WE SAT SO CLOSE WE FELT THE PERFORMER'S SWEAT

We went to see "In the Heights" on Saturday night while visiting NYC. We sat in row A, which is right behind row AA, so we were basically sitting on stage. John let me have the aisle seat since I have long legs and because he was such a gentleman all weekend.

I read all about the show before he bought the tickets for my birthday - it features urban life within the Latin community in Brooklyn, New York. It has been compared to "Rent," which is one of my favorite musicals (actually one of the only musicals I enjoy listening the music to on a regular basis), so I was so excited to get the opportunity to see this show live on Broadway.

The lead character - maybe in his late 20's early 30's - owns a corner store and the plot focuses on various themes like love someone outside of your race, huge financial restraints, winning the lottery, losing a loved one, failing out of college and family crises. One of my favorite characters was a graffiti artist named Pete. His break dancing was far superior than the rest - in the program it stated that he toured with Jennifer Lopez as a back-up dancer - and I imagine he is more of a professional dancer than an actor - but he was perfect for his part n the show. The grandmother character was beautifully acted - she sang and danced and was very convincing. The songs combined with a few Latin raps from the lead character was really great, I want to get the CD and see if I can get into it as much as I got into the music of "Rent."

The dancing was amazing! It was a lot of the funky street dancing you see kids do on the street - think Randy Jackson's MTV Dance competition - with a lot of head jiving, brake dancing, shoulder rolling, beat bopping, "fresh" "cool" "jive" and insert other technical dance speak here.

This show didn't have huge set changes, beautiful costumes and the glitz and glamour that many Broadway show have. It didn't need it. It had a decent plot, superb acting and singing, and as mentioned above - fantastic dancing that kept me smiling throughout the night.

Sitting so close to all of the action combined with some and super attractive actors also contributed to the awesome experience. When a dancers sweat hits you while they are performing you know you have the best seat in the house; I laughed, I smiled, I had an amazing night experiencing "In the Heights."