Backstage with… Hamilton and In The Heights star Anthony Ramos
Anthony Ramos is perhaps best known in the UK as John Laurens and Philip Hamilton in the stage musical Hamilton.
But now, he has ditched the muskets and 19th-century army uniforms for a flat cap and a vest, as he leads the ensemble cast in the Lin-Manuel Miranda musical In The Heights, which has just burst on to big screens in the UK.
It tells the story of Washington Heights in New York – a community which is predominantly made up of Latino people and immigrants, and highlights the highs and lows, of living there.
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In The Heights star Anthony Ramos on his role
And while the community and its residents are put centre stage, so is the singing, dancing and rapping in this colourful and loud musical.
Ramos plays Usnavi, the lead character in the film, who ties everyone’s storylines together, telling Sky News he sees the role as the “invisible thread” of the film.
“Usnavi is a guy that… cares about his community, he runs a corner store in a predominantly Latino community.
“He takes care of his cousin, he takes care of, she’s not really his grandmother, but she’s the matriarch of the block, if you will, and of the community. He takes care of her, and both his parents passed away and he inherited a business that he didn’t ask for, but he does it with as much grace as possible.
“And Usnavi, he tells this story about this community and the day-to-day life that not only he goes through, but the people in the community.
“He’s like that guy that knows who’s dating who, what person moved out of that apartment, who just moved into that business, you know?
“And Usnavi kind of walks us through what is happening in this world, he’s like the perfect invisible thread, if you will, for this for this kind of film with this many characters.”
Ramos (R) runs the Washington Heights bodega. Pic: Warner Bros Studios
Usnavi’s storyline is bittersweet – he loves his community and works hard for them, but he also dreams of going back to his home country of Dominican Republic and starting a beach bar with his cousin.
Talking about a story that is relatable to people who dream of a more peaceful life, Ramos says: “He wants to build it back up and give not only himself an easier life, but his family, and live in paradise – but times are hard in New York.
“He’s still trucking through and he’s still doing his best every single day. And I think ‘who hasn’t gone through that’, where you have days with some good, some not so good.”
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Ramos tells Sky News that the film’s relevance in society is part of the “beauty of art”.
“That’s that’s why I love to do this,” he adds, saying: “Someone spoke from the heart, wrote something, and then in a movie, the actors come together, the whole crew come together, we tell the story and people are going to receive this however they’re going to receive it.
“It’s going to hit someone differently than this part of the world, and it’s going to hit this person in this part of the world.
“That’s the beauty of art and especially art that transcends, that’s timeless, that feels still feels relevant.“
And of course this is not the first time that Ramos has worked with the film’s writer Lin-Manuel Miranda, having previously worked with Hollywood’s most in-demand man on Hamilton – which last year was beamed into millions of living rooms on Disney+.
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Hamilton writer’s new movie musical
“Lin’s a genius,” he gushes to Sky News.
“I’m always nervous – any time I’m around him I’m soaking up something, I’m learning something from him.
“He’s just one of the most brilliant people to ever walk the earth. I think Lin is a visionary.
“So any time I can work with him, I’m grateful because I’m always learning from him all the time.”
In The Heights starring Anthony Ramos is out in cinemas across the UK now and you can hear more on the Sky News Backstage podcast, available wherever you get your podcast.
Entertainment
Googlebox star George Gilbey’s mum reveals his last words to her before he fell to his death
The mother of Gogglebox star George Gilbey has revealed his last words to her were “I love you”.
Gilbey died after falling through a plastic skylight while fixing a warehouse roof in Essex in March.
The 40-year-old appeared alongside his mum, Linda McGarry, and stepdad on the hit Channel 4 show.
The family first appeared on the second series of Gogglebox in 2013 but were dropped the following year when Gilbey signed up for the 14th series of Celebrity Big Brother in 2014, reaching the final.
Mrs McGarry said she spoke to him on the phone hours before his death.
Gilbey appeared alongside his mum Linda and stepdad Pete on Gogglebox. Pic: PA
She told The Sun: “He phoned me at 9.30 in the morning and said he was working – and asked me for his ‘breakfast money’.
“I put £30 in his account so he could get food, and he seemed fine.
“He had a drink the night before, and liked a bottle of white wine or two, but was happy that he was working. He ended the phone call by saying, ‘I love you’ like he usually did. I treasure those words.”
She added: “It was an honour for him to have been my son. We had a blast for 40 years.”
Mrs McGarry said her son had struggled with the death of his dad, stepfather and her own Parkinson’s diagnosis.
At the time of his death, he was working to save money to move closer to his seven-year-old daughter, Amelie, in southwest London.
“He wanted to be with Amelie, who he adored,” she told The Sun.
“They were on the third day of a job that was going to last a month, and he was going to get money together from that.
“When they were together, George and Amelie were always laughing. She is going to miss him terribly, like we all will.”
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Gilbey suffered traumatic injuries to his head and torso and died at the scene in Shoeburyness.
An inquest was opened last week but suspended after a request from police pending a criminal investigation.
A man in his 40s from the Witham area of Essex was previously arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter
He was later released under investigation.
Entertainment
Bestselling author CJ Sansom dies days before Disney adaption of his Shardlake series airs
Author CJ Sansom, who created the character of Matthew Shardlake, has died at the age of 71, his publisher has announced.
Sansom first introduced readers to Shardlake – a lawyer who solves crimes while navigating the religious reforms and political intrigue of Tudor England – in the 2003 book Dissolution.
The Scottish writer released six further novels featuring Shardlake, as well as two standalone historical novels, Winter In Madrid and Dominion.
His works have just been adapted into the series Shardlake, which features The Innocents star Arthur Hughes as the main character and Game Of Thrones actor Sean Bean as Thomas Cromwell.
The first season of the Tudor murder mystery series is set to be released by Disney+ on Wednesday.
Sansom was described as one of Britain’s best historical novelists. Pic: Pan Macmillian/PA
Announcing his death on Monday, publishers Pan Macmillan wrote in a statement: “It is with immense sadness that Pan Macmillan announces the death of CJ Sansom.”
“‘It is an extraordinarily strange coincidence that Chris has died only a handful of days before a new generation of fans will meet Matthew Shardlake, Barak and Guy and co for the first time through,” his agent, Antony Topping, said.
“This is also a moment for which Chris’s established fans have been waiting a long time.
“Chris was so proud of all the work and determination that went into bringing the novels to our television screens, which I hope will bring an entirely new audience to the books and which will maybe also inspire some old fans to return to their favourite CJ Sansom novels.”
Sansom’s long-time editor and publisher, Maria Rejt, added that he was working on a new Shardlake book but his “worsening health made progress painfully slow”.
Arthur Hughes as protagonist Matthew Shardlake. Pic: Disney+ UK
She described the author as an “intensely private person” who took immense pleasure in the public’s enthusiastic response to his novels.
“I shall miss him hugely, not only as a wonderfully talented writer who gave joy to millions, but as a dear friend of enormous compassion and integrity,” Ms Rejt said.
Shardlake featured as the protagonist in a total of seven of Sansom’s novels. Dissolution was dramatised once before by BBC Radio 4 in 2012.
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Sean Bean stars in the new series based off Sansom’s debut novel. Pic: Disney+ UK
With more than three million copies of his novels in print, Sansom was awarded the Crime Writers’ Association Cartier Diamond Dagger Award in 2022 for his outstanding contribution to the genre.
Born in Edinburgh in 1952, Sansom attended Birmingham University where he studied an undergraduate degree and PhD in history.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
He worked as a solicitor before becoming a full-time writer where he was able to combine his passion for history and law securing him as one of Britain’s bestselling historical novelists.
Sansom was also a signatory to an 2014 open letter advocating that Scotland should remain in the UK.
The author also donated £161,000 to the Better Together campaign, according to published accounts.
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