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This past week alone has been so much rave for the film adaptation of the Tony and Grammy winning smash hit In The Heights out now in Theaters and on HBO Max. For Lin-Manuel Miranda‘s breakout debut musical, we all first fell in love with the show as a smash on the Great Bright Way. Everyone can relate to all of the powerful characters from THE BARRIO from its main leads like “Usnavi” to even some of the small featured roles like…… “The Piragua Guy”.
Little throwback to the show’s time on the Great Bright Way in 2008 where Miranda and the full HEIGHTS company came together to parody the MTV reality show for Legally Blonde that same year. This hilarious web series parody takes Broadway auditioning to the next level as the HEIGHTS company searches for a new actor to take on the featured role of…… you guessed it…… “The Piragua Guy”. This is LEGALLY BROWN: THE SEARCH FOR THE NEXT PIRAGUA GUY.
Eliseo Romano originated the role in the Broadway production. Most recently, Lin-Manuel Miranda portrayed him in the new film.
It’s done just like for the LEGALLY BLONDE: THE SEARCH FOR ELLE WOODS show for 6 weeks with ongoing Broadway veterans and favorites battle it out in attempt to replace Eliseo as “The Piragua Guy” in the Broadway production of IN THE HEIGHTS. They go through various audition challenges and critiqued by a panel of judges consisting of….
Bernie Telsey of Telsey & Company (the show’s casting director),
Quiara Alegria Hudes (the show’s book writer),
and
Rickey Tripp (HEIGHTS Ensemble cast member).
The aspiring “Piragua Guys” in this consist of….
Tony Award nominee Derrick Baskin,
Hunter Bell,
Tony and Emmy nominee Matthew Morrison,
Tony nominee and Oscar winner Allison Janney,
Tony nominee Norm Lewis,
Noah Weisberg,
and
Eliseo Roman (THE OG himself) fighting to stay in the game,
There is a twist at the end of the series!!
The series is hosted by Broadway & West End star Asmeret Ghebremichael (HEIGHTS original OFF-Broadway cast member).
There’s also appearances by HEIGHTS company members….
Tony winner Andy Blankenbeuhler (the show’s choreographer),
Janet Dacal (original “Carla” and later replacement “Nina”),
Andréa Burns (original “Daniella”),
Tony nominee Robin De Jesus (original “Sonny”),
Tony winner Thomas Kail (the show’s director),
Lin-Manuel Miranda,
and
Broadway guru Seth Rudetsky.
This web series promises is a delicious HIT!!!! Can one of these amazing talents give “Mr. Softee” a run for his money?!!!!
How funny is this?
Who remembers this?!!
Mike Haber
Author: Mike Haber