I haven’t gotten to see In The Heights on a stage, so I’m quite excited for this movie to come out — I’m ready for a big-hearted, joyous musical, and as star Corey Hawkins says in the Elle piece, “It just feels good. Especially with everything we’ve gone through this year, this film feels right on time. It feels right in the pocket.”

In the photos here, you can feel the exuberance of the cast, many of whom talk in the piece about how they held up In The Heights as proof that — to quote another hit, West Side Story — there was a place for them, and that there would be space for them on Broadway when they finally made it there. They all had so many interesting things to say, but since that is exactly why Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote In The Heights, it feels right to give him the pull quote:

“I started writing [the] show because I desperately wanted a life in musical theater, and I didn’t see that many opportunities for me or for Latinx performers,” says Miranda, who is now a producer on the film. “We had West Side Story, which was back in the ’50s, and not that much new since then on the stage. The show came out of an impulse to create more opportunities for Latinx performers.” Crucially important in bringing the show to the screen was representing the breadth of the Latinx population. “The thing we tried really hard to do was cast with the understanding that the Latinx community is not a monolith. We come in all shades,” Miranda says. “We are Afro-Latinos, and lighter-skinned Latinos, and Latin Americans, and Central Americans. So the diversity within the film company really represents the many flavors that our community comes in. We’re very proud of that.”

I just feel like… if there is legitimately someone out there who still doesn’t think representation matters, please, read more from the people themselves about how representation f’ing matters.

[Photos: Greg Williams for Elle]