Since
Lin-Manuel Miranda’s new musical Hamilton
opened off-Broadway this week, I’ve spent a lot of time listening to the cast
recordings of his previous shows. In the Heights naturally brings me to
Usnavi, and I’m reminded of how much I love this character. I don’t think that show could’ve asked for a
more rootable focal point, especially when he’s played by Miranda in the OBC.
Bodega
proprietor, rap enthusiast, and neighborhood glue, Usnavi is our eyes into the
community of the show’s Washington Heights block. He’s from a Dominican Republic he doesn’t
remember, the son of immigrant parents long since deceased, but he carries the
dream of his home and family in his veins.
He can describe the way to off-the-beaten-track Dominican beaches, and
his unique name – a Latinized pronunciation of “U.S. Navy,” which his mother
and father saw “engraved on a passing ship” when they arrived in New York – keeps
his history with him. As he rises with
the sun to run the corner store bequeathed to him by his parents, he cheerfully
balances everyone’s morning coffee needs and holds onto the idea of returning
to his island one day.
Balancing
people’s needs is Usnavi’s main M.O.; he knows the regular order for everyone
in the neighborhood, he looks out for his younger cousin Sonny, and when a
blackout sends the block into chaos, he pushes his way through the darkness to
check on Claudia, his surrogate abuela. He’s forever seeing to others’ concerns and
witnessing others’ stories, sometimes at the expense of his own. When everyone speculates about what they’d do
with $96,000 in lottery winnings, Usnavi’s wishes are simple: after paying off his debts, he’d keep just
enough to get to the Dominican Republic and make gifts of the rest. His friends would say he doesn’t take time to
live his own life, and perhaps he’s not always bold enough to do so – while he’ll
easily rush to Vanessa’s aid when she needs help and he always gives her free
coffee, he gets tongue-tied at the prospect of admitting his feelings for her. He’s prone to nervousness and, when nervous,
highly susceptible to running his mouth off about goodness knows about, which
doesn’t make him too smooth with the ladies.
As hard
as he works and as much as he gives, though, he doesn’t give the impression of
one weighed down by obligations. Rather,
he’s a lively, engaging presence to everyone he meets. He bilingually greets his neighbors, takes on
his friends in hip-hop battles of wits, and faces the daily grind with a
self-deprecating smile and a buoyant attitude.
His optimism and good humor are infectious, and his slyly clever raps
hit you with the full force of his personality.
Everything about him is open, eclectic; in the opening number alone, he
cribs from Mark Twain (“Reports of my fame / Are greatly exaggerated,”) Duke
Ellington (“You must take the A-train,”) and Cole Porter (“And oh my God, / It’s
gotten too darn hot.”)
Over
the course of the show, he learns that he sometimes needs to look out for
himself as much as he looks out for others, but he ultimately loves his
position as the neighborhood “streetlight chillin’ in the heat / [Who]
illuminate[s] the stories of the people on the street.” In the
Heights is a story of community and chosen family, and no character in the
show embodies that better than Usnavi.
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