By Leonard Jacobs

Last year’s Off-Broadway run of the musical In the Heights was a pile of fun and offered much to chew on, so much so that my New York Press review gushed that it was an “explosive, energetic, electric, euphoric experience.” I hereby apologize for such awful alliteration. Rarely does a new musical leave you so giddy as to emit the sound of the letter “eeee!” like a little boy.

At the time, I also glossed over the show’s moderate, though not inconsequential, faults. I suspected the tuner was being primed for a Broadway move, and time was all it needed. With luck, too, I hoped, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s score would acquire a few sharper songs, including those that might nudge along Quiara Alegría Hudes’ too-lean book more effectively. I hoped director Thomas Kail and choreographer Andy Blankenbuehler would fundamentally address Heights’ minor kinks and quirks, from intriguing second-tier characters begging for development to too-pat plot points. Well, now that Heights has opened triumphantly on Broadway (you’ve no doubt read the raves by my peers), I can report that there’s still too little of any of this in the final mix. Paradoxically, however, In the Heights remains a gift of pure entertainment.

It is still, of course, set in Washington Heights, and Anna Louizos’ scenery has been expertly scaled for the Richard Rodgers Theatre. And as before, the main storylines are: local bodega owner Usnavi (Miranda) loves saucy Vanessa (fetching Karen Olivo) even as his young, streetwise cousin Sonny (a crackling Robin de Jesús) woos her with lame teenage moves. Running perpendicular to this comic tale is the story Usnavi’s beloved abuela Claudia (Olga Merediz, better than ever), the show’s emotional anchor. Her big number, “Paciencia y Fe” (“Patience and Faith”) is Miranda’s best work, a resonant anthem of longing and hope for all new American arrivals, Latino or not.

The romantic central plot finds Nina (winning Mandy Gonzalez) back home from Stanford, possibly for good, and attracted to Benny (handsome Christopher Jackson), who works for the cab company operated by Nina’s parents Camila (fine Priscilla Lopez) and Kevin (solid Carlos Gomez, replacing John Herrera). Gonzales and Jackson have beautifully tightened their emotional bonds and their singing. Gomez acts and sings more pointedly (and on pitch) than his Off-Broadway predecessor, while Lopez’s new song, “Enough,” is nearly enough to stop the show.

But what still drives me nuts about In the Heights is its whitewashed worldview. There are no drugs anywhere—and while I’m as fond of the area as Miranda is (my family’s storefront business ran for two generations on West 185th Street), the idea that it’s some drug-free Uptown paradise is positively, distressingly Reaganesque. The show’s apex—abuela Claudia wins the lottery—remains a touching moment, but in 2008 you can’t resolve the show’s dangling plotlines to a $96,000 tune.

Questions, questions, questions: Why load things up with too many dance numbers when such great characters—say, Camila and Kevin—could be more explored? Miranda’s rap-master-rascal performance coheres the show more than ever, but other characters suffer—why don’t we know a little bit more of Benny’s life or family? And why does Kail stage the first kiss between Benny and Nina so the audience whoops like it’s Saved by the Bell? Who are those people appearing on fire escapes? What are the backstories of those phenomenal hip-hop dancers?

Could Miranda still have some stories to tell?

Open run. Richard Rogers Theatre, 226 W. 46th St (betw. 7th & 8th Aves.); $111.50-$31.50.