In the Heights drops two trailer plus new photos for the adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical

Warner Bros. has released two new trailer for their highly-anticipated musical In the Heights, based on the Broadway sensation by Lin-Manuel Miranda.

The show was originally written by Miranda in 1999 during his sophomore year in college at Wesleyan University, debuting on Broadway in 2008.

Quiara Alegría Hudes, who wrote the book for the play, wrote the screenplay adaptation for director Jon M. Chu, with the musical debuting in both theaters and on HBO Max on June 18. 

The first trailer, dubbed ‘Powerful,’ begins with Nina (Leslie Grace) chatting with Benny (Corey Hawkins) when she steps away to ‘listen to my block.’

She adds, ‘It’s quiet, usually the 1 train is up there screeching,’ as the main character, Usnavi de la Vega (Anthony Ramos) breaks into a musical interlude.

‘There’s a breeze off the Hudson/And just when you think you’re sick of living here the memory floods in,’ he sings, as we see kids playing near a pair of fire hydrants spraying water on the block.

Usnavi adds this is, ‘a story of a block that was disappearing, once upon a time in a far away land called Washington Heights.’

We see that Usnavi is now much older, sitting with a group of kids off a beach, telling them to say the name Washington Heights so, ‘it doesn’t disappear.’

Usnavi tells Nina that ‘bad things have been happening on the block since you’ve been at school,’ with a brief shot of Miranda in his small role as ‘Piragua Guy.’

The musical numbers reveal more about these characters, like how Benny wants to go to business school.

We also get a glimpse at Nina’s father Kevin (Jimmy Smits), who says he just wants her, ‘to do better than me.’

The first trailer ends with several shots from various musical numbers that show the drive and the passion of these diverse characters in Washington Heights.

The second trailer, dubbed ‘Washington Heights,’ features some footage overlapping from the next, with Usnavi on the beach with the kids.

He’s also seen chasing away someone who is tagging the steel grate to his bodega, while we get another look at Miranda’s Piragua Guy.

We also see Usnavi trying to approach Vanessa (Melissa Barrera), though he’s deflated when she mentions he has something on his shirt. 

Usnavi says that he ‘just wants to see the world through her eyes,’ while another character says there is talk of ‘kicking out all the dreamers,’ likely referring to the ‘DACA Dreamers.’

Abuela Claudia (Olga Merediz, reprising her role from the Broadway musical) tells Nina that, ‘we had to assert our dignity in small ways, little details that tell the world we are not invisible.’

Usnavi gets a glimpse at Vanessa’s life, marveling at her fashion designs, adding, ‘You made all of this?’

‘This is me,’ she says, as they share a moment together, before the trailer ends with another powerful musical number. 

In the Heights debuts in theaters and simultaneously on HBO Max starting June 18.