Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor“In the Heights” production designer Nelson Coates had an important task from Lin-Manuel Miranda: The bodegas for the film adaptation of the stage show needed to be located east of Broadway, “because that was a historic Puerto Rican, Dominican and Cuban neighborhood.”Anything west of that would be predominantly Irish, Russian or Jewish.
The last thing director Jon M. Chu and Miranda wanted was to shoot anywhere but in the Heights. The film centers on the vibrant Washington Heights community and follows bodega owner Usnavi, played by Anthony Ramos, who dreams of a better life and returning to the Dominican Republic.
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