Is This What It Takes Just To Make It To Broadway!' Marketing in The Heights in The Twenty-First Century

SMT 5 (1) pp.
49–69 Intellect Limited 2011
Studies in Musical Theatre

Volume 5 Number 1
© 2011 Intellect Ltd Article. English language. doi: 10.1386/smt.5.1.49_1
ELIZABETH TITRINGTON CRAFT

Harvard University
‘Is this what it takes just

to make it to Broadway?!’:
Marketing In the Heights in
the twenty-first century
ABSTRACT KEYWORDS
Tony winning musical In the Heights defied box office odds when it recouped marketing
its $10 million investment only ten months after opening on 9 March 2008 on In the Heights
Broadway. The marketing campaign of this unlikely ‘hit’, which blends musical Latinos and Broadway
theatre, Latin and hip hop styles to portray a group historically underrepresented hip hop and Broadway
onstage – namely, the Hispanic community of Manhattan’s Washington Heights representation
neighbourhood – was as innovative as its subject and style. Close examination of the demographics
musical’s savvy marketing campaign reveals how it carefully negotiates the show’s YouTube
hip hop and Latino identities and uses a range of media to attract new audiences
while also cultivating the traditional Broadway fan base. Drawing upon ethnogra-
1. My thanks to Sara
phy and multimedia analysis, this case study provides a glimpse into the rapidly Fitzpatrick, Tom
changing theatrical marketplace of the early twenty-first century. Greenwald, Lin-Manuel
Miranda and Scott
Moore for generously
offering their time
The Tony Award-winning musical In the Heights defied box office odds when it in interviews and
correspondence. I am
recouped its $10 million production investment a mere ten months after open- grateful also to those
ing on Broadway on 9 March 2008.1 Set in the Latino community of New York who have provided
valuable feedback on
49
SMT_5.1_art_Craft_49-69.indd 49 5/9/11 9:32:44 AM

Elizabeth Titrington Craft
this article in its various City’s Washington Heights, the show tells the stories of the bodega owner
stages: the editors and
readers of this journal
Usnavi and his friends and neighbours as they struggle to define their identi-
issue, Professor Carol ties and realize their dreams.2 In the Heights was conceived by composer and
Oja, and my colleagues lyricist Lin-Manuel Miranda, who also played Usnavi in the show’s original
in the Harvard Music
Department. cast. His score uses an innovative blend of contemporary musical theatre,
Latin and hip hop musical styles to portray a demographic group historically
2. Recognizing that in
many cases a more underrepresented both onstage and in Broadway audiences.
accurate, inclusive The show’s artistic merits and its deep roots in the musical theatre tradi-
formulation would tion certainly propelled its remarkable success. Its creators aimed for univer-
be Latina/o, I have
chosen to use ‘Latino’ sality even as they experimented with musical language and portrayed a
throughout this article marginalized community, and they hit their mark – In the Heights garnered
for smoother writing.
Where relevant, a
several Tonys, including the award for best musical, and a favorable New York
gender-inclusive Times review, as well as a long run with total grosses of $93 million to date
meaning is implied. (Broadway League 2010).3 A national tour is currently underway, and a film
3. In addition to Lin- version is in the works.
Manuel Miranda, Yet the show’s preliminary off-Broadway run never really took off, so a
core members of the
creative team include move to Broadway was hardly predictable and its success seemed far from
Quiara Alegría Hudes certain (Greenwald 10 November 2009 interview). ‘“In the Heights” produc-
(book writer), Thomas ers think they have another “Rent” on their hands, though I can’t figure out
Kail (director), Andy
Blankenbuehler how a show that isn’t selling out in a 449-seat theater is going to sell out in a
(choreographer), 1,400-seat theater’, scoffed Michael Riedel of the New York Post, who has been
Anna Louizos (scenic
designer), Paul Tazewell
called ‘the columnist Broadway loves to hate’ (Gordon 2005; Riedel 2007).
(costume designer), Making In the Heights a critical and commercial hit first required getting audi-
Howell Binkley ences into the seats.
(lighting designer),
Alex Lacamoire ‘There’s usually something “wrong” with every show’, as Tom
(music director, Greenwald, executive creative director of the advertising agency SpotCo,
music arranger explains it – ‘something that’s inherent to the show that if you just described
and orchestrator)
and Bill Sherman it to somebody, objectively, it would be a turnoff’ (Greenwald 10 November
(music arranger and 2009 interview). For In the Heights, given the history and demographics of
orchestrator). The In
the Heights total gross
Broadway, the marketing challenges were its unknown creators and cast,
was $93,682,570 as of and its hip hop and Latino identities. The standard set of questions that
the week ending 22 advertisers need to address for arts patrons – ‘Will I like this show? Will I
August 2010.
understand it? Do I need to understand it to enjoy it? Will I feel comfort-
able there, and will I fit in? What relevance does this performance have to
my life?’ (Bernstein 2007: 10) – brought particular challenges for a show
that would take many musical theatre patrons outside of their comfort zone
ethnically, socio-economically and musically.
Drawing upon interviews and communication with Greenwald, Miranda,
and others from the In the Heights marketing team, this case study will describe
how the show’s marketing campaign effectively addressed these questions
and concerns for a range of consumers by mediating the ‘problems’ of In the
Heights through certain themes from the musical, namely freshness, tradition
and community. I argue that the Internet has been a venue for addressing
and, through target marketing, even capitalizing on those marginalized hip
hop and Latino identities. The show’s marketing team has run a pioneering
campaign in its extensive use of social networking, viral marketing and online
advertising. Finally, I examine selections from Miranda’s YouTube video works
as interactive multimedia ‘texts’. Circulating within an online cultural sphere
governed by its own ethics and aesthetics, these projects blur the boundaries
between advertising and art. I demonstrate how Miranda’s videos developed
and expressed the offstage voice of In the Heights, carving out a forum where
those ethnic and stylistic aspects of the show downplayed in mainstream
50

‘Is this what it takes just to make it to Broadway?!’
marketing could be grappled with and embraced. The marketing team of In 4. Miranda (2007c).
the Heights used a range of media to build its own community, a fan coalition 5. This updated
of traditional theatre-goers and other interested constituencies like Latinos production constitutes
another fascinating
and young people, to succeed where many past efforts to diversify Broadway story with many In the
have failed. ‘We movin’ and provin’ to Michael Riedel/We can have a hit show Heights intersections.
about Latino people’, Miranda exclaimed on YouTube as the show ramped up New Spanish material
distinguished the show
for its Broadway opening (2007b). The marketing strategy made it happen. from its 1957 original,
Discussing marketing’s role in art can be discomfiting for audiences and but some of the lines
scholars of music and theatre alike. It reminds us that a work is never a were changed back
into English several
hermetic text and even challenges our privilege to choose and interpret the months into the
work on our own, without it being ‘sold’ to us. ‘Selling’, after all, suggests run. Miranda notes
the decision in his
the colloquial ‘selling out’ – a challenge to an artist’s perceived authenticity. video ‘Run This Tour’
And niche marketing presumes that we can be segmented into predictable publicizing the In the
groups, with a distinct target message to appeal to our stereotyped hopes and Heights national tour.
He raps, ‘Translated
fears. Although it rarely penetrates our critical discourse, this collaborative Spanish for “A Boy
offstage aspect of theatrical production is nevertheless a crucial part of the art/ Like That”/Then Karen
commerce we call Broadway. Examining this oft-neglected area sheds light [Olivo] won a Tony
and they changed my
not only on the process of staging a Broadway show, but also on how that lyrics back’ (2009). With
show comes to be understood and discussed. no further discussion,
the audience is left
to speculate about
Miranda’s opinions on
‘TRYIN’ TO WRITE ABOUT WHERE WE ARE’: LATINOS ON BROADWAY4 the matter.
Despite Broadway’s long-standing fancy for Latin dance numbers and musi- 6. Judith Sebesta
cal ‘flavour’, Latinos have been under- and frequently misrepresented on the provided this list of the
four other works on
commercial stage. West Side Story has prevailed as the iconic Broadway depic- Broadway by and about
tion of Latino culture, living on through the film version and revivals (includ- Latinos (2007: 184).
ing the 2009 Broadway revival, for which Miranda translated some lyrics into 7. Short Eyes had 102
Spanish).5 A few musicals, such as A Chorus Line and Rent, feature one or two total Broadway
Latino roles. Works about Latinos by Latino playwrights and composers have performances, Zoot
Suit had 41, Cuba and
been sparse, however, and none have entered the canon of revived works. In His Teddy Bear had
the Heights follows only a handful of Latino-written and -acted shows that 53 and Freak had 144
(Internet Broadway
have made it to Broadway, namely Short Eyes (1974), Zoot Suit (1979), Cuba Database 2010).
and His Teddy Bear (1986) and Freak (1998).6 Among these, In the Heights is the
8. The New York
first traditional book musical, and at 1184 performances, it has far surpassed Times ‘Times Talks’
the others’ short runs.7 programme hosted the
Standing at the crossroads of the generally divided theatrical domains panel in conjunction
with Teatro Stage Fest.
scholar Alberto Sandoval-Sánchez has described as ‘hegemonic’ Broadway
and ‘marginal’ minority theatre, the show carries multiple demands onstage
and off (1999: 10). In presenting a work that reflects the experiences of a
Latino community to ‘mainstream’ audiences, the creators of In the Heights
must strive for box office profits while also shouldering the burden of repre-
sentation for a broad and heterogeneous ethnic group. Miranda has described
the show as a personal response to the limited roles for Latinos in commer-
cial theatre, explaining during a panel on Latino theatre: ‘I knew I wanted to
have a life in the musical theatre. I knew I didn’t dance well enough to play
Bernardo [in West Side Story], and I knew I didn’t dance well enough to play
Paul [in A Chorus Line]. And that was about it. That’s what we get’ (Miranda
in ‘Latino Theater Panel’ 2008).8
Furthermore, shows about Latinos, even those like Zoot Suit that have been
written by Latino authors and composers, tend to focus on themes of crime
and violence. Many of these stories have been rooted in real world events and
problems; nevertheless, with In the Heights, Miranda sought to avoid these
51

9. Examples include Sean tired tropes. He described his ambivalence when the Paul Simon musical The
Couch and Kelly Scott’s Capeman opened around the same time he was directing West Side Story at his
Echo Park: The Hip Hop
Musical, performed high school. Though he loved aspects of both shows, he was also unsettled:
at the Apollo Theater
in 2000; Will Power’s
Flow, co-produced by
I just had a reaction […] which was – it’s forty years later, and we’re
the New York Theater still – not only gang members, but gang members in the fifties with
Workshop and the knives. We’re the same gang members. And so part of the impulse to
New York City ‘Hip
Hop Theater’ Festival write In the Heights was sort of a dare with myself. Can we use Latin
in 2003; and Matt music, in a Broadway sense, in a musical theatre sense, to tell stories,
Sax’s Clay, premiered but not tell that story’.
at the Edinburgh
Festival Fringe in (Miranda in ‘Latino Theater Panel’ 2008)
2004 and performed
off-Broadway as the
first show in Lincoln
Miranda wrote the first version of In the Heights during his sophomore year of
Center Theater’s LCT3 college, and after graduating, he captured the attention and support of produc-
programme in 2008. ers Jill Furman, Kevin McCollum and Jeffrey Seller, whose previous credits
Russell Simmons Def
Poetry Jam opened collectively included Rent, Avenue Q and The Drowsy Chaperone. Several years
on Broadway in 2002, of revision later, an off-Broadway production opened at 37 Arts on West 37th
but despite winning a Street, achieving just enough success to send the show to Broadway in 2008.
Special Theatrical Event
Tony Award, it ran for Little about In the Heights indicated that a meteoric rise was on its hori-
only five and a half zon. Judith A. Sebesta recently surveyed the scene of Latino representation
months and failed to
recoup its investment
on Broadway, focusing on the colossal failure of The Capeman and the show’s
(LaPorte 2003). racialized reception. When she wrote the article in 2007, the fate of In the
10. This survey data did not
Heights, which had recently opened off-Broadway, was still unclear. Despite
include In the Heights. the optimistic predictions of success, she wisely hedged her bets (Sebesta
2007: 183); after all, as she demonstrated, the odds for a Latino-themed or
Latino-created show are slim. The Capeman flopped after two months, with
68 performances. Shows by and about Latinos had topped out at 144 (John
Leguizamo’s Freak in 1998). With a Latino composer, writer and cast, the
setting of an immigrant community, and the use of Latin musical styles and
Spanish, In the Heights would face these stark historical odds along with other
key obstacles. The show was not based on a book or movie, it did not have a
recognizable composer and it had no celebrities. In other words, it lacked any
form of name recognition. Finally, hip hop – a style new to Broadway, chal-
lenging to use dramatically, and unappealing to older audiences – pervaded
the show’s score. Despite hip hop’s dominance on the contemporary musical
scene and a growing multi-city ‘Hip Hop Theater Festival’, several hip hop
theatre works had already failed to take off commercially in the early millen-
nium.9 Longtime theatre professional Jack Viertel summed up the situation,
‘If the Broadway sound were the pop music of the day, which it used to be,
it would sound like hip hop, but I don’t think anyone feels there’s much of a
Broadway audience for that at the moment’ (Weber 2003).
Thus, the show was a gamble, and Broadway tends to favour the sure bet,
curbing experimental impulses. The current economic realities of commer-
cial theatre are harsh – only about one in five shows profits (Rosenberg and
Harburg 1993: 7; Bryan-Brown 2006: 303). And its demographics are homo-
geneous – as of the 2007–2008 season, Broadway theatre-goers were an over-
whelming 75 per cent Caucasian (Hauser 2008: 24).10 ‘Hispanics’, though
approximately 15 per cent of the US population, constituted only about
5 percent of US resident Broadway audiences (Hauser 2008: 26). The ‘Great
White Way’ nickname has been sadly homonymic. The average Broadway
attendee is a female, middle-aged, highly educated and affluent tourist (See,
for example, Hauser 2008: 10, 18, 20, 27, 30). Audiences are severely limited
52

by high ticket prices (now over $100 apiece for the best seats) and by acces- 11. Reporter Nubia Murray
recently suggested,
sibility to the theatres, even when shows go on tour. Thus, at face value, a however, that Disney
musical about Latinos using hip hop would not appear to be an easy fit for versus diversity on
traditional, or so-called ‘mainstream’, Broadway audiences. Broadway is a false
dichotomy. ‘Disney
Yet other factors suggested that the time was ripe for a successful Latino is leading the pack in
and hip hop work on Broadway. Increasing recognition and embrace of multi- casting minorities in
culturalism accompanied shifting demographics, with a growing Latino popu- non-race-specific roles’,
she asserted (2008: 144).
lation, in New York City and the United States as a whole. Barack Obama’s
presidential campaign both benefited from and propelled these currents, liter- 12. See example images at
‘Avenue Q’ (n.d.).
ally putting a face on the idea of a more progressive and diverse America.
Some thought the time for change had come on Broadway as well. Certain
critics and audiences of the 1990s and aughts have sought an alternative to
the trends of the megamusical and the Disneyfication of Broadway, with a
range of voices predicting the death of Broadway anew in the 1990s. How to
save Broadway? Sandoval-Sánchez has suggested that embracing regional and
minority theatre is the antidote for ‘Broadway’s fossilized, white Eurocentric
identity’ (1999: 109–110), and Bruce Kirle has outlined a similar vision for a
more diverse theatre that can explore changing meanings of American iden-
tity (2005: 73–74).11 Musicals like The Color Purple as well as Rent and Avenue
Q – the two latter produced by Kevin McCollum and Jeffrey Seller – pushed
in this direction, often bringing in younger audiences. And in the early years
of the millennium, rapid advances in web technology presented opportunities
for new advertising approaches. The challenge of the In the Heights marketing
team, then, was to harness the moment while diagnosing and neutralizing the
show’s risks for typically cautious audiences.
MARKETING METHODS AND MESSAGES

The show’s producers and marketing director Scott A. Moore, along with press
relations firm Barlow-Hartman (now The Hartman Group) and advertising firm
SpotCo, comprised the marketing team. These relatively young individuals and
companies mostly learned their trade in the 1990s and have since emerged
as significant forces on Broadway. Seller and McCollum of The Producing
Office and SpotCo began teaming up for shows beginning in 2002 with Baz
Luhrmann’s La Bohème, and together they have become known for their inno-
vative and multifaceted campaigns. For Avenue Q, for example, they launched
an all-out grab for a Tony Award, with advertisements that mimicked political
advertising; for the Las Vegas show, they decked out the local taxis in orange
faux fur to pique visitors’ curiosity.12 With In the Heights, they applied the
lessons of past experience as well as their hallmark creativity. Courting tradi-
tional audiences was the first priority. ‘If we don’t succeed in selling this to the
traditional Broadway musical-theatergoer, there won’t be a show for anybody
else’, Seller declared during the show’s previews (Jurgensen 2008). But the
marketing team also sought to expand the Broadway audience by reaching out
to Latinos and younger demographic groups, largely by encouraging cultural
pride and stimulating online ‘word of mouth’ or ‘viral’ marketing.
Despite their pioneering experimentation with online media, the team hardly
threw out the usual advertising playbook. They continued to rely on traditional
methods like direct mailings, newspaper ads, radio and television commercials,
and a Times Square billboard. As usual, tourists were a primary target, reach-
able through travel publications and indirectly through outreach to concierges
and trade shows like the American Bus Association (Moore 30 December 2009
53

13. The commercial is interview). And basic forms of online advertising, like a website or a spot on
available online on
SpotCo’s website, see
nytimes.com, are hardly new. Yet, the show’s promoters often deployed even
‘In the Heights’ (2007). A run-of-the-mill forms of marketing in imaginative ways, such as a television
video about the making commercial filmed on location in Washington Heights rather than in the theatre.
of the commercial
can be found on the With the TV commercial as with most of the media advertising, SpotCo
Broadway.com website, aimed to introduce the new and unfamiliar show to theatre-goers in a way that
see ‘Making a TV Spot captured elements of the musical in images and messages that would seem
that Pops’ (n.d.).
attractive and ‘safe’. Given the conventional images frequently associated with
hip hop and Latinos outside of those communities, a large part of promoting
In the Heights consisted of undermining those stereotypes. The commercial was
expensive, and filming it before the show had even opened on Broadway was
a ‘roll of the dice’ according to Greenwald. Still, Seller was firmly convinced
that people would be interested if they could just see and hear bits of the show
(Greenwald 10 November 2009 interview). The 30-second clip demonstrates
the contemporary, energetic feel of the show with dancing on the city streets set
to spliced bits from the show’s score (SpotCo 2007).13
In print as in the commercial, the show’s iconography was key. During
the off-Broadway run, the advertising image featured Miranda’s smiling face
in black and white against bright bodega-inspired colours (see Figure 1).
Greenwald commented on the artwork,
Lin has this face that – when you see him live of course, but even when
you see him in a picture – you’re immediately removed from what a
55-year old woman might traditionally think of as a hip hop world or a
rap world, and placed into the world of a character that you might want
to spend some time with.
(Greenwald 10 November 2009 interview)
Figure 1: Advertisement for In the Heights from its off-Broadway run.
54

As Greenwald subtly insinuates, Miranda’s physical features, his grinning

facial expression and perhaps, especially, his light skin, upend negative, racial-
ized stereotypes of rappers.
The Broadway poster incorporated more of the cast in a warmly-coloured
street scene. Posed mid-dance, their stances show off their youthful physiques
and the overall motion pulls upwards, signalling the upbeat themes of the
show and drawing the eye to the boldly, vibrantly printed title (see Figure 2).
Greenwald sums up the goals and success of the early marketing push:
With Lin as this kind of ebullient, irresistible, and lovable MC of both

the show and the commercial, we knew that we would go a long way
to convincing people that this was not some sort of dangerous or odd
or weird or threatening or scary or too youthful hip hop […] gang-
sta musical. It was a musical rooted in the traditions that theatrego-
ers know and love, that they rely on for musical comedy, which is, you
know, family, and inspiration, and hope, and change, and conflict that’s
resolved, hopefully, and triumph, and all that kind of stuff. So once we
got that commercial out there and we got the direct mail piece out that
Figure 2: Advertisement for In the Heights from its Broadway run.
55

14. Public Broadcasting was really able to educate people as to what it was, and tell them that
Service.
the reviews off-Broadway were great, and show a whole new slew of
pictures that were about ebullient dancing and connection and family,
and nothing at all scary or threatening, then immediately the audiences
started to respond to the idea of a fresh new voice in musical theatre
that they needed to come and see.
Greenwald echoes fundamental SpotCo business principles. Company

members aim to capture the feeling of attending a show in its advertisements
(Meyers 2005), and to take the ‘problems’ or ‘weaknesses’ of a show and recast
them as strengths (Greenwald 10 November 2009 interview). These tactics
complement one another as marketers seek to build a show’s media repre-
sentation around its unique identity. With In the Heights, they refashioned
unfamiliarity as merits like exuberance and freshness. Advertising materials
even announce as the show’s subtitle that this is ‘A New Musical’. But while
the marketing team never really avoided the show’s use of hip hop, Spanish,
and Latin musical styles, and the press highlighted these differentiating char-
acteristics, they were downplayed in much of the advertising. Marketers did
not label the show a ‘hip hop musical’, for instance. The show is, in fact,
conventional in many aspects of its structure and style, but these elements
were frequently either overshadowed or criticized in the media coverage. The
marketing team, seeking to counterbalance the show’s image in the press,
played up its traditional characteristics. ‘Every review and every [press] feature
always talks about the hip hop and the rap and the salsa and the merengue’,
Greenwald explained,
because that was their hook of course. But for every piece of editorial
that we would see out there calling it a hip hop musical, we had to
counter that impression by calling it a traditional musical comedy. Not
in those words, but make sure that we convey that message.
Indeed, the producers and other representatives of In the Heights have chan-
nelled discussion of the musical toward national identity and Broadway lore.
They have frequently emphasized how it fits in a lineage of shows like West Side
Story and Fiddler on the Roof – beloved Broadway classics that, although disparate
in many ways, both tell stories rooted in minority communities but are none-
theless undeniably American. Likewise, the In the Heights website proclaims:
WELCOME to the show that won Broadway’s highest honors by

first winning its heart. WELCOME to the next chapter in the classic
American story onstage. WELCOME to the kind of musical that comes
around once in a generation. A musical that builds on the best traditions
of theater while forging into fresh new territory. A musical about the
importance of home, family and finding where you belong.
(In the Heights 2010)
Thus, in addition to the excitement of a new musical voice on Broadway, the

show’s marketing has stressed its ‘safe’, ‘universal’ themes, like community,
and its place within the Broadway tradition. A 2009 documentary called In the
Heights: Chasing Broadway Dreams, aired as part of PBS’s14 ‘Great Performances’
56

series, has helped convey the exuberant quality of the show to viewers nation- 15. See the video of Dayton
with the cast in ‘In the
wide, propagating the ‘new American classic’ narrative as it educates potential Heights […] Dreams
audiences about the show in a heartwarming ‘Little Musical That Could’ story Come True’ (2008).
(In the Heights: Chasing Broadway Dreams 2009). 16. In addition, the In the
While most of the budget went toward enticing the usual Broadway Heights tour has its
crowd, lower-cost efforts were also directed at potential Latino and younger own Facebook page
with over 2000 fans.
audiences. The production team sought to encourage cultural pride and These numbers are as
grassroots support in the Latino community. They reached out to the Spanish- of 26 August 2010.
language and Latino press, for example, inviting them to the show’s previews
before the general press. ‘The thought was, if we were going to speak to a new
community that hadn’t been spoken to, why wouldn’t we reach out to them
first?’ Scott Moore explained (Moore 30 December 2009 interview). They also
sought to ‘nod to the roots of the show’ in smaller ways. Jimmy Smits did
the first TV commercial’s brief voice-over, for example, ‘len[ding] an air of
authenticity to the whole thing’ (Greenwald 10 November 2009 interview). A
guest performance by ten-year-old fan Nicholas Dayton with the cast, posted
on YouTube along with the videos by Dayton that had caught Miranda’s
attention, and a ‘Graduate to New Heights’ scholarship have further captured
the optimistic spirit of the show while also keeping it on the radar of fans and
the media.15
Outside of press relations, the easiest, most affordable way to reach
younger and more diverse groups was through the Internet, with the increas-
ing potential for market segmentation and free visibility offered by online
targeting, social networking and viral marketing. SpotCo’s director of interac-
tive services Sara Fitzpatrick notes that even in the past five years, producers’
interest in online advertising has grown as its effectiveness has become better
established. Using a still relatively modest portion of the marketing budget,
Fitzpatrick has ensured the show is highly accessible online. SpotCo has used
Google ads to reach niche markets, like people from Mexico or other Spanish-
speaking countries who are searching online for entertainment in New York
City (Fitzpatrick 16 November 2009 interview). Fans and potential audience
members can join the In the Heights group on Facebook or on the Latino-
geared social networking site MiGente.com. They can learn Spanish from
leading lady Nina Rosaria on Twitter, or check out clever YouTube videos by
Miranda, like one of the cast parodying Rihanna’s hit pop song ‘Umbrella’
(Miranda 2007c). While linking online activity to actual ticket sales is nearly
impossible, the efforts to interest target audiences do seem to have paid off.
In the Heights boasts over 38,000 friends on MiGente.com, for example, and
over 37,000 fans of the Facebook group ‘In the Heights Broadway’.16 Reaching
out to online interest groups, like the pan-Latino communities of MiGente or
Latina.com or to Broadway enthusiasts via sites like Broadway World (2009),
thus seems an efficient and effective way to boost support for In the Heights, in
effect creating a coalition of fans who become ambassadors for the show. In
keeping with SpotCo’s strategy, Sara Fitzpatrick tries to keep online content
in the ‘voice of the show’, and she emphasizes that social networking fits this
aim – community, after all, is one of the show’s central themes (Fitzpatrick
16 November 2009 interview). The In the Heights team has thus set a new
standard in its use of web-based social marketing, and perhaps this attention
to thematic unity is part of the reason for the high rate of online participation.
Another major reason, as Fitzpatrick and others acknowledge, is the online
charisma of the show’s creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and his strong presence
on the web, especially on YouTube.
57

17. Miranda (2007b). ‘PLUG MY SHOW AND REACH THE PEOPLE’: MIRANDA ON YOUTUBE17
18. Appendix 1 contains Twenty-three quasi-homemade videos posted by ‘Lin-Manuel’ on ‘usnavi’s
a list of each video
uploaded on the channel’ on YouTube have not only helped introduce In the Heights to new
channel with brief potential audiences and further endeared it to fans, but have also served as
descriptions. an expressive space for Miranda to reflect on the process of staging his first
19. Throwing out a ballpark Broadway show, especially as a Latino writing about Latinos (see ‘usnavi’s
figure, Scott Moore channel’ n.d.).18 The character–creator link between Miranda and Usnavi blurs
reported, ‘I don’t think
there’s one of those the boundaries of ownership, suggesting that these are personal contribu-
videos that we spent tions as well as products of the show. At once art and promotion, these videos
more than a couple of
thousand dollars on’
use hip hop, humour, and a web of popular culture references to express the
(2009). voice of the show and articulate issues of ethnic representation as well as to
20. ‘Views’ of the videos,
hype the musical. From the two person, low production value ‘In the Heights
counted by YouTube, Flow’ (Miranda 2006), posted before the show’s off-Broadway opening, to the
ranged from around recent large-scale and elaborate ‘Run This Tour’ (Miranda 2009), kicking off
6000 to over 90,000 as
of 4 January 2010. By the national touring production, they comment at every step on the process of
August 2010, a couple staging a musical. In other words, they are shows about a show, extending, in
of the videos had a sense, the long-standing show-within-a-show theatrical trope.
passed the hundred
thousand-views mark. Although the producers provided minimal financial assistance, and the
marketing team helped place these videos strategically in the right places at
the right times, the videos were Miranda’s initiatives (Fitzpatrick 16 November
2009 interview; Miranda 2010).19 Too much involvement from the market-
ing team would probably have been detrimental, in fact, since the YouTube
medium thrives on the perception of authenticity – a grassroots, of-the-people
for-the-people quality that Greenwald cites as essential for online audiences
to respond (Greenwald 10 November 2009 interview). Miranda emphasized:
None of these were a part of a larger ‘internet marketing scheme’.

The first few were created by me, with my kodak easyshare camera
and friends, because I knew we were playing in a tiny theater by the
Hudson that no one had ever heard of, 37 Arts. I simply wanted to get
the message out to people that don’t read Playbill or trade magazines.
Over time, it became another creative outlet, since I didn’t have time to
write a new show and perform eight shows a week.
(Miranda 2010, personal communication, 2 January)
These spots, with their potential to go viral and reach mass audiences, have
served several marketing functions. They have helped to get the word out,
especially before the show went to Broadway, and to reach potential audi-
ences missed by mainstream marketing efforts, particularly younger groups.
Yet, as Greenwald noted, ‘It’s not like these videos have hundreds of thou-
sands of hits or anything’, and their value in terms of eventual ticket sales is
as yet unclear (Greenwald 10 November 2009 interview).20 As much as the
videos may be ‘conversation starters’, they are also ‘conversation continu-
ers’ (Moore 30 December 2009 interview). By regularly feeding new content
to fans, they also keep that base continually engaged, bringing them into a
community. Members of the community also contribute, posting comments
and their own videos, and Miranda has frequently ‘favorited’ or commented
upon others’ creative tributes. ‘Just want to let you know that your video is
a new favorite over at the Richard Rodgers theater’, he wrote in response
to a Lego-animated rendition of one of the show’s numbers, for example
(Miranda comment on ‘Lego In the Heights – Blackout’ 2009). Miranda’s
58

enthusiasm for the Internet and his ubiquitous presence humanizes the show 21. The song’s striking
choreography has
and its online promotional efforts. been cited as an
Parodies of songs and events from contemporary culture, along with example of the ‘Zac
appearances by various guest artists, help keep In the Heights current and hip Efron Angry Walk’
on UrbanDictionary.
as well as tapping into a broader network of viewers. These videos integrate com. The original High
seamlessly into amateur video culture, with its extensive collection of spoofs School Musical 2 ‘Bet
(see, for example, Willett 2009). Take the video ‘Heights Cool Musical Too On It’ scene can be
viewed on YouTube,
[…] Bet On It!’, a parody of the song ‘Bet On It’ from the television movie as available, or on the
High School Musical 2. It was posted on YouTube in September 2007, during DVD release (High
School Musical 2 2007).
the interim period between the off-Broadway and Broadway runs of In the
Heights, and just over a month after HSM2 drew 17.2 million viewers to 22. Miranda confirmed the
video location, adding
become the most watched movie in cable television history. Miranda used that he could only
this current kid and ‘tween’ hit as a vehicle to drum up support for In the get guest stars Karen
Heights as the show prepared for its Broadway opening. His promotional goal Olivo and Jonathan
Groff on their rehearsal
is stated explicitly: in a moment of apparent sincerity within the otherwise break from Hair, which
campy number, Miranda raps that he’s ‘willin’ to dance like an idiot’ in order played in the park
to ‘plug [his] show and reach the people’ (Miranda 2007b). In the original in September 2007
(Miranda 2010).
number, Zac Efron as Troy walks, runs, and dances across a golf course as
he admits that he has lost himself and sings determinedly that he will make
things right. This moment of heartfelt teenage resolve, with its synthetically
reverberant electronic pop underpinning and stylized choreography, provides
apt opportunity for ridicule.21 Miranda’s antics as he imitates Efron, running
around Central Park amidst sunbathers, demonstrate parody at its finest.22
Figure 3: Zac Efron in ‘Bet On It’ from High School Musical 2. Reproduced with
the permission of the Walt Disney Company.
59

Figure 4: Lin-Manuel Miranda in ‘Heights Cool Musical Too […] Bet On It!’
Reproduced with the permission of Lin-Manuel Miranda.
But what message is Miranda sending? The humour here, as in many of

Miranda’s multivalent videos, blurs the lines between caricature and homage.
Miranda strikes a verbal blow near the end of the song with the lines: ‘And
that High School Musical’s rakin’ it in/It was paper thin, but they made it
again’ (Miranda 2007b). But Fitzpatrick of SpotCo denied that this video or
any of the marketing intended to make fun of other shows, explaining that
the aim here was simply to align In the Heights with something relevant
(Fitzpatrick 16 November 2009 interview). And asked about the purposes of
parody in these videos, Miranda explains,
Well, dashed dreams of being Weird Al aside, it’s easier to spoof a song
than write one from scratch. And on another level, it gives us a chance
to grab for some people who might not be looking for us. HSM, that
Legally Blonde show, those are incredibly popular things. If a fan of that
sees that we can make fun of it effectively and affectionately, they’ll be
more apt to buy a ticket to our show.
(Miranda 2010, personal communication, 2 January)
The viewers’ comments on ‘Heights Cool Musical Too’ confirm that the broad
tent of humour has allowed this parody to operate on many levels, delight-
ing a handful of High School Musical fans who enjoy seeing a favourite scene
reimagined as well as those more ‘sophisticated’ musical theatre fans who
look down on Disney’s High School Musical empire. One viewer comments,
‘Suddenly I feel less awkward for loving HSM!’ while another writes, ‘i HATE
high school musical, but i LOVE what you did with the song!’ (Comments
to Miranda 2007b). A shout-out to the musical Spring Awakening and a guest
60

appearance by its lead actor Jonathan Groff helped align In the Heights with 23. In reality, Eliseo Roman
continued to play the
another recent, edgy, youthful Broadway hit and drew a pack of fans to watch part of the Piragua Guy
his cameo. on Broadway.
Guest stars and intertextuality in Miranda’s videos move toward establish- 24. In many ways, this
ing a contemporary Broadway ‘brand’ for young theatre-goers. Legally Brown: model of cross-
The Search for the Next Piragua Guy, for example, spoofs the ‘MTV’ reality promotion builds
on an earlier SpotCo
show Legally Blonde The Musical: The Search for Elle Woods. The series boasts campaign, in which
an impressive roster of mock Piragua Guy auditioners, including actors from marketers ran ads with
shows like The Little Mermaid, Rent, South Pacific and In the Heights – Eliseo Avenue Q welcoming
each new show to
Roman, who played the part off-Broadway, sought to defend his role. But the open on Broadway.
final episode revealed a surprising twist – the part went not to any of the ‘Suddenly, Avenue Q
became the host, the
auditioners but rather to Bailey Hanks, the winner of the actual Legally Blonde elder statesman, the
competition who had by then taken over the Elle Woods part on Broadway de facto emcee of the
(Miranda 2008d).23 Again, the light-heartedness of the mocking and the inclu- theatre community,
positioning us
sive nature of the endeavour served more to cross-promote and celebrate within the industry
Broadway than to deride or differentiate.24 as a formidable
Online videos have also helped promote the show during transitions, musical equal to our
competition’, according
particularly by introducing new cast members. For example, Miranda endorsed to Jim Edwards of
touring lead Kyle Beltran in the 2009 ‘Run This Tour’ video, a parody of Jay-Z’s SpotCo (2006: 333).
‘Run This Town’. Beltran and Karen Olivo, the actress who played Vanessa in 25. As Miranda has moved
the original In the Heights cast, get the featured parts belonging to Kanye West on to other projects, he
has gradually stepped
and Rihanna, respectively, in Jay-Z’s music video. The video reassures fans back from the show’s
that the original creator and cast are still involved, and that In the Heights is publicity campaign.
still a family affair, while showcasing the new talent and passing the torch. The In the Heights
marketing team,
Beltran breaks it down: however, continues to
release videos – though
What you think I rap for? To represent the cast tour more polished ones –
to announce new cast
But I know, I can hear y’all grunting members, particularly
All these fans only wanna know one thing celebrities like Corbin
Bleu and Jordin Sparks
Can he fill Usnavi’s boots too, can he gun sling? (of High School Musical
Is he just a P.Y.T. pretty young thing? and American Idol
Well as a cast we unstoppable when we sing fame, respectively).
See the In the Heights
We don’t stop, uh, crowd pleasing YouTube channel at ‘In
(Miranda 2009) the Heights Broadway’
(n.d.) for these and
other promotional
Beltran proves his competence and confidence, giving fans a new hero, and videos.
In the Heights taps into the popularity of a new hip hop hit to generate excite-
26. These terms are
ment for the upcoming national tour.25 frequently used
Yet, the videos were never merely promotion. Legally Brown and other synonymously, but
occasionally they are
offerings also served as discursive spaces for addressing the politics of repre- considered to have
sentation. The Legally Brown videos used these politics for humour, including distinct meanings.
an episode in which Allison Janney (then playing in the musical 9 to 5) fights Colour-blind casting
implies that race is
sexism and the ‘boy’s club’ while judges twinkle at the thought of ticket sales not considered in
with her celebrity (Miranda 2008c). In another episode, the pale, redheaded the decision, while
Hunter Bell from [title of show] reveals ‘a surprising medical condition’ – that the implications of
non-traditional casting
is, he does not speak Spanish! (Miranda 2008b) Thus, Miranda and the team go beyond race and
behind Legally Brown play with the hot-button politics of ‘colour-blind’ or suggest that markers of
identity are taken into
‘non-traditional’ casting.26 Is ‘colour-blind’ (or ‘gender-blind’) casting desir- account.
able, or even possible?27 What does it mean to ‘non-traditionally’ cast a
27. Answering this
white man in a role written for a Latino?28 In these videos, parodic humour question, Richard
becomes an instrument through which these issues and their repercussions Hornby has argued
can be profitably explored. Or as Miranda explained it, ‘More than anything, that ‘“color-blind
61

casting” […] is clearly I just have a Spanglish sense of humor. We ARE a bit of a fish out of water
not possible unless our
society itself becomes
on Broadway, and using Legally Blonde as a template was a really fun way of
color-blind, which is making fun of that from 50 different angles’ (Miranda 2010, personal commu-
not only unlikely but nication, 2 January).
probably undesirable’
(1989: 460). Others YouTube culture and the online video format have also allowed
have pointed out Miranda to fluidly cross boundaries between promotion and serious
that non-traditional political commentary. In an earlier video titled ‘7 Years’, Miranda raps a
casting generally
implies motion in one sort of personal theatrical credo, demonstrating how a statement about
direction, with actors ethnic representation and a powerful groundedness in community are
of colour cast in white
roles (see, for example,
at the heart of In the Heights. He bitingly responds to reviews that crit-
Sun 2000: 86). icized the off-Broadway In the Heights production for failing to show
28. In the Heights
the negative realities of life in Washington Heights (see, for example,
faced considerable Isherwood 2007):
controversy over a
(rather non-traditional)
non-traditional 7 years
casting decision Dread and fear, blood, sweat, and tears
when the show’s I never dreamt that In The Heights would ever get me here
publicists announced
in December 2009 that Working all night and studying all day
Corbin Bleu would I took the long hard way to off-Broadway
take over as Usnavi
on Broadway on 25
And on days the lyrics don’t come
January 2010. The Well you just hum
news sparked heated And pray to god that something gets you out of the humdrum
debate over whether
a non-Latino should Cuz everybody thinks my neighborhood is just some slum
play the part on the No matter how hot the block has gotten
discussion pages of I’ve never forgotten where I’m from
BroadwayWorld.com
and other websites. …
Miranda responded in
rhyme: Yeah and some say I got the hood sanitized
‘Now THIS is sensitive, They only scandalized
and I’m hesitant They ain’t never seen Hispanic guys
to begin again/
But I’m a Puerto Without smackin’ their wives
Rican-Mexican; I Or packin’ knives
PLAYED Dominican./ Or havin’ real lives
And everyone’s from
everywhere, we are I went online just to analyze
reppin’ so many The rate of crime up in Washington Heights
things/Andrea’s
Venezuelan and
Yo, the crime rate’s twice as high on the upper east side
Jewish, Karen’s like [Shockwave:] No. [Miranda:] Yeah!
twenty things/So That shit was astoundin’ to me!
yes, I see your point,
but ethnicity’s just I ain’t never seen no bangin’ or slangin’ in Woody Allen movies!
a factor/They’ve Do me a favor set the beef to the side
gotta play the part: Is it alright for me to rep my people with pride?
in the end, dude is an
ACTOR’ For kids to see Latinos in a positive light?
(Broadway For tourists to ride up to Washington Heights without lockin’ their car
World 2009).
doors tight?
Maybe rolling down the windows buyin’ piraguas from the man on the
side of Riverside Drive?
Or seeing life through his eyes?
He’s just like you and I, he’s just trying to get by.
…
See the show.

(Miranda 2007a)
62

The videoperson laughs at the end, providing a moment of levity; nonetheless, 29. ‘Don’t stop, go on, go
on!’ This phrase is used
the rap contains a hard-hitting message. In interviews, Miranda has continu- in the show (Miranda
ally made these arguments, confronting stereotypes of Latinos and challeng- 2008a) and on In the
ing notions of authenticity in theatrical representation. Heights merchandise.
While ‘official’ marketing materials understate the show’s connections to
rap, this branch of the show’s generic roots takes precedence on YouTube. As
his fictional counterpart Usnavi uses the musical language of hip hop in the
show, Miranda also raps throughout many of his video works. In both the
videos and the musical, rap is shown in a positive light and heard in a hybrid
form, but the genre maintains its associations with marginalized peoples.
Miranda raps whenever he is voicing social critique, as in ‘7 Years’. And with its
tradition of witty boasting and rich history in relation to the New York Latino
community, rap is also a fitting genre for Miranda to promote his work and
to express cultural pride. ‘In the Heights is hotter than your mama’s pot-roast’,
he brags in one video (Miranda 2006). In another, he trenchantly boasts, ‘Big
crowds at my show/We wrote a play hit the Great White Way/Made it brown
and now it’s on’ (Miranda 2007c), and bits of Spanish infuse the videos as
they do the show. In its attention to rhyme and clever lyrics, rap even shares
musical values with such American musical theatre lyricists as Cole Porter, a
connection Miranda makes more explicit with a shout out in the show. ‘And,
oh my God, it’s gotten/Too darn hot like my man Cole Porter said’, Usnavi
raps in the opening number (Miranda 2008a). Rap’s generic conventions thus
perfectly suit the activities of promotion – even for a musical – and of cultural
commentary aimed at youth and young adult audiences.
‘¡NO PARE, SIGUE, SIGUE!’ INTO THE MILLENNIUM29

With its rich assortment of traditions and tropes drawn from multiple musical,
theatrical and cultural realms, In the Heights hit on a formula that has proven
to be commercially marketable and also articulates aspects of its creators’ own
richly diverse personal and ethnic histories. But its trajectory was by no means
inevitable. Savvy marketing helped introduce this new work by conveying
its themes and style through images, messages and media targeted at differ-
ent audiences, including Latinos and young people as well as the indispen-
sable traditional Broadway theatre-goers. This is made possible because the
world of marketing is changing rapidly. The social networks that have been
so central to the online outreach of In the Heights, for example, have taken off
only in the last few years. Of course, In the Heights is still playing on stages
around the country; its story is far from over and this article is necessarily only
a snapshot of the moment.
Still, the strategies employed for marketing In the Heights and its online
presence more broadly may provide some instruction for others seek-
ing to encourage innovation and to diversify the offerings and audiences
of Broadway. The show’s commercial success has generated more roles for
Latino performers onstage – roles that challenge certain ethnic stereotypes. It
has also established or furthered the careers of a largely Latino creative team.
Whether this team has been effective in attracting new, younger, and more
diverse audiences is more difficult to measure, but there is much to indicate
that it has.
‘All you have to do is go to the theatre on any given night during the last
couple of years and you can see it for yourself’, Greenwald said about finding
more diverse audiences at In the Heights, noting that one found a similar trend
63

30. See, for example, at shows like The Color Purple and Raisin in the Sun (Greenwald 10 November
‘Whose Space?
Differences Among
2009 interview). Moore remarked that the varying levels of audience reac-
Users and Non-Users tions to the show’s Spanish references also provide a window into audience
of Social Network composition on any given night (Moore 30 December 2009 interview). And
Sites’ (Hargittai 2007)
and ‘Taken Out of the online traffic for this show is considerably higher than for most others,
Context: American Teen according to Fitzpatrick, suggesting a younger demographic (Fitzpatrick 16
Sociality in Networked November 2009 interview). Other qualitative evidence comes from partici-
Publics’ (Boyd 2008)
for information on pation and comments on the various social networking groups, web pages,
the social distinctions videos and message boards devoted to In the Heights. One finds scores of
between users
of various social
comments by people who have seen the show or plan to, many of whom
networking sites. express pride in seeing their Latino heritage onstage. Occasionally someone
reports that In the Heights was his or her first Broadway show. One post on
the show’s Facebook page was from a teacher who took her students to see
the show:
My students attended the play today 10/22/08. For 99.9% of them this
was their first introduction to Broadway/musical theatre. It was an
excellent one. The majority are ESL students with about 15 from my
drama elective. I didn’t think it was possible but they had more energy
afterward! They brought their flags proudly and exclaimed loudly
and often on the train about how they could now see themselves in
the audience at a theater, and a few stated they could see themselves
onstage. This had to be the best trip EVER.
(Rodriguez 2008)
Perhaps the most compelling evidence, though, is from the 2008–2009

Broadway League report The Demographics of the Broadway Audience, the
first report to include survey data from In the Heights. ‘The 2008–2009 season
attracted the highest number of attendances by non-Caucasian theatergoers’,
the report discloses (Hauser 2009: 27). ‘Hispanics’, a group including interna-
tional visitors as well as US residents, jumped from 5.7 per cent of the audi-
ence composition in the 2007–2008 season, to an unprecedented 8.6 per cent
the following year (Hauser 2009: 26). The average age rose slightly in 2008–
2009, but with a modest increase in the 25 to 34 age group (Hauser 2009:
22, 24; Hauser 2008: 22). Furthermore, among the various types of marketing,
musical theatre audiences reported being most aware of Internet ads (Hauser
2009: 46–47). These trends suggest that In the Heights and shows like it are
beginning to have an impact, albeit limited, as marketing methods simultane-
ously shift.
‘Is this what it takes just to make it to Broadway?!’ Miranda asked in
his ‘Heights Cool Musical Too’ video, articulating the difficulty of breaking
onto the scene in today’s theatrical marketplace (2007b). Broadway advertis-
ers agree that the days of relying solely or even primarily on print market-
ing and reviews are over, and that the relationship between the media of the
Internet and live theatre is still being negotiated. At worst, the Internet can
serve to divide people through target marketing and online social networks
that remarkably resemble the segregation of real life social circles.30 It is
an ironic medium through which to market an experience of liveness, and
moving theatre marketing online means that consumers can be bombarded
with yet more daily messages. But the case of In the Heights also suggests an
upside, even pointing to rewards for theatrical circles. At best, online promo-
tion helps reach new audiences who would be glad to learn about works like
64

In the Heights but otherwise might not, creating communities around theatre
that cut across other divides. And, through initiatives like Miranda’s YouTube
videos, the Internet can provide new public forums for sharing the joy of thea-
tre as well as exploring its social dimensions.
The conventional methods of theatrical marketing are not dead, and
finding a way to appeal to traditional theatre-goers continues to be crucial
to selling works bringing new voices, forms or styles to Broadway. However,
those methods are no longer enough, and they are not the most effective
ways to reach new markets. What will Broadway look like as we continue to
navigate the twenty-first century? Who will be represented and how? Will
the economics of Broadway define its products, or can the tools of commerce
be used to support new theatre? Although marketing is no panacea, the
case of In the Heights suggests that creative messaging and use of the latest
technologies may help enable new, daring productions and perhaps even
begin to expand Broadway audiences. For twenty-first century productions
aiming to alter the status quo, it seems this is what it takes to make it to
Broadway.
APPENDIX 1: VIDEOS POSTED BY ‘USNAVI’ AS OF AUGUST 2010

(SEE ‘USNAVI’S CHANNEL’ N.D.).
Title Date posted Description
‘Hot as […] ’ 2 August 2006 ‘Shockwave and Lin-Manuel of Freestyle Love

Supreme come to grips with the heatwave of
2006. Things fall apart’.
‘In the Heights Flow’ 25 November 2006 Miranda raps to introduce his new musical
In the Heights, and Shockwave provides vocal
percussion.
‘Breakdancing In the 6 January 2007 The cast of off-Broadway’s In The Heights gives
Heights’ Miranda a breakdancing lesson.
‘7 Years In the Heights’ 1 March 2007 Shockwave accompanies Miranda as he raps

about the seven years writing In the Heights and
‘rep[ping his] people with pride’.
‘Heights Cool Musical 28 September 2007 Miranda parodies High School Musical 2’s ‘Bet
Too […] Bet On It!’ On It’ with In the Heights co-star Karen Olivo
and guest star Jonathan Groff from Spring
Awakening.
‘In the Heights […] 23 December 2007 Miranda, Olga Merediz, and members of the
Abuela’ creative team and cast of In the Heights parody
Rihanna’s pop hit song ‘Umbrella’ in advance of
their Broadway opening.
‘[lmm hearts tos]’ 16 July 2008 A reciprocal opening night gift to the cast of
[title of show] from Miranda and the cast of In the
Heights. Imitates ‘[tos hearts lmm]’, the [title of
show] cast video in honour of the In the Heights
opening.
(Continued)
65

‘Legally Brown: The 4 September 2008 Introduces the ‘Legally Brown’ series of fall 2008,
Search for the Next a spoof of the ‘MTV’ reality show Legally Blonde
Piragua Guy’ The Musical: The Search for Elle Woods that aired
a few months earlier. Guest artists compete
with Eliseo Roman to be the next Piragua
Guy, auditioning in the ‘ultimate Broadway
bootcamp’. The reality show and its take-off
were filmed in 37 Arts, the same theatre where
In the Heights played off-Broadway, and some of
the same judges and staff participated in both.
‘Legally Brown 17 September 2008 This episode reveals Hunter’s unfortunate

Exclusive: Hunter’s inability to speak Spanish.
Condition’
‘Legally Brown 29 September 2008 Matthew Morrison from The Light in the Piazza
Exclusive: Matthew (and now Glee) fame is winning hearts until ‘he
Morrison, Boricua Bad descend[s] into an emotional tailspin’.
Boy’
‘Legally Brown Exclusive 2 October 2008 Allison Janney faces sexism and attempts to
#4: A New Hope’ break through the ‘glass piragua ceiling’.
‘Legally Brown Exclusive 11 October 2008 Cheyenne Jackson’s hunkiness ultimately proves
#5: Cheyenne’s Little an obstacle.
Problem’
‘Legally Brown Exclusive 19 October 2008 The finals of the ‘Legally Brown’ competition,
#6: The Grand Finale’ with a twist ending.
‘Legally Brown 30 October 2008 Self-explanatory.

Exclusive: Wacky
Outtakes!’
‘In the Heights […] 2 December 2008 10-year-old Nicholas from New Orleans, an avid
Dreams Come True’ In the Heights fan, performs the show’s finale
onstage with the cast.
‘In the Heights Flow 13 February 2009 A bookend to the first online In the Heights
Part 2’ video (‘In the Heights Flow’), this one celebrates
success and introduces the new Usnavi.
‘Miguel In the Heights’ 7 March 2009 Miranda’s godson sings along to the In the
Heights soundtrack.
‘In the Heights Vault 20 April 2009 Home footage from two weeks developing In the
[…] O’Neill Home Heights at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center in
Videos’ Connecticut.
‘In the Heights […] Run 8 October 2009 Parody of Jay-Z’s ‘Run This Town’ featuring
This Tour Rihanna and Kanye West; introduces Kyle
Beltran as the tour’s Usnavi.
‘The Hamilton Mixtape 2 November 2009 Miranda performs his Alexander Hamilton rap at
‘[…] The White House the White House Poetry Event.
Premiere’
(Continued)
66

‘Miranda/Miranda 23 May 2010 Lin-Manuel Miranda auditions for Spring

Audition […] The Word Awakening with another Miranda, the comically
Of Your Body’ awful YouTube star of the ‘Miranda Sings’ videos.
‘In The Heights […] I 16 August 2010 A collage of Chris Jackson footage released
Believe In Chris Jackson’ in honour of his last performance with In the
Heights.
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68

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SUGGESTED CITATION
Craft, E. T. (2011), ‘‘Is this what it takes just to make it to Broadway?!’: Marketing
In the Heights in the twenty-first century’, Studies in Musical Theatre 5: 1,
pp. 49–69, doi: 10.1386/smt.5.1.49_1
CONTRIBUTOR DETAILS
Elizabeth Titrington Craft is a Ph.D. candidate in historical musicology at
Harvard University. She earned bachelor’s degrees in music and sociol-
ogy from the College of William and Mary and a master’s degree from the
University of Maryland at College Park. Her master’s thesis examined the
creation of Rent by Jonathan Larson. She is currently co-authoring an arti-
cle about an exhibit she co-curated on ‘Nadia Boulanger and Her American
Composition Students’, forthcoming in the proceedings of the Crosscurrents
conference on American and European Music in Interaction, 1900–2000. She
is also at work on a dissertation examining ethnicity and national identity in
American musical theatre through narratives of Americanization.
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SMT 5 (1) pp.

49–69 Intellect Limited 2011

Studies in Musical Theatre

ELIZABETH TITRINGTON CRAFT

‘Is this what it takes just

SMT_5.1_art_Craft_49-69.indd 49 5/9/11 9:32:44 AM

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MARKETING METHODS AND MESSAGES

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Figure 1: Advertisement for In the Heights from its off-Broadway run.

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As Greenwald subtly insinuates, Miranda’s physical features, his grinning

With Lin as this kind of ebullient, irresistible, and lovable MC of both

Figure 2: Advertisement for In the Heights from its Broadway run.

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Greenwald echoes fundamental SpotCo business principles. Company

WELCOME to the show that won Broadway’s highest honors by

Thus, in addition to the excitement of a new musical voice on Broadway, the

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None of these were a part of a larger ‘internet marketing scheme’.

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But what message is Miranda sending? The humour here, as in many of

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See the show.

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‘¡NO PARE, SIGUE, SIGUE!’ INTO THE MILLENNIUM29

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Perhaps the most compelling evidence, though, is from the 2008–2009

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APPENDIX 1: VIDEOS POSTED BY ‘USNAVI’ AS OF AUGUST 2010

Title Date posted Description

‘Hot as […] ’ 2 August 2006 ‘Shockwave and Lin-Manuel of Freestyle Love

‘7 Years In the Heights’ 1 March 2007 Shockwave accompanies Miranda as he raps

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‘Legally Brown 17 September 2008 This episode reveals Hunter’s unfortunate

‘Legally Brown 30 October 2008 Self-explanatory.

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‘Miranda/Miranda 23 May 2010 Lin-Manuel Miranda auditions for Spring

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Internet Broadway Database (2010), ‘In the Heights’, http://ibdb.com/produc-

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Sun, W. H. (2000), ‘Power and Problems of Performance across Ethnic Lines:

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