In the Heights is one of my favorite musicals of all time. I really like how Lin-Manuel Miranda incorporates rap into the world of musical theater. This is the kind of rap I'm interested in. Not only that, Lin-Manuel Miranda does a VERY good job incorporating Cuban beats and melodies within his music. I know Kelsey mentioned about emotion, and how Rhythm X expressed a lot of it, and I feel with this recording of the popular song 96,000 you can definitely feel the emotion behind this. If any of you have seen In the Heights, it's interesting to see how the whole musical is. When people walk down the street...they don't just "walk" they do a little dance walk. It's their character. There's a story.
You can definitely see a lot of expression and emotion in this recording. As you know, the musical is set in a time where a lot of Dominican republic and Cuban immigrants come to America, and are having a hard time making a living. The climax of the song is really powerful, it's heart stopping (for me). With the rapping of Lin-Manuel Miranda, the powerful vocals of Karen Olivo, and everyone else who was involved, make this song come alive and tell the untold stories of the actual people during that time. Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSTjRUMfOKI
This honestly was not what I expected when I clicked on the link to watch this clip. It goes against what the conventional musical is expected to be, which is surprising. As the song progressed, I actually grew to really like it. What I would do with $96,000.... :]
ReplyDeleteWow, that was really cool! This kind of reminds me of Kevin's post - this seems like a really cool musical, but not one with the regular, conventional songs (I actually don't know if I've seen/heard a musical with rap in it haha). It's a sign of modernization and music's incredible way to adapt to the changing times. The classics will always be great, but you've got to change up the style some to keep up the interests of younger crowds and audiences.
ReplyDeleteA funny thing about music - it can change to draw in new audiences, or it can stay exactly the same and do the same thing =D.
I love this! There are so many different styles and influences in this song. I think that is one of the great things about musicals. Because the music relies so heavily on the subject matter, there are as many diverse styles as there are diverse characters and storylines.
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