Behind the Curtain with Alexander Reyes

Song clip from the Sitzprobe rehearsal of “In The Heights”
USNAVI raps: “Lights up on Washington Heights at the break of day. I wake up and I got this little punk I got to chase away. Pop the grate at the crack of dawn. Sing while I wipe down the awning. Hey y’all. Good morning.”

Hi, my name is Alex. I am playing Usnavi in In the Heights and this is my first time ever performing in In The Heights.

Usnavi, to me… I feel like he’s the character who is someone you can rely on in the show. A lot of people go to his bodega because they know him. Enjoys that community. He enjoys talking to people. He enjoys having that sense of camaraderie with anyone that he meets and anyone that he talks to.

To me, that shows a sense of him being open, him being himself, unapologetically in some manner. My first experience in In the Heights was I went to go watch the production that Woodminster did years ago and that was my first-ever introduction. I wasn’t as interested in theatre then, so I only remember half of it. The part that really sticks out to me is when uh Abuela pulls out the ticket that she has.

That’s a very ingrained memory that I have. And then once the movie came out, I became obsessed with it to the point where I already knew a lot of the songs and music by heart before anything audition-wise came out.

The show is deeply rooted in the community and with how the cast has been reflected in that it’s come together a lot quicker than I expected because everyone is automatically, like, kind and open and just being willing to talk to one another.

And in in previous interactions that I’ve had just in public, it’s some people aren’t as open and aren’t as willing to have a conversation with someone else. The fact that everyone in the cast is willing to do that, it makes it a lot easier to get to know someone, to build that community in the cast, and to just make the overall show more authentic.

I’m going to hope that people are going to find peace in some sense, only because I mean, throughout the show, there’s a sense of conflict. There’s always a conflict in any show, but with this one, it’s a lot more real because people have genuinely gone through through these experiences in real life.

That to me is a lot more impactful than I initially expected. I don’t speak fluent Spanish, so that’s been another barrier to learn with the music and the dialogue and just any lines that I might have with my character with Usnavi and someone else in the show. But then also my family members, there’s this language barrier sometimes.

So when they come and see the show, I’m hoping that it makes it a lot more enjoyable for them because they know the language. I’m able to communicate to them through the show and some of it’s in Spanish to the point where they’re able to enjoy musical theatre a lot more fluently. And I really want to do what I can to make this as powerful and impactful as possible.

Well, I hope to see you In the Heights. We open on May 16th (and run) all the way to June 6th. So, hope to see you there.