American cities needed a boost after a brutal year. Enter ‘In the Heights.’

From the opening number, we learn that legacy businesses are selling storefronts or moving to the Bronx in search of cheaper rents. In one painful scene, a character takes a set of precious, hand-embroidered napkins to the new dry cleaners on the block, only to retreat, humiliated, when she’s quoted an outrageous price. In another, Vanessa has her apartment application rejected because she doesn’t have wealthy parents to co-sign a lease for her.