In The Heights

The new screen version of Lin-Manuel Miranda's 2008 Broadway musical "In the Heights" has energetic production numbers filling the streets of the Upper West Side neighborhood of Washington Heights.  Its Puerto Rican, Cuban and Dominican characters deal with issues of identity and aspiration that prompt HCC film professors Marie Westhaver and Mike Giuliano to describe the plot as an "Upper West Side Story." Interestingly, Miranda also serves as an executive producer for the second film discussed in this podcast episode, the documentary "Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go For It." Now 89, the Puerto  Rican-born, New York City-raised Moreno won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Anita in the 1961 screen version of the musical "West Side Story." Although she explains that her screen career was hindered by Hollywood producers trying to typecast her, she dealt with it by branching out into other media. Indeed, Moreno also has won a Tony Award, two Emmy Awards and a Grammy Award.