AUDITIONS: IN THE HEIGHTS

Jan. 22 and 24 at 7PM​

Callbacks (by invitation) are tentatively scheduled for Sunday, January 29.

An audition slot sign-up scheduler will be published as we get closer to auditions. However, walk-ins will be welcome. 

For auditions, you should prepare:

• Sheet music for a 32 bar cut of a contemporary musical theatre song in your appropriate key. (Make sure sheet music has piano accompaniment and/or guitar chords; preferred in a binder);
• Proof of vaccination; all cast and crew must be vaccinated/boosted to participate;
• Bring your picture and resume if available, but not necessary.

Most of the principal characters are Latinx, Afro-Latino, or Black.

​The age ranges reflect the ages of the characters, not of those auditioning.

​However, CDC is centered on casting the very best actors for every role creating a culture committed to bringing diverse and equitable opportunities to our community.

Auditions and casting will be inclusive of actors of any race, ability, gender, gender identity, age and sexuality.

​character breakdown

Usnavi de la Vega (early 20s to mid 30s) is the charismatic narrator of the musical's exposition; he is the owner of a small bodega in Washington Heights. He was named after one of the first sights his parents saw when they arrived in America, a ship with the sign "US Navy" on it. Abuela Claudia, the neighborhood matriarch, "practically raised" him when his parents both died during his early childhood. He dreams of moving to the Dominican Republic. He is in love with Vanessa. 

• Vocal Range: A2-A4
• Ethnicity: Latino/Hispanic

Nina Rosario (18 to early 20s) is an intelligent girl, and the first in her family to go to college (Stanford University), and everyone in the barrio admires her as the "one who made it out." However, she returns home from school for the summer to reluctantly tell her parents that she was overburdened with balancing work to pay for her expenses and school, and dropped out. She has always been an exemplary daughter, but upon arriving back home, she rejects her father's overprotectiveness and his refusal to accept Benny, with whom she gets into a romantic relationship.

• Vocal Range: F3-F5
• Ethnicity: Black/African/Latino

Benny (18 to mid 20s) works at the dispatch of Nina's father, Kevin. The only character in the play who does not speak Spanish, Benny falls in love with Nina. He dreams of opening his own business.

• Vocal Range: B3-A4
• Ethnicity: Black, White, Asian, or any other non-Latino

Vanessa (18 to early 30s) is Usnavi's love interest who works at Daniela's salon. She is stunningly beautiful and catches the eye of every guy en el barrio; however, she takes interest in Usnavi. She lives with an alcoholic mother and dreams of getting out of the barrio and getting an apartment downtown but cannot yet afford it.

• Vocal Range: F#3-F5
• Ethnicity: Latina/Hispanic

Abuela Claudia (late 50s to early 70s) is the loving Cuban matriarch of the barrio who is like a grandmother to all. She is the one who looked after Usnavi when his parents died. She and her mother moved from Cuba to New York in 1943 when she was a child. She worked as a maid.

• Vocal Range: Eb3-E5
• Ethnicity: Latina/Hispanic

Sonny de la Vega (late teens to early twenties) is Usnavi's sassy and ambitious younger cousin who works with Usnavi in the bodega. He is a jokester and has an intelligent and thoughtful side that yearns for social justice.

• Vocal Range: D3-B4
• Ethnicity: Latino/Hispanic

Daniela (late 20s to mid 40s) is the outrageously dramatic owner of the salon where the neighborhood girls come to gossip. She is very bold and loud and loves to banter.

• Vocal Range: F3-E5
• Ethnicity: Latina/Hispanic

Carla (18 to early 40s) works at Daniela's salon along with Vanessa, and is Daniela's close friend; young and pretty, but a little slow to get the others' jokes and innuendos, she is of mixed-Latin American nationality (Chilean, Cuban, Dominican, and Puerto Rican descent).

• Vocal Range: F3-E5
• Ethnicity: Latina/Hispanic

Kevin Rosario (late 30s-early 60s) is Nina's overprotective Puerto Rican father, who, coming from a long line of farmers, has worked hard to pave his own way and provide for a better life for his family. However, his overprotective nature and control issues lead to conflict with Nina. He now owns his own taxi cab service: Rosario's.

• Vocal Range: A2-F4
• Ethnicity: Latino/Hispanic

Camila Rosario (late 30s-early 60s) is Nina's strong-willed Puerto Rican mother, who wants what is best for Nina. She is typically tolerant of Kevin's control issues, but in the course of the show, makes it clear she is the strong matriarch leader of her family.

• Vocal Range: G3-E5
• Ethnicity: Latina/Hispanic

Piragua Guy (Piragüero) (mid 30s to late 50s) is the owner of a small piragua stand that competes with Mister Softee. He symbolizes the life the Latinx immigrants have made in America, but also provides a direct visual connection to Latino culture and home for all other characters.

• Vocal Range: D3-A4
• Ethnicity: Latino/Hispanic

Graffiti Pete (18 to mid 30s) is a graffiti artist. He is good friends with Sonny and is one of the few characters who acknowledge Sonny's dreams. Usnavi believes Pete is a trouble-making vandal, until Pete reveals his amazing skills as an artist.

• Ethnicity: Latino/Hispanic

Residents of Washington Heights (20s-60s, all ethnicities, all gender identifications) a diverse group with their own stories. Strong dancers skilled in hip hop and Latin dance. Acro ability a plus.

Music and Lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda
Book by Quiara Alegría Hudes
Conceived by Lin-Manuel Miranda

ABOUT THIS PRODUCTION
Director: Edgar Hidalgo
Music Director: Dan Wells
Choreographer: Angela Cusumano Perez
Producer: Joe Leo
​

Made possible by funds from the Union County Office of Cultural & Heritage Affairs, a partner of the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.

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