‘In the Heights’: Screenwriter Quiara Alegría Hudes on Trump, DACA and Putting a Fresh Spin on the Beloved Musical
Rebecca Rubin Film and Media ReporterWhen Lin-Manuel Miranda was writing the music and lyrics for “In the Heights” in the mid 2000s, he tended to address story notes from producers in the only way he knew how: by adding more songs.It sounds great, in theory, but stage productions can only fit so many numbers in a two-act show before it starts to feel overstuffed. So Miranda and the musical’s director, Thomas Kail, who later worked on “Hamilton,” set out to find playwrights to help structure the upbeat story about a lively neighborhood in Manhattan.Eventually, they found their secret weapon in Quiara Alegría Hudes, who, like Miranda, is Puerto Rican and shares a passion for community, music, storytelling — and coquito.