musicals centered on diverse cultural experiences.
The show has gained renewed attention following the 2021 film adaptation directed by Jon M. Chu, introducing Miranda’s celebration of Latino culture and community resilience to global audiences. In the Heights paved the way for more musicals centering diverse cultural experiences while demonstrating how specific community stories can achieve universal resonance.