Thread by @HESherman

I had a profoundly emotional response to #InTheHeights last night – in tears of grief while simultaneously experiencing great joy, coming out happy and emotionally spent. I keep thinking about why.

https://twitter.com/HESherman/status/1406430167447261186

The first was simply the act of being out and in audience. While not the first time, and not at a live performance, the movie approximated what I experience at the best of theatre. It was a release that has been pent up for 16 months.

No doubt part of this was seeing people I know and care about on screen: @Lin_Manuel who I met during the first success of #InTheHeights in NYC, @daphnerubinvega who I met when I ran @ONeill_Center and came to know more as I grew close to Jonathan Larson's family and friends.

And there was @ChrisisSingin in the Mister Softee truck, competing on screen with his offscreen friend @Lin_Manuel. I have many friends and acquaintances who work on film, TV and stage, but this was all a particularly wonderful confluence.

From the moment the movie began, while it clearly diverged from the stage version, I was aware of an impending loss and I felt it every time the character appeared on screen. I lost people over the past year; perhaps I projected those losses all on this character.

The joy? At seeing the movie musical returned most fully to the form that reached its pinnacle with the Freed Unit in the 50s. @jonmchu is obviously a passionate student of musicals and I saw his influences even as he applied the form to a new, modern story.

As for the screenplay by @quiarahudes, who I have met only briefly but admire greatly? I think she improved upon her and Lin's original story, raising the stakes while raising essential issues that were in stark relief in the Trump era, when the film was made.

I have not been cut off from my feelings for 16 months, I have not been numb, but #InTheHeights brought things out of me in public, albeit in the dark, albeit among strangers, that I have not been able to feel outside my apartment for too long.

This was a cathartic experience akin to my tears upon seeing "Our Town" and "The Trip to Bountiful." It touched me in ways I can talk about, but never fully know, let alone explain.

I expressed support for "In The Heights" last week because this is the kind of movie I want to see and experience in theatres, and I knew that intellectually. But my god I did not understand how much it would do for me emotionally.

I probably will never experience this movie in quite the same way again, but if I was supportive of it last week, I feel the need to proselytize for it vigorously now. Our return to live theatre will take a couple more months at least, so this is where we can go now.

I am far from unaware of the criticism that has been leveled at aspects of the film. As an older middle aged white man I can only try to appreciate what those who take issue with the film feel about it. I respect their opinion. I will always support diverse representation.

But #InTheHeights was for me an emotional experience and what I felt was real and deep. I hope to experience it again, not just on watching this movie other times, but at any and all works of creative art, performing art. That is where I find meaning and where I find joy.

See #InTheHeights in a theatre, even if you've seen it on HBO Max. That way, we'll be sure of getting more that aspire to the same achievement. The powers that be in Hollywood need to hear our desire and know we'll come out in numbers they cannot ignore.