Broadway's 'Buena Vista Social Club' Live At WNYC

Summary

Podcast Summary: All Of It – Broadway's 'Buena Vista Social Club' Live At WNYC

Host: Alison Stewart
Original Air Date: October 30, 2025
Episode Theme: Culture, legacy, and creative adaptation in Broadway’s Buena Vista Social Club

---

Episode Overview

In this lively installment of WNYC’s All Of It, host Alison Stewart welcomes the cast, band, and creative team behind the Tony-winning musical Buena Vista Social Club for a live event in The Greene Space. The episode explores how the legendary Cuban album was transformed into a Broadway musical, delving into the show’s music, choreography, and personal connections of those involved. Through candid interviews and live performances, the episode brings listeners inside the process, culture, and spirit animating the acclaimed production.

---

Key Discussion Highlights

1. Origin and Legacy of Buena Vista Social Club

• Music Director Marco Paguilla recounts first hearing the original Buena Vista album as a college student in the '90s, describing it as “a formative time for me as a musician,” and how re-engaging with it for the show was both an education and “a gift” (09:03).
• The band’s lineup features musicians directly connected to the original spirit, with one (David Oquendo) having performed with original Social Club members (10:46).
  • David: “I have the big responsibility to carry to my shoulder the legacy that I received from my ancestors, from the originals too, because I had the pleasure to perform with Compay Segundo for many years when I was 21.” (10:47)

2. Adapting Cuban Tradition for Broadway

• Bridging Musical Worlds: Marco Paguilla details the challenge and reward of melding Cuban musical traditions with theater storytelling (09:56):
  • “My task...was to bring the theater to the Cuban musicians and the Cuban musicians to the theater...using this amazing legacy...to a story and having emotional stakes within the show. So it’s not just a concert, it’s a theater piece.”

3. Instrumental Insight: The Cuban Tres

• Renesito Avich gives an introduction to the Cuban tres, highlighting its role at the heart of Cuban music (12:00):
  • "This is a national guitar from Cuba...it has three perfect strings, three double strings...with these three notes...big part of the Cuban music and Caribbean music was born."
  • He explains the importance of “tumbao” as a recurring musical pattern (12:22).

4. Improvisation and Live Performance Energy

• Renesito describes his onstage solos as “improvised” and shares his excitement at discovering new freedom within the show (12:53).
• Discussion touches on the energy exchange with audiences:
  • David: “Every night there is love, a lot of love for us. And we take that and then we give it back to you.” (13:23–13:39)

5. Musicians Bonding as a Band

• The cast describes magical first rehearsals, noting how instant connections formed among largely strangers thanks to the shared culture of music (14:02):
  • Marco Paguilla: “Right from the beginning, it just—it was magic.”

---

6. Dance and Choreography: Cultural Research and Partnership

• Choreographers Justin Peck and Patricia Delgado speak about their personal roots with the music and the challenge of choreographing on equal footing as partners (17:50–19:23).

• Patricia Delgado: “So much of the show is based on dancing with two people together...to just listen to this music, what a gift to be able to create choreography to this music.” (19:28)

• Justin Peck highlights the narrative role of dance:

  • “Dance taps into the subconscious...it expresses a kind of emotion or feeling when words or singing can’t. And with Buena Vista Social Club...there’s so many complex ideas and feelings...when we need some sort of release or relief, that’s when dance comes into play.” (20:18)

• Research for Authenticity:

  • Patricia details the challenge of recreating 1950s Cuban club culture with little documentation, blending Afro-Cuban, ballet, social dance, and more into a fresh stage language (21:20).
  • Justin emphasizes avoiding “pigeonholing” while paying “tribute to the full spectrum of dance as it exists in Cuba” (22:29).
  • They discuss the evolution of choreography and close collaboration with the costume designer to make costumes that move with the dancers (23:52).

7. Song Development: The Challenge of “Chan Chan”

• Discussed as the musical’s “dream ballet”—a sequence refined through 20 versions to express story and emotion almost wordlessly. The segment underscores the collaborative, iterative nature of musical theater creation.
  • Patricia Delgado: “What do we do with it? How do we make it something that tells a story without having dialogue?” (25:10)

---

8. Debuts, Vulnerability, and Growth on Broadway

• Issa Antonetti (Amara, Broadway debut) and Mel Seme (Ibrahim, Broadway debut) discuss transitioning from students and touring musicians to Broadway (37:15).
  • Issa Antonetti: “Broadway is hard and it’s worth every exhausting moment. And so I. It’s been very easy with these people.” (37:23)
  • David Oquendo recalls skepticism about joining a theater production – “I've never done theater before in my entire life. I'm not sure I am what you guys are looking for,” (38:23) – but was soon won over by collaborative spirit and familiar music.
• The actors reflect on the challenge of singing iconic, emotionally loaded songs in new ways and “finding their voices” in the process:
  • Mel Seme (Amara): “She doesn’t do head voice. She’s all from the chest. She’s all from the gut...That’s who she is. Her shoulders are back, her chin is up, and that is how I found her, is through the voice.” (40:45–41:09)
  • David: Discusses adapting his untrained voice for Broadway: “I never had voice lessons...Marco came to me and was like, all right, in this moment of the song, just give me this long, sustained note...and please match the volume of the band. I'm like, what is happening right now, you know?” (41:36)

9. Collaboration and Trust Among Cast & Crew

• Marco Paguilla emphasizes the importance of teaching both seasoned and new performers the different “muscle” required for Broadway singing and storytelling (42:30).
  • “What may seem small on a record or something in a club setting...may not read in a thousand seat theater. So you need to find a way to scale up that emotion.”
• Mel Seme praises the choreographers’ ability to “put it into other people’s bodies...that’s their emotion, that’s their energy” (44:07), and how the dance sequences are so captivating backstage he has to resist watching.

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments (with Timestamps)

• On Musical Legacy:
  • “I have the big responsibility to carry to my shoulder the legacy that I received from my ancestors, from the originals too, because I had the pleasure to perform with Compay Segundo for many years when I was 21.”
    — David, (10:47)
• On the Audience Relationship:
  • “Every night there is love, a lot of love for us. And we take that and then we give it back to you.”
    — David, (13:23–13:39)
• On Choreography and Collaboration:
  • "We like to say [Chan Chan] is the dream ballet of our musical because so much is said with just expressions of movement. But we did like, I don't know, 20 versions of it."
    — Patricia Delgado, (25:10–26:11)
• On Finding Your Voice On Broadway:
  • "She is all from the chest. She’s all from the gut...That’s who she is. Her shoulders are back, her chin is up, and that is how I found her, is through the voice."
    — Mel Seme (as Amara), (40:45–41:09)
• On Adapting to Theater:
  • “I've never done theater before in my entire life. I'm not sure I am what you guys are looking for...But they explained what this was about...and obviously familiar music, and it just, you know, grabbed me, and I just went for it.”
    — David, (38:23)
• On Technical Collaboration:
  • "It was a true collaboration...to have it look a certain way and then work on the dance to match it to create that illusion."
    — Patricia Delgado, (24:57)

---

Key Timestamps (MM:SS)

• First live band performance: 04:02–08:01
• Host opens interview with band & creative team: 08:01
• On legacy and adapting the music: 09:03–10:39
• Introduction to Cuban tres: 12:00–12:19
• Discussion on improvisation: 12:53–13:02
• First time band played together: 14:02
• Interview with choreographers (Justin Peck & Patricia Delgado): 17:50–27:28
• On the centrality of dance: 20:18–22:29
• On “Chan Chan,” choreography’s dream ballet: 25:10–26:11
• On cast members making Broadway debuts: 37:15–38:23
• Finding character and vocal strength: 40:45–41:31
• Discussing transformative choreography: 44:02–45:28
• Final performance, “La Negra Tomasa”: 45:41

---

Live Performances (Approximate Timestamps)

• Opening band number: 04:02–08:01
• Mel Seme & Wesley Ray duet: 14:40–16:50
• “Chan Chan” by the band: 27:30–32:13
• “Silencio”: 36:15–36:45
• “La Negra Tomasa”: 45:41–48:06

---

Conclusion

This special All Of It episode offers a layered, behind-the-scenes look at Buena Vista Social Club on Broadway: an inspiring tapestry of music, movement, and cultural memory. The episode celebrates both the meticulous artistry and spontaneous energy that drive the show, with heartfelt reflections from creators and performers on honoring the original spirit while creating something new for contemporary audiences.

Whether reliving their first encounter with the "timeless" Buena Vista Social Club album or navigating the technical challenges—and emotional resonance—of live performance, the cast and creative team reveal their deep connections to Cuban music, heritage, and each other, making clear why their adaptation strikes such a chord on Broadway.

Transcript

[Alison Stewart]

And now a next level moment from ATT Business. Say you've sent out a gigantic shipment of pillows and they need to be there in time for International Sleep day. You've got AT and T5G so you're fully confident, but the vendor isn't responding and International Sleep Day is tomorrow. Luckily, AT&T 5G lets you deal with any issues with ease, so the pillows will get delivered and everyone can sleep soundly, especially you. ATT 5G requires a compatible plan and device coverage not available everywhere. Learn [e-mail] 5G Network.

[Mel Seme]

Our state has.

[Patricia Delgado]

Changed a lot in the last 140 years.

[Mel Seme]

We know because MultiCare has been here guided by a single making our communities healthier.

[Patricia Delgado]

That comes from making courageous decisions, partnering with local communities to grow programs and services, and expanding healthcare access to those.

[Marco Paguilla]

Who need it most.

[Mel Seme]

Together, we're building a healthier future. Learn [e-mail].

[Alison Stewart]

You are listening to all of it on WNYC. I'm Alison Stewart. You just heard our event with the cast of Hadestown Live in the green space as part of our series Broadway on the Radio. This hour we're going to revisit another installment of the series, our live event with the cast of the Tony winning musical Buena Vista Social Club. The story is inspired by the legendary album which has been turned into a musical about love and revolution set in Cuba in the 1950s and 1990s. I was joined in the green space by many of the cast members, the excellent band which won a special Tony Award earlier this year, and by the show's music director Marco Pagia and choreographers Justin Peck and Patricia Delgado. If you want to catch the event, you can stream it now on WNYC's YouTube page. In a minute you'll hear my interview with music director Marco Paguilla and with some of the members of the band. But first, let's hear some music. This is the band from Broadway's Buena Vista Social Club.

[Marco Paguilla]

Sa.

[Justin Peck]

Ladies and gentlemen, Renesito Avich.

[Alison Stewart]

That was a band from Broadway's Buena Vista Social Club. We are live in the green space. Marco Paguilla.

[Marco Paguilla]

Hi. Yes.

[Alison Stewart]

Is it working?

[Marco Paguilla]

Hello. Hello.

[Alison Stewart]

Oh, well, we'll get it working. I wanted to ask you. First of all, come on down. It's live radio. What'd I tell you? I wanted to ask you before we started out, could you please shout out the members of the band?

[Marco Paguilla]

Yes, of course. To my left, here is Davido Kendo on the guitar and the vocals, Renesito Avic on the tres and Vocals on bass with us today is Pedro, and on congas and vocals, Javier Diaz in a percussion bongo and campana. Roman Diaz.

[Alison Stewart]

Do you remember the first time you heard of the Buena Vista Social Club?

[Marco Paguilla]

I do. So I heard the. The. The album when it came out in the 90s and I was in college, so I guess that you can guess my age. And. And it was a real formative time for me as a musician, you know, listening to lots of different music and really I was sort of exploring a lot of Latin jazz kind of combinations. And the album was super incredible to. To listen to in the 90s. And so when I started working on this about three years ago, I was revisiting the album and kind of digging deeper. And being with this band has been an incredible education and a gift to me as a musician. So, yeah, it's been an amazing journey with the show.

[Alison Stewart]

You've had to put together the traditions of Buena Vista Social Club with a Broadway show. You had to meld the two traditions. How did you go about that?

[Marco Paguilla]

So, yeah, I've spent the last. I've spent. This is my 25th year in New York and I've spent primarily doing a lot of theater, although I have a background really as a musician first. So, yeah, I feel like that was sort of my task with the creative team with Patricia and Justin and Sahim Ali and Marco Ramirez, the book writer, was sort of to bring the theater to the Cuban musicians and the Cuban musicians to the theater and sort of bridging that gap and finding a way to use this amazing legacy of songwriting and. And music making and bringing it to a story and having emotional stakes within the show. So it's not just a concert, it's a theater piece.

[Alison Stewart]

David, let's bring you into the conversation. Is it true that you knew original members of the Bueno Vista Social Club?

[David]

First of all, good morning.

[Marco Paguilla]

Good morning in the afternoon. All right. For me, it's a great pleasure to. And I have the big responsibility to carry to my shoulder the legacy that I received from my ancestors, from the originals too, because I had the pleasure to perform with Compaise Undo for many years when I was 21. And unlike a link between both generations around great talent, all of them young people with a lot of experience too, and a privilege to work with Mitro Marco to try to preserve the authenticity of the music in the Broadway language, that was a big challenge. I think we got it.

[David]

You think so?

[Alison Stewart]

Yeah. Renesita, let's bring you into the conversation. Could you please explain the beautiful instrument that you're playing.

[Marco Paguilla]

Of course, this is a national guitar from Cuba. The name is the Cuban dress. It has three perfect strings, three double strings. And if you are a guitar player or no music is tuning. C major chord open, it's G, C.

[David]

E. And with these three notes, big.

[Marco Paguilla]

Part of the Cuban music and the.

[David]

Caribbean music was born.

[Marco Paguilla]

Actually an important pattern called tumbao. So it's also a way to carry your culture with you.

[David]

So that's what we do every night at the show.

[Alison Stewart]

Well, we see you in the show and you come downstage and you give a wild performance on your knees, on your back. First of all, is that improvised or is that planned?

[Marco Paguilla]

I have to say, yes, it is improvised. But also. But also, I think this show has opened to me a door that never seeked before.

[David]

I never had the space to do this that you see on stage.

[Marco Paguilla]

So I have this entire theater for me at that time to. You just communicate each other, just to share energy. And that's what we do you.

[Alison Stewart]

Do you feel the energy of the audience? Oh, yeah.

[David]

Oh, yeah.

[Alison Stewart]

Every night is it different? Every night it is. Is it different?

[Marco Paguilla]

But it. I have to say, we're so grateful and I'm speaking on behalf of everyone about the love. It's. But the love is constant. It's. Every night there is love, a lot.

[David]

Of love for us.

[Marco Paguilla]

And we take that and then we give it back to you.

[Alison Stewart]

Marco Mastrich, can you come back up? Come on, back up. It was interesting. So he's resinosito started to play and David got in there and it was like in the show, the gentlemen come together and it's like they haven't seen each other in a while, but then they immediately, they gravitate toward one another and they start to play together. Were rehearsals like that?

[Marco Paguilla]

Well, we were just talking about this, our first time getting together. We, you know, we did a production down at the Atlantic Theater last year, and before that we had a workshop in the summer. And the first time the band got together, mostly we were strangers. I think there was a few of us that knew each other from the past, but there was a spark right away, you could feel it. Some of us took videos of that moment. I think just being a musician and the sharing of the culture and of seeing what each other has to offer is. Is evident in the way we play. And yeah, right from the beginning, it just. It was magic.

[Alison Stewart]

We're going to hear another song. We're going to bring up two cast members, Mel and Wesley. You're going to perform for us. All right, let's get out of the way. This is the Buena Vista Social Club.

[David]

Sailing.

[Alison Stewart]

Ra.

[Marco Paguilla]

Sam.

[David]

Thank you so much.

[Alison Stewart]

That was cast member Mel Seme and Wesley Ray with a live performance from the green space as part of our series Broadway on the Radio. They play Ibrahim as a young man and a not so young man. We'll have more music after a quick break. This is all of it. You are listening to all of it on wnyc. I'm Alison Stewart. We're airing highlights from our live event with the band, cast and creative team from the Tony award winning musical Buena Vista Social Club. We're going to hear some more music in just a moment, but first I spoke with the team behind the incredible dancing in the show. Choreographers Justin Peck and Patricia Delgado took home a Tony this year for their work on Buena Vista Social Club. I began the conversation by asking Patricia Delgado to tell us the first time she heard of Buena Vista Social Club.

[Patricia Delgado]

I think I knew this music before I knew it was the Buena Vista Social Club. I born in Miami, but Cuban American. My parents were both born in Cuba. So this music has just been in my blood from in the womb. Yeah.

[Justin Peck]

For me, I heard it as a kid. When the album first came out, my family was super into it and. And I always remember it as being this, like, timeless album. But, you know, when you look back at the history, it's like, oh, that album just came out. And of course, it's this collection of these historic songs, but done in this kind of lightning in a bottle way. So it's just an album that always stuck with me for decades.

[Alison Stewart]

Up until this point, during your Tony speech, you said that you had Buena Vista Social Club as your first dance at your wedding.

[Marco Paguilla]

We did, yeah.

[Alison Stewart]

What song?

[Justin Peck]

First of all, it was Pueblo Nuevo. And we even choreographed a little thing to incorporate Patricia's family into. So that was our first workshop for this musical.

[Alison Stewart]

I guess I was gonna say, well, I guess you choreographed together then, but have you done it professionally ever, or was this the first time?

[Justin Peck]

This was our first time with this dynamic. Of course, we've worked in many different projects together. Patricia's danced in my work. She's assisted me. She's been an associate. But this is the first time where we felt like the best approach was to tackle this as partners on it.

[Alison Stewart]

So were you, like sitting at dinner and saying, wait, I have an idea. Get up and dance with me?

[Patricia Delgado]

Yes.

[Alison Stewart]

Really?

[Patricia Delgado]

Many times it would just be like listening to it in the background and even just in the morning sipping Our coffee just our daughter's there with watching us, and he'll just, like, get an idea and just pick up, pick it up. And the whole. So much of the show is based on dancing with two people together. So it actually felt like such an organic and natural process for both of us, whether we were in our living room or in the studio, to just listen to this music, like, what a gift to be able to create choreography to this music. Like you said, even if you're sitting in your seat, you're dancing. So to be able to, like, create the vocabulary and the nuance and just then, once it's made, get to pass it on to our incredible cast has been just a really true gift of a process.

[Alison Stewart]

Justin, what is the role of dance in Buena Vista Social Club, the musical?

[Justin Peck]

Well, dance taps into the subconscious, and it's something that expresses a kind of emotion or feeling when words or singing can't. And I think with Buena Vista Social Club, there's so many complex ideas and feelings that run through this, and emotions run high. And I think when we need some sort of release or relief, that's when dance comes into play. And the other thing I'll just say is that something I'm really proud of with this musical is that all of the songs are sung in Spanish. And so dance became a way to help to tell the story. Dance is, of course, a universal language. It's something that we can all connect with. And when you're in a theater, experiencing it in real time and feeling the energy of movement, it can do so much and it can say so much.

[Alison Stewart]

It takes place in the 1950s. What kind of research did you do about dancing in the 50s?

[Patricia Delgado]

Yeah, it was sort of like the challenge, but also the freedom that we got when we started researching it. There's no photos or video documentation of of the actual Buena Visa Social club in the 50s in Cuba. So a lot of it came from research, from our trips down to Cuba, and just observing that everyone in Cuba moves, whether it's like a stylized and codified, like, type of dance, whether it be, like, Afro Caribbean or ballet, or even just like, social dance, salsa, mambo. So to try and get the blend of all of those styles and create a new language that would be unique to this show, I think that was our dream, and I think we're very proud of it.

[Alison Stewart]

Yeah, Justin, by anybody who can't see you right now, you have perfect posture. You clearly was a ballet dancer.

[Justin Peck]

Try, try, try.

[Alison Stewart]

And it's interesting in the choreography, you can see. See how Ballet has seeped into the choreography for Buenos at Vista Social Club. Can you tell me a little more about that?

[Justin Peck]

Well, I think it's can elaborate a little bit on what Patricia was saying in that, like, there was this huge pool of dance influence to pull from for the show because of all the dance that exists in Cuba. And we wanted to not pigeonhole it into one singular style, but we wanted to pay tribute to the full range, the full spectrum of dance as it exists in Cuba. And that means everything from Afro Cuban to ballet and everything in between. And I think, like, we thought a lot about how to build the vernacular of the show that could pay tribute to all those different styles on the spectrum. And it's also about evoking a kind of feeling. You know, it's like the feeling of walking into the club for the first time as someone who's never been there. You know, Issa's character when she enters the club as young Omada, like, what does that feel like? And how can we create choreography and dance to evoke the feeling of that? So there's another layer of it, because it is a musical, in how we're communicating with the audience.

[Alison Stewart]

Patricia, how did you work with the costume designers for your dance? Because the costumes move beautifully with your movements.

[Patricia Delgado]

Yes. Early on, we actually asked our ladies to wear skirts because of the way the lift would kind of move the skirt. But I think Dede Ayite. Did I say that right? Dede Ayite is an incredible collaborator, and she has a dream and a vision and an idea what she wants. And then she watched a lot of the choreography, and she knew, like, how do we not just create a skirt, but have layers within the skirt so that it would actually billow and flow? And then once the dancers put the costume on, the challenge was there was weight to the costume. So we actually spent time in the theater during tech, working with the quality of the movement, whether it be like putting more effort in the turn than you ever had to do in the rehearsal studio, because in order to create that flow of skirt, you had to give it more oomph. Right, Right. More strength. And so I think it was a true collaboration of finding the dream and the idea to have it look a certain way and then work on the dance to match it to create that illusion.

[Alison Stewart]

We're going to hear the song Chan Chan, probably the most famous from the album. And you said that Chan Chan was a song that all departments had to work together. So that included costuming. Who else?

[Patricia Delgado]

Well, we used to call it the Homeroom? No, because oftentimes our director, Sahim Ali and Marco Paguilla and Justin and myself, as well as our amazing book writer, Marco Ramirez, we kind of come together, whether it was after a day of rehearsal or on a zoom during the day off, and just brainstorm how to fully take this song, which is actually very repetitive and meditative and at the same time holds this pressure, this weight of, like, the song that so many people know. And what do we do with it? How do we make it something that tells a story without having dialogue, Tells a story that has, like a beginning, middle, and end? We like to say it's the dream ballet of our musical because so much is said with just expressions of movement. But we did like, I don't know, 20 versions of it.

[Alison Stewart]

20 versions of it.

[Patricia Delgado]

We had so many versions of it even before we got into tech. And then once we started previews, we were constantly changing it because we wanted to get it right. And sometimes also the response from the audience during a preview period can share so much. And it wasn't until the very moment we froze the show that we had our final version. And kudos to our cast that kept going with our changes over and over again. They believed in us. They stayed. But I think it's also a testament to the. The collaborative spirit of making a musical. It's sort of my favorite thing from the whole process because no matter what Justin and I create, no matter what the music is telling us, no matter what the book says, no matter what the director's vision is, it's really the conversations amongst all of us and the tension that lies between the ideas that all of us want to create that really gets it to the point that, you know, is the final moment.

[Alison Stewart]

And before I let you go, Justin, is your. Is your daughter. Is she a she? Does she move? Does she have moves?

[Justin Peck]

Oh, yeah. Well, we would be dancing a lot together in the living room and she would have a lot of opinions.

[Alison Stewart]

I'll just say that Justin and Patricia Delgado and Justin Peck. They are the choreographers from Buena Vista Social Club. Thank you so much for being with us.

[Justin Peck]

Thank you so much.

[Alison Stewart]

Let's hear the band. They're playing Chan Chan it.

[Marco Paguilla]

Yasin.

[Alison Stewart]

That was the band from the Broadway musical Buena Vista Social Club with a special live performance in the green space earlier this year. Year. We'll be right back with more music after a quick break. This is all of it. You are listening to all of it on wnyc. I'm Alison Stewart. We continue airing our special live event with the cast and creative team behind the Tony winning Broadway musical Buena Vista Social Club, they joined us live in the green space earlier this year. If you'd like to watch the event, you can find it on the WNYC YouTube page. But now, here is some more music. This is the song Silencio from Buena Vista Social Club, Locust N. Morgan.

[Marco Paguilla]

Okay.

[David]

Thank you so much.

[Alison Stewart]

That was Silencio. We are live in the green space with the band. I'm gonna ask a couple people to stick around. Issa Antonetti, would you come back on stage? This is Issa Antonetti. She plays Amara. You've met Mel Sesame. He plays Emerham. That was Sophia Ramos, by the way. I wanted to give a shout out to Issa. This is your big Broadway debut. That's exciting.

[Patricia Delgado]

First of all.

[Alison Stewart]

You graduated from school. What has it been like to go from school to Broadway?

[Mel Seme]

Yes, I went straight from one semester at Carnegie Mellon to Broadway right after the new year. And it's been a beautiful change. I mean, Broadway is hard and it's worth every exhausting moment. And so I. It's been very easy with these people. So they are the people who pushed me through.

[Alison Stewart]

It's your Broadway debut as well?

[David]

Yes, it is.

[Alison Stewart]

But you were initially a little hesitant about taking the role. Initially. What brought you around?

[David]

Yes, it's my first theater experience, really? When we did it at the Atlantic Theater. I'm a touring musician. I grew up in Cuba, graduated from music university in Havana. And then, you know, I have my band in California. We put together like 10 years ago, and I was just touring and I live in Spain. I just landed from Spain, actually. That's why my voice is like this today. I got married on Saturday.

[Alison Stewart]

You got married?

[David]

So, yeah, landed last night at midnight. And, you know, I've been living in Twain for the last 20 years. So when I received the email from, like, this theater Buena Vista show in New York, I was like, what does that have to do with me other than Buena Vista? And so, you know, I answered. And then they wanted to have a Zoom call with me. And then I saw all these people on the other side of the call, like the director, the producers, Marco was there. And I'm like, listen, guys, I'm in Spain. I'm a touring musician. I've never done theater before in my entire life. I'm not sure I am what you guys are looking for. And. But they, you know, they explained what was. What this was about. They invited me for the workshop, and when I got here for the workshop and I Get to meet Patricia and Justin and the musicians. And I'm a big fan of west side Story movie and west side Story in general, but the west side Story movie, I've seen, like, 20 times Justin Peck's choreography, and many of the people in the, you know, ensemble, the dancers are, you know, were as well, the movie. And. And then I started seeing familiar faces and obviously familiar music, and it just, you know, grabbed me, and I just went for it.

[Alison Stewart]

As you approached your character Amara, what does music mean to Amara?

[Mel Seme]

What doesn't music mean to Omara? That is because it's what starts the show, and it's what starts her seeking this new music, this new way of singing music. It's what launches her. It is a deep feeling that I don't think she even has the words to explain. So it's. I mean, this music, to me, I don't think I have the words to explain. I'm over here closing my eyes while everyone is singing, and I'm just, like, living in the moment, and I'm just like, how do you express that? Like, how do you explain that? So that's what music means to her.

[Alison Stewart]

You're singing songs that are legendary to so many people, but you have to put your own spin on them, your own. Your own self into the character. How did you find your voice playing Omara?

[Mel Seme]

I was having rehearsals and sessions with Marco and David in Javier, and just everyone that has been in the room with me, especially learning who Omara is, and she. I remember David was like. Except for, I think, one song, he was like, she doesn't do head voice. She doesn't do head voice. She is all from the chest. She's all from the gut. And she. That is.

[Patricia Delgado]

That.

[Mel Seme]

That's who she is. And that informed a lot for me. And of course, doing Broadway every day, you have to do it healthily. And so with that, it was like that where that character comes from is that she has the strength with her voice. That's who she is. Her shoulders are back, her chin is up, and that is how I found her, is through the voice.

[Alison Stewart]

How did you find your voice in playing this character?

[David]

It was actually a big challenge for me because I thought one of the reasons why I was being cast was because of my voice. But I never had voice lessons or I had zero training. And so when Marco came to me and was like, all right, in this moment of the song, just give me this long, sustained note vibrated at the end, and please match the volume of the band. I'm like, what is happening right now, you know, and so I've been, you know, I've been coached. I've been, I've been. There's been a beautiful accompaniment of my process of understanding Broadway and not just singing like my falsetto, which is my, you know, my kind of like magic wand in terms of singing and, you know, discovering all these new tools, you know, my breath expanding, you know, the possibilities. And it's been an incredible journey. And now I got it.

[Alison Stewart]

That's why I invited Marco up to the microphone. Tell us a little bit more about working with these actors.

[Marco Paguilla]

Yeah, Mel, that's so funny that that was your perspective on all that. I felt like one of, especially with. With folks who have never, who had never done Broadway and in Mel's case, an amazing singer and his band is incredible. And it's a different kind of singing. Also. Singing in a Broadway theater is a different muscle. You know, playing singing to the back of the house. So when what may seem small on a record or something in a club setting like this may not read in a thousand seat theater. So you need to find a way to scale up that emotion. Even though it's small, but it still has resonance. And so we've, you know, we have an amazing vocal coach that we also work with. Amazing. And with Mel and then many of the cast members too, just finding that muscle and working and strengthening that and bringing that to help tell the emotional story within the song. So it's been amazing because also, you know, I didn't grow up with the music. So having the perspective of the band and the actors who have, who have lived the music and it's always a conversation. Even with creating a new musical, everybody was able to throw in ideas and stay true to the authenticity of the music within the show. So that's always just. That's been part of all of it, you know.

[Alison Stewart]

All of it.

[Marco Paguilla]

Yeah.

[Alison Stewart]

We talked to Patricia and Justin earlier about the choreography. What's been special about the choreography to you?

[Mel Seme]

Them. They are special. They are.

[Alison Stewart]

They seem kind of special.

[Mel Seme]

You have no idea. No, but genuinely, it's also how it, how they're able to put it into other people's bodies as well. Like, everyone is so talented, but like they do transfer that and I think that's like through blood. I think that's their, like, that's their emotion, that's their energy. And they, they are beautiful cast. Our dancers are amazing and they just, they take all of that, they use their skills and they put that emotion on the stage every day. And I'm Telling you their Chun chan, which we just performed. I'm packing a suitcase during that scene and all the dancing is happening behind me and it's taking everything in me not to just watch the entire time. But I have to. I have to stay focused because. But I can see sometimes in the monitors, I can just see them dancing. And you just see the skirts, you see the height, you see this, like, breath. And it is. It is breathtaking.

[David]

I just wanted to add to that that when I first came to the workshops, when I first came to, you know, to know what was this, what was this about? I remember Justin explaining how to move a chair. And I'm just like innocently watching what's going on in this theater structure and it's like, you guys do like this. And I teared up and I'm like, I looked to the window and I'm like, am I tearing up because someone's moving a chair?

[Alison Stewart]

We're going to hear one more song. First of all, let's thank Melsame. Thank you for being with us. And we're going to bring on stage Wesley Ray and Devon Moody. All right, what song are we going to hear?

[Mel Seme]

Issa La Negra Tomasa.

[Alison Stewart]

All right. You have been listening to a special broadcast of all of it with the Buena Vista Social Club. Take it away.

[Marco Paguilla]

Sa I.

[Alison Stewart]

Monday. And that was our special live event with the cast, band and creative team of the Tony winning Broadway musical Buena Vista Social Club. The event was part of our special series, Broadway on the Radio. We'll have more installments of Broadway on the Radio coming up soon, so stay tuned for those announcements. But for now, this has been all of it. I appreciate you listening and I appreciate you. I will meet you back here next time.

[Patricia Delgado]

NYC now delivers breaking news, top headlines.

[Alison Stewart]

And in depth coverage from WNYC and.

[Patricia Delgado]

Gothamist every morning, midday and evening.

[Alison Stewart]

By sponsoring our programming, you'll reach a.

[Patricia Delgado]

Community of passionate listeners in an uncluttered audio experience.

[Alison Stewart]

Visit sponsorship.wnyc.org to learn more.