"In the Heights" blood, sweat, tears and lots of joy / June 12, 2021 by Charlene Wang de Chen

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.

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.

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).

Carnaval de Barrio0.png — 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:

Noticing Every Little Detail of NYC Streets / June 9, 2019 by Charlene Wang de Chen

I’m currently working on “In the Heights” and since the film and musical is Lin-Manuel Miranda’s love letter to his neighborhood Washington Heights, a lot of exterior shots are filming on location in the actual neighborhood this summer.

We are doing many street scenes, which then means we are doing lots of exterior street sets, so I have spent a lot of time studying and noticing details of the streets of Washington Heights.

Doing things like taking photos of street vendors to capture little details that make them unique to their neighborhood (yesterday I was in Jackson Heights in Queens and marveling at how the street vendors had similar set-ups as the vendors in Washington Heights but totally different merchandise), studying photos of what kind of trash cans and fire hydrants are on each corner and etc.

Here’s what I can tell you I have learned about each:

Trash Cans: NYC has at least 5 different types of official trash cans in circulation and the green mesh wire one that is the most common has been in circulation since at least 1930. Some blocks literally have different types of trash cans on each corner.

Fire Hydrants: They are REALLY expensive (new ones are $1,800 +) and REALLY heavy (over 300 lbs). The city only buys the new style now but you will notice the old style one all over the city still.

Washington Heights Street Vendors II.jpg

Street Vendors: in 2019, vendors seem to universally embrace the folding table with grid wire rack attached on top as the way to display items. There’s a lot of variation beyond this, but I will say that’s pretty consistent all around the city.

Subway Globe Lights: I know there’s a whole thing about different colors mean different things that are mostly lost on us regular subway riders. But I really thought the half-white/half-green globes were pervasive, but once I started noticing I see the all-green globes everywhere now too! And all red ones sometimes.

Fire Call Boxes: Wow there really a lot still on the streets even though people don’t use them. The heavily ornamented red ones in NYC are very unique and cannot be bought from other places.

One thing I really enjoy about this job is how it makes you notice and observe things in a more acute way. In the past few weeks living life around NYC I can honestly say I have truly noticed each trash can, fire hydrant, what color the subway light globes were, what kind of fire call box was there and what state of disrepair it was in, and each remaining phone booth.

There’s something really cool about all of a sudden noticing details and being aware of there existence all around you all the time that otherwise just disappear into the blur of daily life. If musicals are heightened reality, re-creating reality gives you a heightened awareness.