"In the Heights" blood, sweat, tears and lots of joy
The set decorating team for “In the Heights” in the beauty salon set.
The beauty salon set during the number “No Me Diga.”
In the summer of 2019, I had the great opportunity to work on the movie version of the Broadway musical “In the Heights” with set decorator Andrew Baseman.
It was truly one of the most fun projects I have ever worked on and spending the summer immersed in the community of Washington Heights was such a treat and a joy.
set decoration team in the Bodega set
While working on “In the Heights” is absolutely one of the highlights of my set decorating career so far, it didn’t come without it’s blood, sweat, and tears. Literally:
BLOOD: when I fell down a flight of stairs in a dark basement at a used book store in my excitement to buy some used vintage Spanish-language cookbooks for Abuela’s home set. So not exactly blood, but bone spurs and arthritis in that ankle ever since…More on that saga later.
Sweat: in the peak of NYC summer is always hot, but I remember paritularly in early July when we were working on the set for Vanessa’s apartment we were in a third floor apartment with no air conditioning and it was BRUTAL. We survived by buying batches and batched of fruit popsicles from the bodega downstairs. I took this photo in my minivan when it felt like every pore in my body was sweating.
TEARS: ok, I don’t have a picture of moment where I felt hot tears of extreme frustration well up in a crammed chaotic fabric store where we were having a huge language barrier (it is totally my fault for living in America and not speaking Spanish—I really wish I had learned Spanish and not French in high school. Languages spoke at this store: Spanish and Korean, neither of which I speak) and I was under lots of time pressure to buy something quick and bring it back to set on a Friday at 4pm. Did i mention it was really hot that summer? At that moment I was like omg I feel so frustrated I feel like I’m going to cry, and then that line from Tina Fey’s memoir “Bossy Pants” floated through my mind where she said “if you feel like you’re going to cry, just cry, it freaks everyone out” It isn’t my proudest moment, but sadly yes, some tears were shed in the process of working on this movie.
There were also moments of transcendent joy and wonder too.
Like the time Andy and I were working on the Rosario Car Service set, and I looked out the window to the wondrous sight of a bunch of dancers practicing the opening number in the intersection in gorgeous perfect golden sunlight.
All the dancing was so captivating we stood outside to watch, and we couldn’t help but smile in awe. Pictured here with Assistant Art Director Brian Goodwin and Set Decorator Andy Basemen.
what we saw
What the camera saw
Or the time I met Andy at 4:30am in the dark one Monday morning to work on dressing the courtyard set for the dance number “Carnaval del Barrio” filming that day and got to stay and watch a few of the rehearsals.
I think “Carnaval del Barrio” is the most exuberant dance number in the whole movie and getting to see and feel some of that energy upfront firsthand is a memory I will always cherish.
It was also my first time seeing Lin-Manuel Miranda himself in person! (yes we are totally best friends now after quickly passing him and then seeing him watch rehearsals 100 feet away from where I was standing).
what we saw watching from one corner off set (I think you can actually see LMM in this photo).
what the camera saw
If you ever need a quick injection of pure joy, I highly recommend watching this dance number—I can almost guarantee it will have you smiling and wanting to dance
The whole Art + Set Decoration Department pictured in front of the stage built version of the boedega.
Thank you Andy for asking me to join the set decoration team! You can see many more great photos of the set on Andy’s website here.
You can watch the whole opening number and first 8 minutes of In the Heights yourself below: