IN THE HEIGHTS PROVES TO BE A BOX OFFICE SUCCESS IN CHARLOTTE

Charlotte, NC – IN THE HEIGHTS, winner of four 2008 Tony Awards® and the 2008 Grammy Award® for Best Musical Show Album, completed a successful eight-show engagement in Charlotte by grossing in the top 30% of markets presenting weeklong engagements.  Charlotte finished with the 15th highest single week gross on the tour.
The show, part of the Duke Energy Broadway Lights Series presented by Blumenthal Performing Arts, grossed $733,565 for the week ending Feb. 20.  More than 12,834 saw the show during its inaugural appearance in the Queen City.
Of similar-sized markets, Charlotte’s engagement of IN THE HEIGHTS outsold the cities of Orlando ($726,245) Minneapolis ($684,238), Portland ($582,854), and even sold close to $200,000 more than Austin ($546,453).  The show also outperformed any single week in a number of large primary markets presenting multiple week runs, including San Francisco, Seattle and Houston.
The show’s success in Charlotte demonstrates the city’s openness to fresh takes on classic Broadway themes and settings. IN THE HEIGHTS features a diverse cast, tells the story of a multicultural Washington Heights neighborhood in New York and has a strong Latin-themed score.  Its success speaks to Charlotte’s appetite for culturally diverse shows and the city’s growing Hispanic demographic.
“IN THE HEIGHTS was a critical and commercial success on Broadway and we were thrilled this season to have the national tour in Charlotte,” said Blumenthal President Tom Gabbard.  “We are proud to offer the Queen City shows that celebrate diversity, family and the American dream.  This show boasts an incredible cast, amazing production values, an engaging story and a richly unique score.”
The Charlotte engagement of IN THE HEIGHTS ran Feb. 15-20 in Belk Theater at Blumenthal Performing Arts Center.  The show was met with audience and critical acclaim.  The Charlotte Observer said, “joyous HEIGHTS…is a quintessential American musical” and Arts a la Mode called IN THE HEIGHTS “an embraceable ambassador of the ‘new’ Broadway, maintaining a largely sunny disposition that is missing from more edgy modern musicals.”
IN THE HEIGHTS tells the universal story of a vibrant community in New York’s Washington Heights neighborhood – a place where the coffee from the corner bodega is light and sweet, the windows are always open and the breeze carries the rhythm of three generations of music.  It’s a community on the brink of change, full of hopes, dreams and pressures, where the biggest struggles can be deciding which traditions you take with you, and which ones you leave behind.
In addition to winning the 2008 Tony Award for Best Musical, Lin-Manuel Miranda, the show’s creator, won the Tony Award for Best Music and Lyrics, Andy Blankenbuehler won for Best Choreography, and Alex Lacamoire and Bill Sherman won for Best Orchestrations.  The original cast recording won the 2008 Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album, and Universal Pictures has acquired the rights to produce a feature film based on the smash hit musical.