Review: 'In the Heights' at Torrington High School

All photos courtesy of Litchfield County Sports

Dedicated to long-time Torrington High School director Mary McVerry who must be proud of her students

Torrington, CT - The students of Torrington High School presented ‘In The Heights’ this weekend in the THS Little Theater. The musical by Quiara Alegria with music and lyrics by THE Lin-Manuel Miranda had its development supported by the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center in CT. The high school students were directed by Veronica Gelormino, who has been directing high school and middle school musicals for 25 years in both private and public schools.

Ms. Gelormino deems this musical a very complex and layered show that is at its most basic a show about all variations of love. She notes that “it is a story of immigrants and a story of a community full of strong characters with strong opinions, passions, and accents, who are facing change, uncertainty and loss,” in some ways like the changes and uncertainties facing the students’ own school community. The THS students in the Student Theatre program demonstrated incredible leadership and camaraderie during the production of the show. “They took the musical and made it theirs,” writes their proud director.

The amount of tears that I saw during the curtain call and post show was a pretty clear indication of this strong camaraderie among the students. Unfortunately, the closing night performance was plagued with sound issues, with microphones either too loud or off. The limitations of the lighting system were evident, although I cannot say that it was ever too dark to see the action.

Despite it all, senior Justin Torres (‘Cliffhanger’ at Phoenix Stage Company) was outstanding in the role of bodega owner Usnavi de la Vega struggling to keep his late parents’ business alive. He reminded me of a young Lin-Manuel Miranda as he sang and danced his heart out. His younger cousin Sonny was nicely played by senior Daovong Tyus Phengkaen. Sonny's best friend, Graffiti Pete was played by sophomore Nick Maniccia (‘Footloose’.)

Sophomore Serena Rosado played Nina Rosario, the young woman who has returned home from a semester at Stanford after dropping out. Her parents were played by senior and student producer Gia Hoa Lam (‘Footloose’ at THS) as Kevin and senior Natalie Garrison (Footloose’) as Camila; both did well with the adult roles. Nina’s old friend and ambitious entrepreneur, Benny was played by senior William Wilson (Ren in ‘Footloose.’) This young man brought a special charm to the role in his final production with THS.

Vanessa is a character that dreams of leaving Washington Heights; she was played by junior Emily Vasquez in her seventh show at this high school. She works at a hair salon run by the dramatic Daniela, expertly played by senior Vivian Jimenez with the best Spanish accent in this cast, and Daniela’s sidekick, Carla who was played by sophomore Ashlyn Bernard. Junior Aubrie Dell’Agnese, also a choreographer, played Yolanda. Sophomore Ashlyn Bernard played Carla.

The fine ensemble danced well with “96,000” a dance highlight; several featured dancers gave impressive performances. Although the school auditorium was chilly, everyone managed to convey the heat of July in their performances. The ensemble included Emily Alfieri, Alyssa Archambault, Sage Buice, Anna Clinkscales, Abbey Closson, Gianna DelMonte, Jessica Dong, Kaitlyn LaPierre, Liz Maryanski, Cassidy Newman, Deirdre Noyce, Collin Scanlon, Xaniyah Sanders, Cristelle Santos, Danny Brown, Bailey Clark, Shaisek Cornejo, Aiden Coon, and Myles Fodiman.

Victor Leger was the technical director and used his skills as art teacher and his previous career as a carpenter to put together a great urban set and Bonnie Owens was credited as costumer of the cute summer outfits. Aubrie Dell-Agnese ‘19 designed the impressive choreography while Mr. Torres was in charge of the fight choreography. Holly McCann served as conductor of the marvelous pit orchestra, while playing keyboard one. Many students sat with the adult musicians as part of the orchestra and everyone did a great job with this wonderful score. Danielle Colosimo Abucewicz was the musical director and bought a piragua from the front row.

Congratulations to the Torrington High students and the adults who worked with them.

Nancy Sasso Janis has been writing theatre reviews since 2012 as a way to support local theatre venues and she posts reviews of well over 100 productions each year. In 2016, she became a member of the Connecticut Critics Circle. She continues to contribute theatre news, previews, and audition notices to local Patch sites. Reviews of all levels of theatrical productions are posted on Naugatuck Patch and the Patch sites closest to the venue. Follow the reviewer on her Facebook pages Nancy Sasso Janis: Theatre Reviewer and Connecticut Theater Previews and on Twitter @nancysjanis417