Lincoln Leadership's "In the Heights": Small school, big voices

http://blogs.mcall.com/groller/

FROM KEITH GROLLER

Before too much time has elapsed, I wanted to salute the Lincoln Leadership Academy Charter School's production of "In the Heights."

As I've said on this blog before, I absolutely marvel at the talent and the effort put on display in these shows. Lincoln's show was the fifth that I've seen in the last month or so and next year I vow to double that total, at least.

This was Lincoln's first effort with a show eligible for "The Freddys" and it was one-night-only spectacle on Friday night at the neighboring Life Church building on East Cedar Street in East Allentown.

"In the Heights" was a relatively recent Broadway production. It focuses on urban life in the Washington Heights section of New York City in the shadows of the George Washington Bridge where the people of a Dominican-American neighborhood deal with the struggles of day-to-day life and yet persevere thanks in large part to their zest and enthusiasm for life and love for one another.

The students of Lincoln captured the spirit of the Washington Heights and Latin community they were portraying with passionate performances.

Since many of Lincoln's kids encounter some of the same day-to-day struggles, this was the perfect Broadway show for them to do because they could relate well to the characters and the story which offers an optimistic view at the end.

I was particularly impressed with the performance of lead actor Di'Anthony Vasquez who plays Usnavi. Vasquez showed off some terrific rapping skills and had charisma and outstanding energy.

But he wasn't alone in showing off some musical talent.

Mariah Martinez as Vanessa, Elijah Garcia as benny and Angela Moreno as Nina all showed off big voices.

In supporting roles, Isabelle Sanchez, Luli Colon and Dayna Sepulveda all delighted.

I was impressed with the choreography and how director Julie Valenzuela made good use of the stage and didn't allow some of the limitations of a non-traditional stage to become a negative. The use of lighting was especially effective.

It was an entertaining performance filled with great songs.

You can tell that a lot of effort was put into it and the kids had a lot of pride in pulling it off.

They deserve congratulations for being a small school that was still capable of putting together a big show with lots of energy, pizzaz and passion.

Well done.