Anthony Ramos: 'IN THE HEIGHTS' -- Telling Stories Through Music
Anthony Ramos appearing in Vogue, November 2019. "It's important to write our own things and tell our stories," says Ramos.. "The person from Alabama's not going to write the Puerto Rico story." For Vogue: Sittings Editor: Phyllis Posnick.Photographed by Anton Corbijn
IN THE HEIGHTS Star Anthony Ramos
Anthony Ramos is getting a lot of press currently, as his new album “The Good & The Bad” just became available. .
LAIA GARCIA-FURTADO got a great interview in the November issue of Vogue. Portions of that interview are excerpted here: Laia writes “he’s just wrapped up filming the adaptation of Miranda’s Tony-winning In the Heights, in which he stars as Usnavi, the protagonist and narrator. Fittingly, it was seeing that show that kept him in the business years earlier, when he was beginning to doubt his prospects. ‘I remember feeling like I wanted to quit,’ he tells me, ‘and I went and saw In the Heights. I was sitting there being like, I can’t quit. I know all of these characters. Maybe there is a place for me.’ ”
Anthony elaborates in a conversation with Liz Calverio in a piece on etonline. “"In the Heights was the first musical that I saw that I was like, 'Oh, I don't just relate to these characters, I know them!" Ramos shares. "I know Usnavi [de la Vega], that's Leo from the corner store. I know Vanessa, that's this girl Tiffany from elementary. I know these people…’”
Liz continues: “Last year, his In the Heights moment came full circle when he was cast as Usnavi in the musical's upcoming film adaptation. After filming the musical over the summer alongside Miranda, actors Melissa Barrera, Leslie Grace, Corey Hawkins and many more, the Puerto Rican performer is pumped to share this story with the world.
"In the Heights is one of the greatest experiences of my life," Ramos perks ups as he talks about the project. "For many years, the Latin[x] community, we haven't been able to tell our story in this way, especially the Latin community in New York. There are very few neighborhoods that embody that story as authentically as Washington Heights, and they were so happy to have a musical set there."
“Slated to be released in June 2020, the Miranda-created, Tony Award-winning story is directed by Jon Chu and follows Ramos' Usnavi, who has mixed feelings about closing his store and retiring to the Dominican Republic after inheriting his grandmother's fortune. The movie, as Ramos puts it, will be "a moment" for all Latinxs.
"It's gonna be a moment for us. You never know what's going to happen with anything you do, but when you do something that you believe in [it's amazing]," he marvels. "The movie hasn't come out but I'm proud of it already because I know what it felt like. I know those days on set where 75 Latin people are in the streets just cheering each other on before the 15th take of a huge dance number, still pumped and hyped, and you feel that thing inside of us that has been waiting to come out of our community for years.. What I'm saying is that we now have the opportunity to give to the world and it was just beautiful and it was a moment."
“Ramos also praises the Latinx diversity within the cast. "Leslie is Dominican, Melissa is Mexican, I'm Puerto Rican. They ran the gamut with the cast. They got many Hispanic people up in here and I'm grateful that it's authentic," he explains. "They really did their best to make this movie as authentic as possible, from the music to the dancing to everything. I'm hyped that this story is out in the world and I'm excited I got to be a small piece of this puzzle.’ "