Spread out in front of me are three In The Heights Playbills. The first is dated February, 2007 -- the month the “new musical about three days in the life of Washington Heights, a vibrant and tight-knit community at the top of the island of Manhattan” opened at Off-Broadway’s 37 Arts Theatre. The second is dated March, 2008, not long after it transferred to Broadway -- and shortly before it took home 2008’s “Best Musical” Tony.

The last is from June, 2009, when I returned to the Richard Rodgers Theatre to find that, not only are many of the original cast members still with the show, but that the production has continued to soar, attracting an eclectic array of theatergoers who are new to the genre -- many experiencing legitimate theatre for the first time.  

Musically, In The Heights is an inspired melting pot of hip-hop, salsa, ballads and showstoppers. Composed and conceived by Lin-Manuel Miranda -- who originated the role of bodega owner/narrator, Usnavi (currently played by Javier Muñoz) -- the score is well matched by Andy Blankenbuehler’s explosive choreography and a multi-talented company, which includes Robin De Jesús as Sonny, Usnavi’s teenaged cousin who helps run the shop while flirting shamelessly with every pretty girl in the hood.

De Jesús, who has been with the show since its reading phase at the O’Neill Center in Waterford, Connecticut in 2005, recalls, “It was kind of a crazy time for me. I was trying to go back to college and couldn’t afford it, so I was auditioning. That’s when my mother said to me, ‘College is always there; something will come your way.’ And within a month of returning to New York I booked my first national commercial and four months later I was cast in Rent.”

Then In The Heights came to Off-Broadway. “And all of us knew it was special, even at beginning,” he says, adding “It’s the only show I’ve done where the whole cast gets together before the curtain, holds hands, and prays. We get our hearts and minds together.”

Of this close company of actors, many -- including Tony winner Priscilla Lopez -- were hand-picked for their roles.

Lopez plays Camilla, wife/business partner of gypsy cab company owner Kevin (Rick Negron) and mother to Stanford coed Nina (Mandy Gonzalez), whose return to Washington Heights over July 4th weekend reignites a romance with one of her dad’s employees, Benny (Christopher Jackson).  

The symbolic heart of the neighborhood family (Puerto Ricans, Dominicans and Cubans), is figurehead grandmother Abuela Claudia, played by Tony nominee Olga Merediz, who steals the show whenever she’s on stage.  

De Jesús believes that the transition to Broadway served to tighten the story while taking the material to a somewhat edgier place. “The storyline is clearer now. Off-Broadway it was a little too ‘tied with a bow,’ a little too neat,” he observes. “Now, at the end, you don’t know how it will all be played out, which I think makes it more interesting.”

“Some people think our show is not for everyone, but it is,” concludes De Jesús. “I see it as a kind of Hispanic Cosby Show or My Big Fat Greek Wedding. No matter what your nationality, the characters and the emotions are familiar, identifiable.”

In the Heights is playing at Broadway’s Richard Rodgers Theatre, 226 W. 46th St.  For reservations, call 212-307-4100 or click here.