We are doing In The Heights for A Musical at my school. well, it has been suggested. the only thing im kinda confused with is that some songs are in spanish but the kids in drama club etc. is a majority of black students. Does this Sound Like a Good Idea? I Mean I Want To Do It Soooo Bad But It Sounds Weird To Me.

I must admit I'm somewhat confused by this sentence. Ethnicity is hardly a prerequisite for learning a language.

As for whether it can be done as a school show, one must answer the usual questions of whether the rights are available and, if so, how one goes about acquiring those rights.

That's true, but In the Heights is about Puerto Rican, Dominican, and in the case of Benny, African-American, characters. If a company does not have actors that can believably play these groups it should not produce the show.

Indeed, but if what the original poster wished to address is the problem of casting 'colour blind' rather than the obstacle of language, unless it is essential for a character to be of a particular demographic (for example, Benny, as you say), it should not matter. I admit that as I have not myself seen In the Heights, I cannot personally judge how much of the cast needs to be of a particular ethnicity, I nonetheless cannot imagine there being too much of a barrier in light of how people such as myself from the Spanish-speaking Americas certainly do not all fit the popular image of 'tanned skin, brown eyes and black hair'. There are South Americans who are as light skinned as 'white European' people, as well as South Americans of black African ancestry. As such, if a character simply needs to have a Latin American background, but it is not specified whether he corresponds to a traditional racial category, physical appearance should not present a significant problem.

All I was saying is that it doesn't sound that believable because there are some songs in spanish, not saying it was a race thing. the license will be out during my senior year.

Very well, although if it is purely a matter of language, I remain confused as to why you brought up ethnicity in relation to it at all.