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After a successful Off Broadway run, the new musical In the Heights opens at Broadway's Richard Rodgers Theatre on March 9. With music and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda (who also stars), and a book by Quiara Alegria Hudes, In the Heights examines the lives of a diverse group of residents of the Manhattan community of Washington Heights as they struggle to define their vibrant cultural identity within a changing community.

We caught up with the show's choreographer, Andy Blankenbuehler, on a lunch break during rehearsals, to ask him about making the show dance.

You've had some time off after your Off Broadway run at 37 Arts. Have you been making changes for the move to Broadway?

Andy Blankenbuehler: We were really lucky to get such a fleshed-out trial run. After that we needed to take a break from the show because we had changed it a lot during that initial run. Since then, there's a lot of new material that has been written, changes to the music, and several new songs. As far as the choreography goes, we took a step forward in each of the big numbers, cleaning them up and cleaning up the storytelling. Almost all the cast is the same so we could take what they knew and push them forward to the next level.

How does moving to a Broadway theatre impact the changes you are making?

People think when you move to Broadway you get bigger, but we are actually getting a little smaller. The set that we had Off Broadway at 37 Arts went wall-to-wall in the theatre, and so it was 65 feet wide. On Broadway we have almost 20 feet less in width, but more depth.

Is there a lot of dance in the show?

There are eight big dance numbers, which is quite a lot. Everything about the music is danceable, and with our decision to use very stylized, physical storytelling, the movement opportunities just grew and grew.

It's a mash-up of many different styles, including a lot of contemporary, hip-hop, and Latin rhythms, and it was almost all new to me as a choreographer. It took a tremendous amount of research. It's all very grounded earth-based choreography. What I'm most comfortable with as a dancer and choreographer is a very athletic 50s style, since I grew up as a tap-dancer. I found that tap rhythms and swing dancing rhythms are very similar to hip hop rhythms, so it was easy to translate.

Describe the relationship between the director and the choreographer.

As a dancer and choreographer, how do you make dance function as a storytelling tool?

That question is at the kernel of my quest as a choreographer. As a dancer, I always wanted to do pieces where the dance was integral to the show. I was discontent if I found that what I was working hard for every day wasn't affecting the overall show. I wanted my performance and the contribution that the dancers were making to be important. I didn't have an interest in doing sugary numbers that were just fluff. As a choreographer, I don't have that interest either. What I find, however, is there is not very much opportunity for dance that contributes to integral story-telling on Broadway. What ended up happening with In the Heights is we have a team that is very open to using dance as a story-telling tool. Almost everything in the show has a dance life underneath of it, so it is only natural to break into dance.

In the Heights seems like a very different kind of Broadway show.

Yes. We found Off Broadway that we could have a 70-year-old Dominican woman from Washington Heights having never seen a Broadway show, watching the hip hop and rap in In the Heights and she's crying because she's enjoying it so much. In the same row there might be a group of 12-year-olds with hoodies on, and a 50-year-old couple who goes to theatre three times a week, and they all love the show. It's really exciting to be involved with something that is going to touch so many people.

After nearly 12 years on Broadway, the landmark musical Rent has announced that it will close on June 1, 2008. In preparation for an upcoming feature on this iconic depiction of life and love in the age of AIDS and its impact on Broadway theatre, we'd like to hear YOUR Rent stories and recollections. Do you remember the first time you saw the show? If you've seen it more than once, which was your favorite performance, and why? How did falling in love with Rent change your world?

Share your Rent memories by e-mailing us at fanclub@broadway.org.

What do Sarah Jessica Parker, Alyssa Milano and Molly Ringwald have in common? They all began their careers as child actresses appearing in the hit musical Annie!

The award-winning documentary "Life After Tomorrow" by Julie Stevens and Gil Cates, Jr. reunites more than 40 women who played orphans in the original Broadway production of Annie and reveals the highs and lows of their experiences as child actresses in a cultural phenomenon.

Featuring Dara Brown, Martha Byrne, Martin Charnin, Sarah Jessica Parker, Allison Smith, Julie Stevens, and Charles Strouse, "Life After Tomorrow" is a true insider's glimpse of the Annie experience. Once the curtain came down, many found it could be a hard-knock-life, fraught with out-of-control stage mothers, separation anxiety and, worst of all, prepubescent growth spurts leading to replacements by smaller, younger child actresses just waiting in the wings. As one cast member in the film remarks, "The younger ones are coming to take your place and you're 12. It's not like you're getting downsized at 50 -- you're 12!" While their lives have moved on, the impact of the experience remains.

Visit LifeAfterTomorrow.com for details on how to purchase the DVD.

The Phantom Turns 20

On January 26, the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical The Phantom of the Opera became the first show ever to celebrate its 20th anniversary while still in performance on Broadway. This long-running blockbuster opened in 1988, and it is still going strong after a whopping 8,300-plus performances!

Broadway and Television Part 1: More Reality-Show Casting

Legally Blonde The Musical has joined with MTV to announce a national reality-TV competition to cast a successor to Laura Bell Bundy, the Broadway star who received a Tony Award® nomination for creating the role of Elle Woods in this adaptation of the film and novel of the same title. Auditions have already begun. MTV will air “Legally Blonde: The Search for the New Elle Woods” this spring. Last fall the cable network televised a broadcast version of Legally Blonde The Musical, taped at Broadway's Palace Theatre, which reached over 12.5 million viewers during its premiere weekend. Legally Blonde's national tour sets out in the autumn of 2008.

Broadway and Television Part 2: Cyrano taped for PBS

The recent Broadway production of Cyrano de Bergerac starring Kevin Kline and Jennifer Garner closed in January, but will live on in the PBS “Great Performances” series. The show was tapped in January at the Richard Rodgers Theatre, and will be aired next year. “Great Performances” will broadcast its version of the recent Broadway production of Stephen Sondheim's Company on February 20. Check local listings.

League Educator Apple Awards

The League recently announced the recipients for the 2008 League Educator Apple Awards. The recipients are recognized for their leadership and creativity, as well as their dedication in bringing arts education into the classroom. The 2008 recipients are Paul King, Director of Theater Programs, New York City Department of Education; Serena Coleman and Peggy Holmes of Amory High School in Amory, Mississippi; Chris Maly, Patsy Koch-Johns, Joann Davis Yoakum and Kathy Marsgall of Lincoln High School in Lincoln, Nebraska; Vernon Miller and John Mangan of the Umonhon Nation Public School in Macy, Nebraska; and Mike Morris of Crete High School in Crete, Nebraska.

Broadway Bears XI

Broadway's cuddliest friends kick off a new year with the 11th annual Broadway Bears auction on Sunday, February 17, 2008 at the B.B. King Blues Club & Grill (237 West 42 St.), in support of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. Forty one-of-a-kind Broadway Bears -- each dressed in original, handmade costumes representing some of the theatre's most legendary performers and/or performances -- will be put up for auction. The entire Broadway Bears XI collection can be previewed online at www.BroadwayCares.org.

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