When fab talked to Cameron Burke, a cast member in and the co-dance captain of the musical In the Heights, the touring company was in more southern climes and was bracing for its arrival in Toronto and a bitter winter. Burke promised - http://fabmagazine.com/fab-blog/hot-hips - that In the Heights would bring enough sizzle to melt the frigid environs of North York. The bitter winter never happened, but In the Heights does sizzle.

The story of In the Heights' journey from small, heartfelt theatre production to Tony Award-winning phenomenon is well known and gives the show an underdog status that fits it well. Grounded in a specific locale and filled with a cast of idiosyncratic characters who feel and look real - except for the fact that they all have incredible voices and hips that swivel and snap - the show unfolds in a compelling fashion despite a clichéd and mawkish script. When the tragic event that has been telegraphed from almost the first moment of the show coincides with not one but two unlikely and oft-used coincidences, it still moves the audience to tears - In the Heights' heart transcends its commercial polishing. Placing the story in a specific locale manages to create a universal resonance, and yes, we are all immigrants from and heading to somewhere in search of home, but the emotion is planted in the audience's heart rather than being blatantly stated.

When the score, which won a well-deserved Grammy, sticks to its Latin roots, it is magical. Even songs that are sheer exposition benefit from fragmented and unusual - for musical theatre - rhythms, and the cast, to a person, knows how to sell a number. The beauty-salon women have several numbers that are tragically brief, but they probably had to be to prevent them from walking away with the entire show. Burke had alluded to the girls' popularity when he told us that the show's gay content mainly consisted of "Who doesn't fancy a little neighbourhood salon gossip about a certain someone's 'manhood' from time to time?" Gossip they do, and quite entertainingly.

The hip-hop elements of the score are less successful, but only in a visceral way. While rap proves to be excellent as a way of providing information, it's flat tonality doesn't allow for emotional growth or those big moments where the music transports the audience in the way that only an 11 o'clock number can. However, the hip-hop dance elements are wonderful and provide a connecting thread that moves the story along while providing eye-candy galore -- the dancers don't have the standard cookie-cutter flawless bodies; rather, they're a polygot of all shapes and sizes, which makes them infinitely sexier as they stride, slide and pop across the stage.

The cast, courtesy of clever and lightning-fast costume changes, appears to number in the thousands, but gradually certain faces become familiar and stake out their space in the panorama. And through it all Burke is always there -- always in motion and always smiling -- and, along with his cast mates, raising the temperature in the theatre to match the heatwave depicted on stage.

In the Heights runs till Sun, Feb 19 at the Toronto Centre for the Arts, 5040 Yonge St. dancaptickets.com