Students, teachers and the Danbury community have labeled this year’s musical, “In the Heights,” which just finished its three-day run, as one of the school’s best productions ever.

And many of the laudatory notes have been directed at talented senior and theater novice, Juwan Rosa, who owned the main role of Usnavi, the lovestruck bodega owner trying to make it in Washington Heights.

His effortless ability to perform was clearly shown throughout the musical, which came as a shock to audience members who at some point learned this was his first time on stage under the bright lights.

Rosa was simply going to be a part of stage crew to have another extracurricular activity under his belt.

“I went to do stage crew, and Brandon Robbins (who played Benny) came to me and asked me to stay after because they were going to play a trailer of what the actual play was,” Rosa explained. “Once I watched it, I realized how cool it was, and it spoke to me.”

The theater bug never got around to biting Rosa. He had only seen one of Danbury’s musicals, “Urinetown,” on a school trip when he was in middle school.

Despite this, he pulled off a nearly flawless portrayal of Usnavi and even impressed the not-so-easily impressed director, Michael Burnett.

“He really just fit the character,” Burnett said. “His natural personality and charisma is very much what I see from Usnavi, so it was pretty much a no-brainer.”
Making the transition into the theater world proved to be a challenge for Rosa, but he quickly adapted with the help of his castmates.

“Everyone welcomed me with open arms. Usually people are kind of hard on the new kids, but with DHS Productions everyone was very patient and helped all of the first-years,” Rosa said.

“The toughest part was adjusting to the whole theater scenario,” he continued. “I had to learn all of the lingo and choreography, and I have no experience with singing whatsoever, so that was hard.”

Burnett was highly impressed with Rosa’s performance and gushed about his raw talent.

“He added a lot of little nuances to his character that were really impressive for someone who has not seen or done many shows. His timing with his music was really natural too,” he explained.

Rosa’s real-life girlfriend, senior Lizzy Newbold, is a theater veteran who wound up playing opposite him as Vanessa, his onstage love interest.

“I was in the room when he first auditioned and he was just way above everybody else,” Newbold said. “I was really impressed right off the bat and I could tell that Michael was, too.”

The show received endless praise itself, however Rosa’s performance specifically caught just about every theater-goer’s attention.

“Hearing all the praise and how amazing it was, it was just music to my ears,” he said. “I’ve never performed in front of large crowds before, but once I got on stage all of my fears and butterflies went away.”

Newbold described that as time went on and their relationship grew closer, it became easier to perform alongside him and be more comfortable in the role.

“There was tension beforehand, but it got easier once we were dating,” she said. “ It was a lot of fun just playing across from him in the first place.”

Rosa explained his perspective of acting beside Newbold as well.

He said, “When I had to pretend to be nervous and awkward around her, it wasn’t really pretending. Our relationship didn’t really start until about halfway through the process.”

Rosa, who was never interested in theater, plans to continue his newfound passion for it at UConn, where he is attending college with a major in Psychology.

“I think I want to continue with theater because it’s really fun,” he said. “I’m grateful that I was able to impact so many people.”