Northampton Community College opens its third season of professional musical theatre with the Tony award-winning In the Heights.The show opens on Wednesday, June 5 at 7:30 p.m. in NCC’s Lipkin Theatre, and runs through Sunday, June 16. Performances are offered on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m., and Sundays at 2 p.m.Lin-Manuel Miranda and Quiara Alegria Hudes’ show is set in Washington Heights, the New York City neighborhood in which Miranda grew up.
Opening on the hottest day of the year, it is narrated by Usnavi de la Vega, the owner of a small bodega.
Over a three-day span, the neighbors experience a weather-related blackout, a winning lottery ticket, loss of family and livelihood, and dreams lost and compromised.
The musical score includes freestyle rap, salsa and other genres, and all the characters (save one, Benny) move between speaking Spanish and English. 
NCC Summer Theatre’s Producing Artistic Director, Bill Mutimer, has gathered a creative team and a professional company of actors, musicians, and crew to bring the show to vibrant life.
Lucille Kincaid returns as Musical Director, and Cristina Williams is back to handle choreography duties.
Brett Oliviera is the scenic and lighting designer. Matias De La Flor, a Peruvian-born student from the University of North Carolina, takes on the role of Usnavi orginated by Miranda.
The neighborhood ‘success story’, Nina Rosario, is played by Angelica Ramirez, a recent graduate of East Stroudsburg University. Her parents are played by Equity actor Robert Torres, who lives locally, and Raquel Lopez Clory, a professional actress originally from Florida.Many of the neighborhood residents, including Usnavi, have been nurtured by “Abuela” Claudia, played by local professional actress Trish Kane Steele.
The role of Usnavi’s cousin, Sonny, is played by Alejandro Navarro, a California native attending Rider University. Daniel Melo, an NCC alum and recent graduate of University of the Arts, portrays Nina’s love interest, Benny. Usnavi’s love interest, Vanessa, is performed by Victoria Scovens, a recent DeSales University graduate.Other characters in the neighborhood include Daniela (Allie Vazquez), Carla (Melody Cruz), Graffiti Pete (Jonathan Cruz, who also serves as Dance Captain), and Piragua Guy (Dedrik Ramos).
Twenty additional dancers and singers make up the ensemble cast, with 12 musicians joining Kincaid in the orchestra.Miranda wrote the first version of In the Heights in 1999 while in college, and after going through numerous revisions – and the addition of Hudes to the creative team - it opened off-Broadway in 2007.
A year later it opened in the Richard Rodgers Theatre, and captured 13 Tony nominations and three awards – Best Musical, Best Original Score, and Best Choreography – at the 2008 ceremony.Prior to each NCC performance, the college’s Hispanic Caucus will offer a “block party” in the theatre lobby, complete with a Latin DJ, the selling of empanadas and piraguas (shaved ice), and information tables from community organizations.Tickets are available at ncctix.org, or by contacting the box office at 484-484-3412.
The box office is also staffed in the lobby of Kopecek Hall, near the theatre, from noon – 4 p.m. Monday-Saturday.
Adults/seniors are $15, and students/children are $10; this show is appropriate for all ages.Group discounts are also available for ten or more; contact the box office or
The theatre has accommodations for audience members using wheelchairs.For more information visit ncctix.org.